With the fine tuning of the 2025 Counter-Strike 2 season and the wrap-up of a short post-Major player break, we look back at the powerhouse teams that won it all. Since January, 13 premier tournaments have shaped the Tier 1 scene, showcasing the extraordinary talents of CS2’s finest competitors
The most premium CS:GO tournaments, called tier 1 CS tournaments, are the live tournaments hosted by the best organizers in the industry in front of a live crowd in arenas around the world. The major esports organizations compete at these top-tier events for hefty prize pools and valuable Valve Regional Standings points for Major qualification.
Let us journey through the teams that have won Tier 1 tournaments in 2025 so far.
Team Spirit Starts Strong
After their Perfect World Shanghai Major victory in late 2024, Team Spirit is on winning form in 2025. After beating Fnatic and FlyQuest in the closed qualifiers, they entered the BLAST Bounty Season 1 LAN event. They won against HEROIC and NAVI before beating Eternal Fire 3-1 in the Grand Final for R5.1 million. Team Spirit’s win in Paris at the Intel Extreme Masters has placed them among CS2’s elite teams.
Vitality’s Rise to Dominance
The start of Team Vitality’s incredible run was at IEM Katowice 2025. The French outfit smashed the tournament, topping the groupes vs FaZe Clan and Virtus.pro, before eliminating The MongolZ in the semis. Their dominance culminated in a commanding 3-0 sweep against Team Spirit in the final, securing their first trophy of 2025 and second win in ESL Grand Slam Season 5.
MOUZ Claims PGL Cluj-Napoca
Although MOUZ went to PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 with the sixth highest placement in the Valve Regional Standings, they ultimately played well. They met Team Falcons in the Grand Final after winning over PaiN Gaming and Astralis in the playoffs. MOUZ controlled the series from the outset, claiming a convincing 3-1 victory to secure their first LAN win since May 2024.
Vitality’s Unstoppable Streak
Team Vitality continued their dominance at ESL Pro League Season 21, crushing their group without dropping a map. After they beat Team Liquid in the quarter-finals, they face The MongolZ in the semi-finals. This is the only team to take a map off them. Vitality triumphed against MOUZ in the Grand Final to clinch their first Pro League title since 2022.
Shortly after, they continued their victorious ways with the BLAST Open Lisbon 2025. After going flawless in the group stage yet again, Vitality beat Team Spirit 2-1 in the semi-final before edging MOUZ 3-2 in the Grand Final after five maps. Gaining this win will earn them extra Frequent Flyer Points for BLAST’s R37 million revenue-share programme.
Team Falcons Rises in Bucharest
PGL Bucharest 2025: Team Falcons bounce back from back-to-back losses by securing triumphs over PaiN Gaming, Rare Atom, and The MongolZ to secure a playoff spot. They progressed through the bracket by knocking out GamerLegion and FaZe Clan and then sweeping G2 Esports 3-0 in the final. This victory was Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif’s last game for Team Falcons.
Vitality’s Grand Slam Achievement
Team Vitality has added IEM Melbourne 2025 to their 2023 trophy cabinet after edging out a new-look Team Falcons in a five-map Grand Final. Following this victory, Vitality achieved the ESL Grand Slam Season 5, which gave them a prize of R18.6 million.
The French powerhouse continued their rampage at BLAST Rivals Spring 2025, topping their group with wins over Wildcard and MOUZ. After winning against Team Spirit in the semi-finals, they faced Team Falcons in another five-map thriller and won again. Star AWPer Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut earned his fifth consecutive HLTV MVP award, bringing his career total to 25.
Team Spirit Returns to Glory
Team Spirit was back in winning form after the PGL Astana 2025 as they breezed through groups before defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas and FURIA to reach the Grand Final. At this place, they defeated Astralis by a score of 3-1, with Donk winning his second MVP award of the year.
Vitality’s Major Triumph
Team Vitality managed to secure yet another title after winning the IEM Dallas 2025. This victory in the Grand Final against MOUZ came via a clinical 3-0 sweep. They also suffered a shock loss to Legacy that ended their winning streak, which had lasted for a total of 30 matches. However, they got back on track after that. After that defeat, they beat Nemiga Gaming, 3DMAX, and Virtus.pro before beating NAVI in the semifinal. Vitality then faced MOUZ again in the Grand Final and took the title. Their victory is set to strengthen their performance at the BLAST.tv Austin Major2025. They triumphed over The MongolZ to secure their second CS2 Major title and seventh tournament victory in 2025, with ZywOo winning his second Major MVP.
The Tide Begins to Turn
After the players’ break and post-Major, we saw Team Spirit get back to form at IEM Cologne 2025. After MOUZ knocked Vitality out of the competition in the semi-finals, the Grand Final was “spiritual” to Spirit defeated G2 3-0. Ivan ‘zweih’ Gogin who joined in the team in July triumphed for the first time in Tier 1.
Team Spirit continued their winning streak by beating Virtus.pro and MOUZ at the BLAST Bounty Season 2 2025 before edging past The MongolZ at the Grand Final. As Vitality stumbles in the semi-finals, you have to wonder if the French organisation’s era is coming to an end?