CS2 Major Simulator

How the Major format works

How does a Swiss stage work?

Each stage has 16 teams, and teams only play opponents with the same record. Three wins puts a team through, three losses sends it home, so everyone plays three to five matches. A match where a team can go through or go out is Bo3, everything else is Bo1. In Stage 3 every match is Bo3.

What is Buchholz?

Buchholz, or difficulty score in Valve's rulebook, is your opponents' current wins minus their current losses, added up. If you beat two teams that are now 2-0 and 1-1, your score is 3 - 1 = 2. It changes after every round because your old opponents keep playing. Among teams with the same record, the one with more Buchholz is seeded higher.

How are the matchups decided?

Round 1 is seed 1 vs 9, 2 vs 10 and so on down to 8 vs 16. After that, teams with the same record are ranked by Buchholz, then by starting seed. In rounds 2 and 3 the top team plays the lowest team it hasn't played yet, then the next pair is drawn from who is left. In rounds 4 and 5 each record has six teams, and Valve uses the fixed order below: the first row without a rematch is used.

Which teams start in which stage?

Valve invites all 32 teams from the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) of 2 November 2026, with a set number of spots per region. The top invites start in Stage 3, the next 8 in Stage 2 and the other 16 in Stage 1. Teams that get through a stage become seeds 9 to 16 of the next one, in the order they finished.

How are the playoffs seeded?

The Stage 3 standings give seeds 1 to 8. Seed 1 plays 8 and 4 plays 5 in one half, 2 plays 7 and 3 plays 6 in the other. Quarterfinals, semifinals and the third-place match are Bo3, the grand final is Bo5.

Why did a team I didn't pick win?

With Start with favourites, a match nobody has picked goes to the team ranked higher in the VRS, so the bracket is always complete. With Fresh start, matches stay empty until you pick them, and each round is drawn once the one before it has every winner. Picking either option starts the whole bracket over. Randomize gives every match that isn't locked a random result weighted by VRS rank, and keeps the earlier results a locked match depends on. Matches won by the lower-ranked team get a dotted orange outline.

Are my picks saved?

Yes, in this browser: your starting point, your picks, your locks and the last random roll. Back to favourites (Clear results with Fresh start) resets every match of the stage that isn't locked, Unlock all turns your locks back into normal picks.