The tournament is a clash of underdogs and big Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams. The prize pool is quite impressive.
On one hand, CS2 Thunderpick World Championship 2025 has only eight participants. Some top teams decided to skip it. On the other hand, the very format makes the event interesting to follow.
The invited participants are most likely to secure the biggest piece of the $850,000 prize pool. Still, the qualified teams have a chance to showcase their power, beat one of the favorites, and open doors for themselves to progress in top CS2 esports.
With the two tournament stages, the main theme of Thunderpick World Championship 2025 shifts from “underdogs vs the favorites” to “the top teams battle for big cash”.
Where to watch CS2 Thunderpick World Championship 2025: Stream
Schedule
The tournament goes on for five days, from Oct. 15 to Oct. 19. This period includes the Group Stage and the Playoffs. The detailed schedule of CS2 Thunderpick World Championship 2025 is in the table below.
Date | Start time | Tournament stage | Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 15 | 10:30 a.m. CEST / 4:30 a.m. ET | Groups: Opening matches | FURIA vs OG MongolZ vs 9z NAVI vs Imperial Aurora vs Venom |
| Oct. 16 | 10:30 a.m. CEST / 4:30 a.m. ET | Groups: Advancement and elimination | TBD vs TBD TBD vs TBD TBD vs TBD TBD vs TBD |
| Oct. 17 | 3 p.m. CEST / 9 a.m. ET | Groups: Decider matches | TBD vs TBD TBD vs TBD |
| Oct. 18 | 4 p.m. CEST / 10 a.m. ET | Semifinals | TBD vs TBD TBD vs TBD |
| Oct. 19 | 1:30 p.m. CEST / 7:30 a.m. ET | Third-place match and grand final | TBD vs TBD TBD vs TBD |
Talent
People who work on the stream are shown in the image below: analyst desk, casters, hosts, and an interviewer.
Results of CS2 Thunderpick World Championship 2025
In this section, you’ll find the tournament results.
The final standings table shows the prize money division between players and the club, which is a pretty unique feature for the event.
Final Standings
Placement | Team | Prize money Club share | Prize money Player share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | TBD | $300,000 | $200,00 |
| 2nd | TBD | $90,000 | $60,000 |
| 3rd | TBD | $42,000 | $28,000 |
| 4th | TBD | $30,000 | $20,000 |
| 5th–6th | TBD | $12,000 | $8,000 |
| 7th–8th | TBD | $12,000 | $8,000 |
Groups
The eight teams competing in the CS2 Thunderpick World Championship 2025 are divided into two groups. After a series of double-elimination matches, the two top teams from each group advance further.
Stage | Group A | Group B |
|---|---|---|
| Opening matches | FURIA vs OG | NAVI vs Imperial |
| Opening matches | The MongolZ vs 9z | Aurora vs Venom |
| Advancement | TBD vs TBD | TBD vs TBD |
| Elimination | TBD vs TBD | TBD vs TBD |
| Deciders | TBD vs TBD | TBD vs TBD |
Brackets
The final Playoffs are pretty short: two semifinals, a match for third place, and the grand final.
Semifinals | Third Place Match | Grand Final |
|---|---|---|
| TBD vs TBD | TBD vs TBD | TBD vs TBD |
| TBD vs TBD |
A nice chance for smaller teams
It is really great to see the CS2 esports industry being open to fresh names. At EPL Season 22, some generally unknown teams had a blast of a tournament run, including spectacular upsets.
In a way, the first stage of the Thunderpick World Championship is all about this opportunity. Those smaller teams made it through closed qualifiers, and here they are, facing the biggest organizations in Counter-Strike.
Witnessing battles of the top teams is also interesting — and probably, this is the story for the short Playoffs.
The top favorites: Tournament preview
There are four invited teams at this CS2 esports event. An interesting thing about them is that it’s really hard to point at the obvious favorite.
- The MongolZ won the Esports World Cup 2025, but they could not qualify for the EPL C22 Playoffs. Their losses were mainly to underdogs.
- NAVI is on the rollercoaster right now. They reached the top 4 at IEM Cologne 2025, but then experienced a downfall of results, including skipping the final parts at BLAST Bounty Fall, the EWC, and BLAST Open Fall.
- Aurora may seem like a smaller team, but they were in the grand final of the EWC 2025.
- FURIA may have the best winning chances — on paper. They defeated The MongolZ in the grand final of FISSURE Playground #2 and had a great run at EPL S22, stopped only by Vitality.
The next opportunity to witness a lower-tier CS2 esports competition is PGL Masters Bucharest 2025, from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1. Despite $625,000 in the prize pool, only Aurora among the top teams attends the event.
All the top dogs gather in China for Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2025. The event is from Nov. 3 to Nov. 9.
