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:
TBD
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 TokensThe price here is either 10 dollars for the normal pass or 19 dollars for the upgraded version
Apart from getting the pickem coin, souvenir packages and experiencing the thrill of pickems, the viewer pass comes with additional features and benefits.
For starters, if you have a favorite team you're rooting for then you should know that 50% of proceeds from CS2 stickers, player autographs and other items are shared with participating players and organizations, supporting the competitive community.
Fans can also place picks, use graffiti to show allegiance, and support their favorite teams and players directly through purchases and participation and non the less A new Active Pass Leaderboard allows comparison of Pick'Em performance with friends which could always be fun.
A new Active Pass Leaderboard also allows comparison of Pick'Em performance with friends which could always be fun.
Will There Be Player Charms or Team Charms for The Majors?
We all heard rumors of this possibility to have charms of your favorite team or players ever since VALVE came up with an update that allowed designers and creators to customize charms which are open for submission, however unfortunately it doesn't seem like we get additional charms for the major, maybe at a later stage, or there will be a new format to the souvenir drops where they contain special charms
How Does The Austin Major 2025 Coin Look Like ?
OG CSGO players might recognize this as an Operation Breakout coin, but no this symbol, similar to how the shanghai majors had a dragon represent China as a symbol, I believe Austin Texas had a similar approach with what I think is a skull of a bison, could be a bull or a buffalo as there is some similarities there, overall really cool pickem coin, and like other coins the ultimate coin is the diamond version of this
This Sticker Capsule incapsulates the legends of the tournament that made it to the CS2 Austin Majors which includes the following teams
This is how the following stickers look like
This Sticker Capsule incapsulates the Contenders of the tournament that made it to the Austin CS2 Major which includes the following teams
- Complexity
- Wildcard
- HEROIC
- B8
- OG
- Nemiga
- BetBoom
- Imperial
- NRG
- FlyQuest
- Metizport
- TYLOO
- Fluxo
- Chinggis Warriors
- Lyn Vision
- Legacy
you can find player autograph capsules along side the team sticker capsules.
Is There a S1mple FaZe Player Autograph Sticker?
No there won't be a S1mple Faze Sticker & instead we get a player autograph for broky
Apart from the Pickems & Souvenir Hype, you get unlimited graffiti for the duration of the majors once you purchase the viewer pass
It has always been engraved in the culture of the CS2 esports community when it comes to the majors a large chunk of the player base have always been trying to farm souvenir packages, you must remember the hype back when we had cobble stone and everyone had the lottery winner feeling just by getting a chance to get the dragon lore souvenir skin, However with this update, the souvenir packages can be bought for 3 dollars and you can select which match you want the souvenir from which wasn't the case in CSGO as it would be a random drop via watching on twitch.
However, this time there is a twist to the souvenir packages, CHARMS will be included from games that are from the playoffs only, which is the final stage of the major, not only will it be a new feature to have charms added to the souvenir package, but this charm acts as a token to watch the highlighted clip from the map and player you select, and can be inspected by your team mates as well
This is the souvenir package that investors and collectors will be having their eyes on, especially that this is the first time we see train being played in a major cs2 tournament after many years, there already exists a train collection from the armory case, but we don't know yet if this souvenir train collection will reflect the same with souvenirs such as the AWP LongDog or will it be a completely new collection
Austin Major 2025 Cache is Back?
Doesn't seem like there will be cache anytime soon, but perhaps we might see it in a show match as the community is hyped about cache!
After 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?
- LEGACY vs Vitality
- PAIN vs SPIRIT
- AURORA vs FAZE
- NAVI vs NEMIGA
- MOUZ vs VIRTUS.PRO
- 3DMAX vs G2
- FURIA vs THE MONGOLZ
- LIQUID vs LYNN VISION
Austin Major 2025 Cache is Back?
Doesn't seem like there will be cache anytime soon, but perhaps we might see it in a show match at the playoffs as the community is hyped about cache!
