My attempt to explain the CSGO Major tournament format

Having begun on Monday, the CSGO PGL Major Tournament Is officially underway! Hosted in Antwerp, Belgium, this is just the 17th Major tournament in the history of CSGO. Running until May 22nd, a total of 24 teams will be battling it out for the $500,000 grand-prize. Teams like Heroic, FaZe, and Team Vitality will be looking to traverse the gauntlet and win their first major, while others like Astralis and NiP look to rekindle past glories. Anyone who wants to win, though, will have to get through the best player in the world, Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev, and his reigning NaVi squad.

NaVi won the last Major, hosted in Stockholm in Fall '21, where they absolutely manhandled the entirety of the field. It’s hard to put into words just how hard they curb-stomped their opponents, going through the entire tournament without dropping a single map. For those who don’t know anything about CSGO, which I expect is most people reading this, winning a major without dropping a single map is like an NCAA team winning March Madness without losing a half. They weren’t just dominant, they were invincible.

While most traditional sports have just one all-important championship series or match, CSGO has two majors a year. It should be said, despite there being two championships in a year compared to just one, it does not take away from the significance of winning a single Major. Similar to tennis players and golfers having multiple tournaments throughout the year, with some being grander than the rest. With just 11 teams having ever won a CSGO major, and some of the best players moving teams and winning with their new teams, only 40 players in the history of CSGO have a major to their name. Of those 40 players, only 5 of have been American.

The format of CSGO tournaments is weird as fuck and made more complicated than it needs to be, so let me try and simplify it the best I can. 24 teams in total qualify for the tournament, with those 24 teams being split into 3 different groups of 8: Legends, Challengers, and Contenders. Teams are sorted into these categories based on their performances in ‘RMR tournaments’, essentially lesser tournaments throughout the year where teams earn ‘RMR points’ which act as qualifying points for the Major. These RMR points are important not only to qualify for the tournament, but for seeding in the tournament itself as well. The top 8 teams that are sorted into the ‘Legends’ group automatically qualify for the 2nd round, while the other 16 sorted into the ‘Challengers’ and ‘Contenders’ groups duke it out in the first round.

Here is where things get weird. CSGO Majors use what is known as the Swiss-format for the first two rounds, and it has taken me forever to understand it. I still don’t totally get it. Ok so 1st round, 8 teams are safe, and the other 16 teams must fight for just 8 spots in the 2nd round. Instead of an elimination format like we would be used to, all 16 teams are in one big group. I have no idea how they determine which team plays who, but again it has something to do with the seeding. What is important to know is this: Each of the 16 teams will play between 3 and 5 matches, teams cannot play each other more than one time, three wins automatically guarantees advancement to the 2nd round, and 3 losses automatically guarantees being knocked out of the tournament. That’s all I can figure out lol.

After this, the 8 teams that advance out of the first round will meet with the 8 ‘Legends’ teams in a repeat of the exact same Swiss format for the 2nd round. Once again, the field of 16 will compete for 8 spots in the final rounds of the tournament. The 3rd and final round, known as the Champions Stage, is when the tournament format finally goes back to the familiar single-elimination format. 8 teams will compete in the Champions Stage bracket to be crowned CSGO World Champions and make themselves a few hundred thousand richer.

This is pretty much as simply as the format can be broken down, without getting into the details of seeding and the 'Bucholz' variation in the Swiss-format. Literally no one cares about that, methinks. Anyway, keep your face marbles (eyes) on the lookout for more articles coming today and this week on just what the hell this ‘CSGO’ is, how to watch it, what to watch out for, and who to root for! We will also be posting updates on scores and storylines from the tournament in the coming two weeks, as well as a proper preview of the Major. Except, the tournament already started so I guess instead of a preview its just a ....view?