Dubai, UAE – 23 may 2024
CS2 Huge Pickem Update Austin Major | New Team Stickers | Souvenir Playoff Charm Packages!
New CS2 Austin Major Pickem Update!
The Counter-Strike Austin Major brings together the top 32 teams worldwide which qualified, classifying them to 3 stages and a final playoff stage. With the new update for the Austin Majors dropping on 23/05/2025 when is the last day to lock in your pickem? that's 30th of May to lock in your final pickems as the majors start on the 3rd of June this article will help you navigate on what you need to know for this new CS update.
Austin Major Format:
Stage 1 Austin Major Participating CS2 Teams:
Is the Pickem Challenge Free?
Unlike CSGO, in the early days where you had to purchase individual team stickers for Pick'Ems, CS2 introduces a free-to-play Pick'Em Challenge making the stickers not required to lock in so what are you waiting for!
For the collectors and Pickems enthusiasts, know that players they need to purchase a viewer pass if they want to get their Austin 2025 Major Coin & get extra Souvenir Packages by activating the Viewer Pass.
This message will pop up if you choose to participate in the pickem challenge for the austin majors without an active viewer pass
How much is the Austin Major 2025 viewer pass for?
As you see there is 2 types of viewer pass options you can choose from either the normal Austin Major Viewer Pass or the Viewer pass with additional 3 Souvenir TokensAfter major upsets from Stage 1 to Stage 2—Falcons disqualified despite being picked 3-0 in almost every Pick'em, Legacy achieving a 3-0 despite being predicted 0-3, Virtus.pro (VP) dominating for their 3-0, and OG exiting early with 0 wins despite strong efforts (falling to M80 and Falcons)—the surprises continued.
TYLOO had a great start but faltered against home-region rivals Lynn Vision, forcing an all-Chinese showdown. After a tough loss to Heroic, Jee won over the crowd and community with his iconic quote: "If you love CS, I love you." Meanwhile, Lynn Vision, in a final push, defeated B8—with Emilia leaping onto the desk in celebration—securing China’s first Stage 3 berth in years since TYLOO’s last deep run.
Nemiga, against all odds, qualified by defeating Heroic in their decider. Other advancing teams included paiN, where the student (snow) overcame the professor (FalleN) to reach Stage 3, and FURIA, who swept past B8 to become Brazil’s third qualifying squad.
3DMAX also advanced, forcing FaZe Clan into a do-or-die match against MIBR—the same team that eliminated Falcons earlier. FaZe and s1mple proved superior in the final showdown, with karrigan roaring "¡Vamos, carajo!" after every round (despite not speaking Portuguese) and igniting the stage with his energy.
Post-qualification, s1mple admitted feeling immense pressure after FaZe’s loss to Legacy, emphasizing that "every team is at a top level now—anyone can beat anyone."
With Stage 2 concluded, will Stage 3 bring predictability or more chaos?