YEKINDAR: “I think Tier 1 tournaments have lost their value.”
FURIA rifler Marek “YEKINDAR” Galinskis reflected on the issue of the packed tournament schedule in the CS2 competitive scene in the latest episode of the Talking Counter podcast.
Sometimes I feel like I’m just going to lose my mind at some point. Right now, all the teams are caught up in an endless cycle of travel and tournaments. The current schedule is just crazy. I’m not even talking about the fact that FURIA attends every championship… It seems to me that Tier 1 tournaments have lost their value. Sure, there are the Majors and IEM Cologne, but all the other events are just the same old crap.
If a team makes it to the playoffs, they definitely won’t go home or to boot camp to rest, fix their mistakes, or improve their game. Absolutely everyone, even the champions, just heads straight to the next tournaments—problems keep piling up, and at some point, the roster falls apart. Of course, as long as your team is winning, everyone else has to play catch-up. That’s probably why Vitality is performing so well right now. I sincerely believe that they somehow find the time to adjust their approach to CS.
Yesterday, FURIA defeated BetBoom Team in their first match at the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 with a 2-0 map score. Today, the “Panthers” will face Legacy for a spot in the tournament’s playoffs—their match is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Moscow time.
Photo: StarLadder.
