Season 23 of the CS2 ESL Pro League brings a substantial change, and not all teams like it. That was reflected in the list of participants.
This Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) esports tournament is one of the biggest in the yearly schedule. This status is mainly supported by the ESL Grand Slam VI competition and the desire of top teams to battle for its 1,000,000 prize pool. Beyond it, ESL Pro League Season 23 features a weird downgrade.
Stage 1 moves into an online dimension, while even Season 22 had LAN matches. This certainly affects the competitive and viewership experiences.
ESL revealed a list of invited teams, and two big esports organizations are missing on it. Team Vitality and Team Falcons declined their EPL Season 23 invites. The reasons are unclear, though, as they can be connected to the tight schedule — the next CS2 event starts in just two days after the grand final.
Winners of this situation are Passion UA and Ninjas in Pyjamas, who received invites to Stage 1. Also, Aurora Gaming and B8 got promoted to Stage 2 participants.
All teams invited to CS2 esports ESL Pro League Season 23
The full lineup of teams at EPL Season 23 is shown in the image below.
Stage 1 teams at EPL Season 23
| Legacy | Astralis | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Gaimin Gladiators |
| G2 Esports | HEROIC | Passion UA | SemperFi Esports |
| Team Liquid | paiN Gaming | PARIVISION | M80 |
| 3DMAX | FUT Esports | NRG | Monte |
Some pretty strong teams start from the online stage at ESL Pro League Season 23.
- G2 Esports won BLAST Open Fall 2025. The players still suffer with inconsistency, so they are seeded low at this and some previous events such as IEM Krakow 2025.
- Legacy had ups and downs in 2025. They won CS Asia Championships 2025 but then couldn’t advance even to Stage 2 at Budapest Major 2025.
In addition to the teams with high VRS global placements, the list of participants includes winners of regional qualifiers: the ESL Challenger League Season 50 and DreamHack Knockout tournaments.
- M80 had a great start at the Budapest Major, but then they crumbled under the pressure of Stage 2.
- Monte is generally an obscure team, but these players already managed to defeat NAVI at BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 — and eliminated them in the online qualifier.
Stage 2: The top CS2 esports teams at ESL Pro League Season 23
| FURIA | FaZe Clan |
| Team Spirit | The MongolZ |
| Natus Vincere | Aurora Gaming |
| MOUZ | B8 |
Team Vitality won EPL Season 22. They defeated Team Falcons in the grand final. Both these CS2 esports powerhouses skip Season 23.
With them being out, FURIA become arguably the biggest favorites for the win. We still need to see the form of this CS2 team at the start of the competitive season 2026 — after an almost miraculous second half of 2025.
MOUZ and Spirit also should get favorable odds from esports bookmakers. Spirit won IEM Cologne 2025, where they defeated MOUZ in the grand final.
After losing to underdogs in the online qualifier of BLAST Bounty Winter 2026, NAVI and FaZe Clan should prove they deserve their high seed at EPL Season 23.
As a tournament organizer, ESL FACIT GROUP has a busy first half of 2026. In addition to Pro League Season 23, we can witness Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) events in Kraków, Rio, Atlanta, and Cologne.
IEM Cologne 2026 got the status of a CS2 Major! It happens from June 2 to June 21.