PGL Astana 2025 guide: teams, format and how to watch

Following two successful events in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, PGL Astana 2025 is the third event organised by the event operator this year.

Sixteen teams from across the world will head to Astana, Kazakhstan, for a chance to compete against world-class talent and a chance to win the lion’s share of the $625,000 (~£467,487) prize pool.

With the stage set, here’s everything there is to know about PGL Astana 2025.

Twelve of the 16 teams in attendance are determined by the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) published on March 25th, 2025.

In addition to teams from the VRS, four teams from European, Asian, and American qualifiers will compete. Due to Counter-Strike 2’s congested tournament schedule ahead of the BLAST.tv Austin Major, the likes of Team Vitality, FaZe Clan and Team Falcons have chosen not to participate.

Below is the full PGL Astana 2025 team list:

The Group Stage, taking place from May 10th to 14th, will see all 16 teams compete in a Swiss system format.

Round 1 sees the teams drawn randomly against each other, with wins and losses determining which teams will face each other in the second round.

In total, five rounds of matches will be played, with the top eight teams advancing to the Playoffs.

The Playoffs will use a single-elimination, best-of-three bracket until the Grand Final, which uses a best-of-five series to determine the event winner.

With several top-ranked teams not attending, PGL Astana is an excellent opportunity for other teams to showcase their skills ahead of the Major.

Following Ilya ‘M0NESY’ Osipov‘s big money move to Team Falcons, a new-look G2 Esports aims to build on its second-place finish at PGL Bucharest with Polish loanee Aleksander ‘hades’ Miśkiewicz joining the team until the end of June.

Another team preparing to compete with a new lineup is Astralis, which benched in-game leader Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller in April. Standing in for PGL Astana is Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen who has remained inactive after being benched by G2 in July 2024.

PGL Astana 2025 will be broadcast on the organiser’s Twitch, YouTube and Kick channels which will also show spoiler-free replays of each day once live action has concluded.

For those interested in attending the event, tickets are still available to purchase here.