Ivan Larsen 
CS: GO is a thriving esport with dozens of essential tournaments yearly. In 2022, this fantastic game has already offered us one Major and two other $1 million events: IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne.
Whenever a big tournament occurs, there are lots of opportunities to watch high-level action and place bets on CS: GO. CS:GO betting is one of the most popular wager options in esports.
Even though we’ve passed the middle of the 2022 season, a lot of hyped competitions are still ahead. So here are the CS: GO events to watch until the end of the year.
S-Tier Events
S-tier tournaments are the biggest and most spectacular CS: GO tournaments you can watch. They usually have massive prize pools and bring together the strongest teams on the planet.
Aug. 19th – 28th: BLAST Premier Fall Groups
This tournament consists of three separate brackets. The number of participants is 12, and the teams’ goal is to finish 1st or 2nd in their frame. The top 2 teams advance to BLAST Premier Fall Finals. The remaining ones get one more chance to qualify for that tournament by competing in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown.
Aug. 31st – Oct. 2nd: ESL Pro League Season 16
With more than $800,000 in prize money, ESL Pro League Season 16 is almost as crucial as a Major. The number of participants is 24, and the competitive format generates a lot of matches. The teams are divided into groups of 6, and each of those groups uses the round-robin format. On top of that, every game is Bo3.
Teams like Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, and G2 Esports will attend this tournament. In every group, only three teams will advance to the playoffs. As is often the case in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the winner of each group will be offered a privileged spot in the playoffs and skip the first round of matches.
The competition’s winner receives tickets to IEM Katowice 2023 and BLAST World Final 2022.
Oct. 31st – Nov. 13th: IEM Rio Major
IEM Rio Major 2022 will be the 2nd CS: GO Major of the year. Its prize pool is $1 million, and the number of teams participating in it is 24. This tournament has all the features of a Major, including the classic 3-stage format.
Stage 1 is called The Challengers Stage. It includes 16 teams and uses the Swiss System format. This means that each day, there will be eight matches. Every match is played between two teams with identical records. So a 1 W – 0 L team plays against a 1 W – 0 L opponent. And so on. Most of the matches are Bo1. The elimination and qualification matches are Bo3.
Stage 2 is called The Legends Stage and is identical to the first. The only difference is that stage 2 features the eight teams with Legend status, while the first stage is a battle between the 8 Challengers and the 8 Contenders. The level of each group is decided based on qualifier results.
Only eight advanced out of the 16 teams that participated in stage 1. The same thing is true for stage 2.
The 3rd and final stage of the tournament is called The Champions Stage. It features just eight competitors instead of 16, and its format is single-elimination. Every match is Bo3.
IEM Rio Major will be an excellent opportunity to watch the likes of FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, and Astralis compete in a vast arena in front of a passionate Brazilian crowd.
This country is famous for football, which is for Brazilians what Basketball or Baseball is for Americans, but CS: GO is quickly becoming a significant phenomenon as well.
Nov. 16th – 20th: Elisa Masters Espoo
Elisa Masters Espoo is probably a minor S-tier event of the year, and it will mostly be neglected because it was scheduled a bit too close to the Major. However, this doesn’t mean it won’t be a great event. On the contrary, the action should be exciting as long as a few strong teams participate.
This tournament takes place in Finland, where CS: GO is becoming more and more popular thanks to the success obtained by teams like ENCE.
Nov. 23rd – 27th: BLAST Premier: Fall Finals
BLAST Premier: Fall Finals will be the last CS: GO event in this series before the BLAST Premier: World Final. The competition offers $425,000 in prize money and brings together eight strong teams.
One of the qualities of BLAST Premier tournaments is their conciseness. They usually only last for 3-5 days, but every match is exciting because of the strength of each participant. Only the best of the best will get to play, and that’s good for the crowd. There are no boring matches to watch here.
Dec. 14th – 18th: BLAST Premier: World Final
This tournament concludes the CS: GO season, and its location will be Abu Dhabi. Only eight teams will participate; the prize pool is $1 million. It’s always a pleasure to watch some high-level CS: GO right before the end of the year, and BLAST Premier: World Final never disappoints.
For this year’s edition, two competitors have already been decided. They are Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan, the 2 strongest teams in CS: GO right now. The other six will be revealed along the way.
A-Tier Events
A-tier CS: GO events are smaller and offer prizes ranging from $100K to $150K. However, they still feature some of the world’s best teams, as well as many newcomers trying to make a name for themselves. Here’s a list of the A-tier events that are left for this year:
- Sep. 2nd – 4th: ESL Challenger at DreamHack Melbourne
- Sep. 9th – 11th: Fragadelphia 17
- Oct. 13th – 16th: FiReLEAGUE 2022: Global Finals
- Oct. 14th – 16th: ESL Challenger at DreamHack Rotterdam
- Oct. 19th – 23rd: BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown
- Nov. 25th – 27th: ESL Impact League Season 2
If you enjoy watching teams from the 25th – 50th section of the global rankings, these CS: GO tournaments will provide you with many exciting matches.
