A Major, various LAN tournaments and more; here are the CSGO events to look forward in the second-half of 2021

July 26, 2021 | 0 | 125| |

#BLAST Premier #CSGO #ESL #IEM #PGL Major 2021

CSGO had a rough couple of months lately, with the online era in full effect in esports. However, as IEM Cologne 2021 proved, offline competitions are able to exist at this point. With the success of that event paving the grounds for more LANs, the second-half of 2021 looks very exciting.

However, the return of offline events aren’t the only reason to be excited for what’s next on CSGO’s packed schedule. There’s plenty of events coming up, both online and offline, that deserves your attention. For that reason we have prepared this quick look at what’s next in CSGO.

Here we will be taking a month-by-month look at the current CSGO tournament schedule, discussing the top events happening each month, recapping what we know so far and more. Let’s dive into it!

AUGUST – Counter-Strike returns to the online format

After IEM Cologne 2021, CSGO fans were excited for more LANs immediately after. Unfortunately, ESL has announced that back-to-back LANs won’t be possible.

The company announced that turn ESL Pro League Season 14: Malta would be an online event only recently. The reasoning behind this change is due to the “uncertainty regarding travel and logistics”, and the fact that EPL is twice as long as IEM Cologne.

Still, August’s biggest tournament will be one to not miss. Featuring a total of 24 teams from all over the world, including 18 teams currently ranked among the top 20 world rankings from HLTV, EPL Season 14 is an incredibly packed event that will last four weeks. Below, you can see the four groups from EPL Season 14, as well as the 24 teams who will take part on the tournament:

If you also want to follow the lower-tier competitions, then keep an eye for ESEA Premier Season 38. The regional league will have its Australian, European and North American divisions kicking-off August 3^rd. That’s before the player break officially ends.

Now, we couldn’t finish August without mentioning the very interesting WePlay Academy League Season 1. While the event is already ongoing, its playoffs are going to be played on a LAN studio starting August 27^th. Keep an eye on that!

SEPTEMBER – Two premier CSGO tournaments; one possible LAN event

BLAST Premier Fall is the next circuit to be run by BLAST in CSGO

CSGO will see a busy September this year. EPL Season 14 will still be running at the start of the month. Then, just four days after it, BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2021 will be kicking off. The Fall Groups is the first stop of a three-tournament circuit that BLAST will host during the Fall season.

The BLAST Fall Groups will be featuring 12 teams, a $150,000 prize pool and six spots for the BLAST Fall Final. This event will most likely be played online, although BLAST hasn’t fully confirmed it yet. So, if the conditions allow it, we might see it becoming a studio LAN event.

However, BLAST isn’t the only one hosting a major event in their circuit in September. At the end of the month, ESL will be hosting IEM Fall 2021, and the company confirmed that they’re evaluating all options to make it an in-person competition.

As for the event itself, only one team has been guaranteed a spot so far – Mongolia’s Renewal – which qualified through DreamHack Open June Asia. More spots will be filled through invites and through the DreamHack Open circuit.

Talking about DreamHack Opens, September will also have two events of the series running. The DreamHack Open September will be running in two regions, North America and South America, and both regional events will kick-off on September 8^th.

That’s not all for September! The month will also see 28 teams heading to Elisa Invitational Fall 2021, which features a $100,000 prize pool.

OCTOBER – CSGO has gone two years without a Major

PGL Major marks the end of a two-year streak since the last CSGO Major

October will be another packed month for CSGO, but a very special one, too. After all, it has been two years since we last had a Major. Now, PGL aims to finally break that record.

Before the Major, however, there’s another premier event happening, making October even busier. BLAST Premier Fall Showdown will be starting on October 12^th, featuring 16 teams and a $162,500 prize pool. The event will also be the last tournament from BLAST before the highly-anticipated Fall Final. Just before the Major, two DreamHack Opens will be happening, too. DreamHack Open October Europe and Oceania are starting on October 13^th online.

Now, back to the PGL Major, there has been some troubling issues surfacing around it. Earlier this month, we saw DoTA 2’s The International being moved from Sweden. That happened due to the country’s current regulations on travels. Fortunately, PGL has already started discussions with the Swedish government in order to secure the CSGO Major in Stockholm.

A final decision has yet to be reached by both parties, but PGL seems to have the situation covered. The company has announced that they have “backup plans” in case Sweden isn’t able to attend the Major requirements, with two countries confirmed to be interested in hosting the Major in case Sweden can’t attend PGL’s requirements.

Moreover, PGL has made clear that the company wants to have a live crowd attending the Major playoffs. This means that the PGL Major will be the first tournament to see fan attendance since the online era started in early 2020, unless it’s postponed.

So, book it in your calendars. The PGL Major Stockholm (to be confirmed) is set to start on October 23rd.

NOVEMBER – Many LANs planned

DreamHack Opens are great events loved by the CSGO community

From August to October, some offline events are planned but they are surrounded by uncertainty. By November onwards, however, LANs hopefully will start becoming more and more common.

The month will start with the PGL Major reaching its playoffs. After the Major, it will be time for DreamHack Open Atlanta. The event is planned to be run at Georgia World Congress Center alongside with other activities that DreamHack used to host before the pandemic. We’re still waiting for more details from DreamHack, but expectations are high.

After Atlanta, it’ll be time to head to Budapest as the V4 Festival will be returning to CSGO this year. The event is confirmed to run in a LAN environment without crowds. It will be hosting 12 teams, and will pack a $380,000 prize pool.

Less than a week after V4 Festival 2021 ends, it will be then time to go to Denmark. The BLAST Premier Fall Final is planned to be hosted at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. Featuring live crowds and the eight best teams of the BLAST circuit competing for the $425,000 prize pool, the Fall Final is one of most anticipated events of the year.

And that’s not all for November. The month will end for CSGO with the return of DreamHack Open Winter 2021. Also planned to be played offline, the DHO Winter will see eight European teams competing for $100,000.

DECEMBER – Closing the year with a bang

While still far in the horizon, December already promises to be yet another packed month in CSGO. Right-off the bat, ESL will be hosting the $250,000 IEM Winter 2021, currently planned to be a LAN event held in Asia to feature sixteen teams.

After IEM Winter, then all eyes will be on the prestigious BLAST Premier World Final, set to start in December 14^th. The event will pack a $1,000,000 prize pool and eight teams. Two spots are already claimed by Gambit and Heroic.

Isn’t something missing?

Yes, this isn’t the full schedule of CSGO for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, Valve has yet to announce the second and third RMR events. These should take place sometime between late August and early October.

Besides the missing RMR events, we also predict that ESL will announce the IEM Global Challenge 2021 to follow-up last year’s Global Challenge. The event should be another premier tournament set to start in December, based on last year’s schedule. We could see it becoming a January 2022 event, though.

Also, we also didn’t forget about Relog Media’s events. The $100.000 series of events were called Nine-to-Five last year before becoming Snow Sweet Snow in 2021. Then Spring Sweet Spring, and now they are called Sun Sweet Sun. The series should continue for the rest of the year.

There’s also numerous smaller regional events happening every day, as well as leagues aimed at up-and-coming teams such as the ESEA MDL. We didn’t forget about them, but there are so many of tournaments like those that if we decided to mention all of them, this article would never come to an end!

In any case, these smaller events along with the premier competitions we’ve focused in this piece show how healthy the CSGO esports ecosystem is at the moment. If you’re a viewer, there’s no shortage of events to watch, and there’s a match to tune-in every hour.

So, if you want to get ready for the upcoming season of CSGO events, as well as everything esports, make sure to keep up with us here!

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MJunior

The author

My name is Marcos, I have been following the CSGO pro scene since 2015 but really got into in following games and pro teams in 2016. Used to bet a lot, stopped a bit but never stopped following the esports scene. I'm a student right now so I got a lot of time to keep with it and discover new things.