Counter-Strike Major returns to US via BLAST Austin 2025

The illustrious Counter-Strike Major tournament is returning to the U.S., for the first time since 2018 and the launch of the CS2, in June 2025.

BLAST announced today that the organizer will be bringing the CS2 Major state-side to Austin, Texas at the Moody Center arena next year. The announcement today confirms reports from the past month that said BLAST was heavily considering both the U.S. and Austin, Texas in particular for the 2025 Major.

U.S. fans already showed their hunger for more CS2 action after a raucous crowd in Dallas earlier this month cheered on G2 Esports as they lifted the IEM Dallas trophy while competing with the returning North American hero Stewie2k as a stand-in. Stewie2k was a pivotal part of the Cloud9 roster that won ELEAGUE Boston 2018, the last Major held in the U.S. The U.S. held a Major for three straight years between 2016 and 2018, but the event hasn’t returned since.

This will be only BLAST’s second time hosting a Major, though it was given the distinction of hosting the last CS:GO Major at BLAST Paris 2023.

This event will be just a small part of a “revamped” BLAST Premier 2025 schedule that the organizer also announced today, one that coincides with the official transition to a fully open Counter-Strike ecosystem. “Every year BLAST Premier will run six tournaments, split across two seasons of three tournaments each,” the organizer said in a press release.

These three tournaments include BLAST Bounty, which adds a bounty system that rewards teams for beating higher seed teams, a BLAST Open event that uses regional qualifier teams, and a BLAST Rivals event that decides the “best of the best.” Valve’s global rankings will serve as the primary determinant of which teams qualify for BLAST events starting in 2025.