PGL Astana reminds us that Counter-Strike should look at its gilded past as it builds for the future

More operators, more tournaments, more regions, more variety, more competition.

It should be celebrated as a victory that, when the PGL Astana roster was revealed, it featured teams like Spirit, Natus Vincere, Aurora, G2, and The MongolZ among the invitees, turning what was initially feared to become a lower-tier event due to a boycott of the Romanian TO from top organizations into another exciting tournament in what's once again becoming a more vibrant circuit.

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Right after MESA put together their second-tier Nomadic Masters in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with teams like BIG and HEROIC present, PGL are breaking ground and opening a new market in Kazakhstan. Sandwiched between IEM Melbourne and the BLAST.tv Austin Major in the United States, this stop in Central Asia is reminiscent of the pre-pandemic days of Counter-Strike, an era many remember fondly as the game’s golden age, when competition from different operators made the game truly global before the ESL/BLAST duopoly consolidated the world tour into recurring yearly events with the same formats in the same cities.

Now that PGL Astana has secured some of the world’s elite teams, we’ll also get to see how an event of this stature fares in a country that has a long Counter-Strike tradition and has even given us a Major MVP, Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev, who won the honors at PGL Krakow 2017.

Kazakhstani fans will finally get a taste of how the game at the highest level is best enjoyed: In an arena, with the best teams in the world competing against each other. And fans who have the Central Asian country on their bucket list now have the perfect excuse to make the trip.

There are no assurances that the event will be a success despite Counter-Strike's popularity in Kazakhstan — where local players are often dotted in Russian-speaking teams and the country's latest export even became FURIA's AWPer in a shock intercontinental move — or from the fact that it will take place at the fairly new 12,000 seat Barys Arena, home of Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League, which will make watching along to see how the tournament fares also be a part of its allure.

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FURIA sign molodoy

Its proximity to Russia shouldn't be overlooked, either, as it will also give a population starved of international Counter-Strike due to its government's invasion of Ukraine the chance to watch the world's best play in the country next door, which is made even more alluring by the participation of Spirit and Virtus.pro.

What some remember as Counter-Strike's golden age is marked by its growth during the Ninjas in Pyjamas era, fnatic’s takeover in 2015-2016 followed by the rise of Brazilian CS, and Astralis’ dominance which included feats like winning the first Intel Grand Slam and three consecutive Majors in 2018-2019. But it's also remembered for the adventurous nature of TOs, which were not only establishing their home venues and making them iconic landmarks on the Counter-Strike map, but also exploring what countries, cities, and fanbases respond to the game.

There were hits, like ESL One Belo Horizonte or taking the Pro League finals to Brazil, and there were misses, like DreamHack Masters Marseille or BLAST Pro Series Madrid. Some events have become transcendental because of the mythos that has been created around them over time, such as IEM Cologne's LANXESS Arena becoming the cathedral of Counter-Strike.

Other events are remembered as a flash in the pan, fizzling out after a few years; IEM Oakland or ESL One New York, to name a couple. Many came and went, such as the resort tournaments from Mexico to Turkey. Some overstay their due. Looking at you, ESL Pro League in Malta. BLAST Pro Series was a flop in Miami, but it also gave us the Royal Arena in Copenhagen as an iconic CS venue.

That time of exploration, and at times wacky and odd-ball tournaments in different settings and with different formats delivered memorable moments. ESG Tour Mykonos gave us beautiful views of the Aegean and a theme song that spawned a 10-hour loop of it on YouTube. ECS traveled to Cancun, where Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Pala "⁠Pala⁠" Gilroy Sen went jetskiing, and we went full serious when Turner Broadcasting took Counter-Strike off the streets, brought it to its state-of-the-art ELEAGUE Studio in Atlanta, and then hosted the first two-city Major in Atlanta and Boston.

So far, in 2025, we’ve had BLAST Bounty introducing a new format, one of the yearly classics at IEM Katowice, and an ESL Pro League — and although it has gotten stale over the years as ESL wring maximum profit out of a product that has gone on for too long, it will be getting an overhaul starting in 2026. PGL is going into its third event after we saw Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov win his first title and MVP in Bucharest before getting the boot from Falcons, and we went Down Under to see Vitality continue dominating.

Now, we get to travel to a new country for a Big Event following up on BLAST hosting their 2024 World Finals in Singapore. And, unlike the previous pantomime of empty arenas in the United Arab Emirates or the constant controversy surrounding the Saudi Arabian government trying to buy the whole game out, Kazakhstan is a country with a rich Counter-Strike history. So here’s to breaking new ground, again.