Sports Press

BLAST Open Fall Restarts the Counter-Strike Season on 26 August With the Singapore Major Ten Weeks Away

Sixteen teams open the autumn schedule on Wednesday for a 400,000 dollar prize pool, the first of four events that shape seeding before the year ends in Kallang.

BLAST Open Fall 2026 runs 26 August to 6 September, bringing 16 teams back together for a 400,000 dollar prize pool and restarting a Counter-Strike season that has been quiet since the Esports World Cup finished.

The autumn calendar

Event Dates Prize pool Teams
BLAST Open Fall 26 August - 6 September $400,000 16
StarLadder StarSeries Fall 17-20 September $250,000 8
ESL Pro League Season 24 3-11 October - -
Thunderpick World Championship 14-18 October - -

ESL Pro League Season 24 is in Katowice. Between these events sit a run of regional qualifiers, which is where smaller organisations get their route into the tier-one calendar.

What it is all leading to

The season ends at the PGL Major Singapore 2026, held 25 November to 13 December in Kallang with 32 teams and a 1.25 million dollar prize pool. It is the second Major of the year and the first in Southeast Asia in this cycle, which makes the autumn circuit unusually relevant for regional audiences - ranking points earned between now and November decide who is in that arena.

Form going in

Team Vitality hold back-to-back Major titles from Austin and Budapest in 2025 and won again at IEM Cologne earlier this year, the fifth CS2 Major. The map pool has also changed: Valve replaced Train with Anubis in the Active Duty pool in January 2026, and Stage 3 of a Major is now played entirely as best-of-three - a format change that rewards depth of map pool over a single practised veto.

Following it on Playdash

Playdash prices every BLAST Open Fall series with match winner, map handicap and correct-score markets, plus map winner, total rounds, pistol round and first-to-five specials. Event outrights and to-reach-the-playoffs markets run through the autumn circuit, and Major qualification and PGL Major Singapore outrights open as ranking positions settle.

Tournament dates, prize pools and format changes as published in the 2026 CS2 calendar. Fields and seedings for the later autumn events were not final at the time of writing on 25 August 2026.

BLAST Open Fall 2026 dates teams CS2 autumn 2026 tournament calendar StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 ESL Pro League Season 24 Katowice Thunderpick World Championship 2026 road to PGL Major Singapore Playdash esports betting Playdash CS2 markets