StarSeries CS2 Tournament 2025 Update: Format, Teams, and Prize Pool Revealed

StarLadder is pleased to reveal additional information regarding our StarSeries CS2 tournament, which will take place from September 13th to 21st, 2025, in Budapest, Hungary.

Direct VRS Invites:

• • Global VRS will be used for StarSeries direct invitations.
• • Invitations will start from the top (#1) of the Qualifying Rank in the Global VRS.
• • On the invite date, we will issue 30 Direct VRS invites.

Offline Event Details:

There will be 20 teams in the offline part of the event:

• • Four teams with the highest Qualifying Rank will proceed directly to the Main Event.
• • Twelve directly invited teams will advance to the closed offline qualifiers.
• • The last four teams will be determined by the Online Qualifiers.

Online Qualifiers:

We will host two separate Online Qualifiers for the NA + SA and Europe regions. The exact dates of these qualifiers will be announced by the end of 2024.

Offline Group Stage:

Dates: September 13-17, 2025
Participants: 12 teams with direct VRS invites + 4 teams from online qualifiers.
Format: GSL Groups + play-in matches, where the first-place teams from each group will face the second-place teams to advance to the Main Event.

Offline Main Event:

Dates: September 18-21, 2025
Participants: 4 direct VRS-invited teams with the highest VRS rating + 4 teams from the Group Stage.
Format: Double Elimination, Best of 3 (Bo3)

Prize Pool:

Minimum: $500,000*
*The final prize pool and its distribution will be announced on the invitation distribution date.

Direct VRS Conditions:

• • Teams can only participate in the Tournament based on a StarSeries Direct VRS Invite if at least three players on the participating roster were also on the roster at the time of the Invite Date.
• • If a team is unable to obtain all necessary travel permits and visas within the set time limit, the Direct VRS Invite will be revoked.
• • Players banned by Valve are not allowed to participate in the Tournament. If a player from a team is banned during the StarSeries tournament, that team will be immediately disqualified.
• • StarLadder reserves the right to withhold a VRS invite from any team whose players or the team itself have been exposed by other tournament organizers for match-fixing or unfair play.
• • If a team cannot participate or chooses to decline the StarSeries Direct VRS Invite, StarLadder will issue an invitation to the next ranked team according to the Qualifying Ranks.