FISSURE Playground 2 (CS2): Dates, Venue, Format, Teams & Prize Pool

FISSURE Playground 2 (CS2): Dates, Venue, Format, Teams & Prize Pool

Event Summary:
FISSURE Playground 2 is a Tier‑1 LAN tournament for Counter‑Strike 2, scheduled to take place from September 12 to September 21, 2025, in Belgrade, Serbia, at the Belgrade Arena (Štark Arena). The tournament brings together 16 teams to compete for a share of a $1,250,000 prize pool.

Venue Details:
The venue is the Belgrade Arena, a multipurpose indoor arena in Novi Beograd, with a capacity exceeding 18,000 spectators.

Format & Structure:

Group Stage (Swiss Format):

Runs from September 12–17.

16 teams compete in a best-of-three Swiss system.

Top 8 teams move on to the playoffs.

Playoffs:

Held from September 19–21.

Single-elimination bracket: quarterfinals and semifinals are Bo3; grand final is Bo5.

• Prize Distribution:
  Total prize pool stands at $1,250,000.
  According to Liquipedia and Bo3.gg, breakdown is as follows:

1st place: $200,000

2nd place: $100,000

3rd–4th: $40,000 each

5th–8th: $17,500 each

9th–11th: $10,000 each

12th–14th: $5,000 each

15th–16th: $2,500 each

Participating Teams:
The tournament will feature a competitive lineup of 16 teams, including:

The MongolZ (highest-ranked present, runners-up at the Blast.tv Austin Major)

FaZe Clan

Team Liquid

G2 Esports

FURIA

Team Falcons

Aurora Gaming

GamerLegion

3DMAX

Virtus.pro

Astralis

TYLOO (defending FISSURE Playground champions)
…and four more teams yet to be announced.

This announcement covers the second wave of invites; a total of 12 of the 16 teams are now confirmed.

Context & Rival Event:
FISSURE Playground 2 clashes with the StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025, creating a scheduling conflict as both use July's Valve Regional Standings (VRS) for invitation distribution. Teams in the top 10 of VRS must make strategic choices about which event to attend for qualification points.

Additional Insights & Community Reactions

While direct player quotes from reliable sources were not found yet, there are grassroots discussions on Reddit providing valuable community insight:

• “Any team not skipping Bounty is just dumb imo. 4 tournaments in a row all different parts of the world is just stupid.”
  — schoki560

• “They could go to the Starladder tournament… attending Starladder instead gives them a full extra week of break after BLAST Open.”
  — aktivera

• These remarks illustrate the tight scheduling pressure teams face, affecting their decisions on participation.