A fresh set of eight teams will join the tournament at this stage, entering as the top-seeded contenders. These include IEM Katowice 2025 winners Vitality, PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 winners MOUZ, BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 winner Spirit, The MongolZ, MOUZ, Falcons, Liquid, G2, and Natus Vincere, all of whom received direct invitations based on their performances and standings. They will be met by eight squads that made their way out of the first stage of the tournament: GamerLegion, paiN, Eternal Fire, 3DMAX, FURIA, SAW, MIBR, and TYLOO.
The Swiss format will pit these teams against one another in the opening round, setting the stage for a five-day battle that’ll test each team’s endurance and strategy. The group stage will conclude on Tuesday, March 11, following three decisive matches that will feature an invited team move forward. The majority of the initial matchups will feature an invited team taking on a squad that fought its way through Stage 1, with two exceptions – Eternal Fire vs. 3DMAX and Liquid vs. Falcons – both of which were arranged based on team seeding.
All the Stage 2 opening matches are set to take place on March 7, featuring the following clashes:
After a brief rest day, the stakes will be raised much higher as the tournament transitions into the playoffs, beginning March 13. The final eight teams will face off in a single-elimination format, battling for a spot in the grand final, which is set to take place on Sunday, March 16. The championship-deciding match will be a best-of-five showdown, where one team will emerge victorious and claim the ESL Pro League Season 21 title.
Natus Vincere enters this stage as the defending champion, having triumphed in ESL Pro League Season 20. However, 2025 has yet to see them add another trophy to their collection. On the other hand, TYLOO might be a slightly unfamiliar name to some, but in the world of competition CS2, they are a team with a rich history and one of the most dominant forces in Chinese and Asian Counter-Strike culture.
Opening CS2 cases will forever be one of the things I will always enjoy about the game. It’s simply something I will never get tired of, and I’m sure a ton of others feel the same way. Want to open a case but don’t know which one you should pick? Here are the best cases to open in CS2 for 2026.
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