2025 will bring big changes to competitive Counter-Strike 2. The current franchise league system is ending, giving tournament organizers more freedom to schedule events.
However, a potential problem is that the market could become too crowded, and industry experts predict this might happen as early as next year.
The new flexible schedule lets teams, such as FaZe Clan led by Håvard “rain” Nygaard, plan their competitive season with more freedom—and they’ve emphasized that they won’t just choose tournaments based on how much money they offer.
We’re aiming for the biggest competitions – the ones with iconic stadiums and a lot of recognition,” Rain told Xpsp. “Some teams might choose smaller events with larger cash prizes, but those don’t offer the same experience of playing in front of a live audience on a big stage.
Fears of CS2 viewership dropoff, mental fatigue
More tournaments mean teams have more opportunities to earn points needed to qualify for Valve’s Majors. Starting in 2025, the Regional Major Ranking system and traditional qualifiers will be replaced with a year-round points system based on performance in various events. The biggest tournaments will showcase the top teams, and will include qualifying rounds with teams from different regions.
Rain is already feeling the pressure of a packed esports schedule. With major tournament organizers like BLAST, ESL, and PGL, plus StarLadder returning, there are several high-level events planned every month.
Rain understands that next year will be a significant challenge for him. With frequent travel, a young family, and the high pressure of competition, he acknowledges maintaining his current level of performance will be difficult. He admitted, “Mentally, next year will be really tough. There’s just too much going on.”
He also thinks fans will experience burnout from so many events happening close together, potentially leading to lower viewership for some of them. He explains that with so much competing content, people will inevitably split their attention, and some events will simply miss out on viewers.
Choosing the right events is crucial, but concerns about potential rain delays could disrupt the open format. Rain suspects some organizations might offer financial incentives to teams who commit to their specific circuit and complete all the rounds. He worries this could create a closed system where organizations essentially ‘buy’ team loyalty, limiting competition and creating a self-contained ‘bubble’.
We haven’t had detailed conversations with FaZe about plans for next year, but we’re going to handle things as they unfold.
FaZe must find form, and fast
This week’s BLAST Premier World Final in Singapore means more than just winning prize money and recognition for rain and FaZe Clan. Experts are saying the team is under a lot of pressure, as they haven’t won a tournament or reached a final in their last eight events.
FaZe Clan’s last victory at IEM Chengdu feels like a distant memory, back in March. According to rain, the team has been working to correct their mistakes. He explained that their win in Chengdu may have actually been detrimental, causing them to become complacent. “We let our guard down,” rain said, “and other teams improved while we didn’t develop our strategies effectively.”
The last six months have been very different for FaZe compared to how they started playing Counter-Strike 2. Initially, FaZe and Rain quickly achieved success, winning three tournaments and then finishing second in both the 2023 BLAST Fall and World Finals events.
This happened shortly after FaZe signed David “frozen” Čerňanský, who has been playing exceptionally well, even though the team hasn’t won many championships recently. Rain acknowledges that FaZe hasn’t lived up to expectations.
He believes they just need to rediscover their rhythm. The core team remains the same, and they’ve had success before, so it’s not a fundamental issue. They’re still working on finding a comfortable and effective way to play together right now.
Sweet revenge on the cards in MOUZ opener
FaZe Clan’s first opponent is MOUZ, a team that recently stunned the CS2 community by defeating FaZe for the first time in eight matches. FaZe’s star player, rain, anticipated MOUZ would eventually play at such a high level and wasn’t completely caught off guard by the result.
“MOUZ finally defeated us, but we knew it was bound to happen eventually,” rain explained. “They’re a strong team, consistently among the best, so it wasn’t unexpected.”
Honestly, beating MOUZ would feel really good. Those guys are up-and-coming, and we’ve been grinding hard to prepare for the tournament in Singapore. We messed up last time, but we’ve learned from it and we’re looking for some payback!
Rain and FaZe begin their BLAST World Final campaign on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 1:30am PT.
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2026-02-09 21:12