The FISSURE Playground #1, a Counter-Strike 2 tournament, kicks off July 15–20, 2025, in Belgrade, Serbia. With a $1,000,000 prize pool, it sounds exciting. But most fans and top teams aren’t interested. Held too soon after the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, it clashes with prep for IEM Cologne 2025. Plus, its Russian-linked organizer and sponsor raise concerns for the Ukrainian organizations B8 and NAVI. With only one top-10 team, FURIA, this event feels like a miss. Here’s why FISSURE Playground #1 is struggling to matter.

Weak team lineup

Only one top-10 team, FURIA, accepted FISSURE’s invite, per recent Valve rankings. Eight top-20 teams – GamerLegion, HEROIC, 3DMAX, Virtus.pro, Astralis, paiN, Lynn Vision, and TYLOO – join them, alongside lower-ranked squads like MIBR, SAW, and Rare Atom. HEROIC and GamerLegion are rebuilding with new rosters, and Virtus.pro debuts Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy, but these storylines don’t match the draw of big teams or Cologne itself.

Bad timing

The tournament starts just three weeks after the Austin Major ends. Teams are exhausted from the first half of 2025. Top squads like Vitality, MOUZ, Falcons, and Spirit want to rest and prepare for IEM Cologne, a bigger event with the main stage starting July 26. Cologne offers more Valve Regional Standings points and prestige. FISSURE’s $1,000,000 prize is tempting, but the possibility of upset and loss of the points versus a weaker opponent looks discouraging. 

Russian ties 

FISSURE, the tournament organizer, claims to be Serbian but has deep Russian roots. Most of its staff are Russian, and it previously ran BetBoom Dacha events. The sponsor, BetBoom, is a Russian bookmaker operating in occupied Ukrainian territories, which has sparked backlash. Ukrainian team B8 refused to attend it, citing FISSURE’s ties. It's easy to imagine that NAVI didn’t even consider the event for similar reasons, though they haven’t confirmed it.

Lessons for FISSURE

FISSURE Playground #1 showed some clear problems. The timing was bad. It came just after a big event and before another important one. The teams were tired and wanted to rest. This made many top teams skip the tournament.

The Russian links also caused trouble. Teams, like B8 and NAVI, chose not to join because of this. It hurt the event’s reputation. For the future, FISSURE needs to pick better dates. They should avoid clashing with big tournaments. This will help attract more top teams.

They also need to think about their sponsors and partners. Choosing companies without political issues can make the event more welcoming. FISSURE Playground 2 is planned for September 2025, but already sees the schedule clash with StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025 and will definitely not be able to attract all top teams.

FISSURE had a chance to make waves in CS2’s packed 2025 calendar. A $1,000,000 prize and Belgrade’s Sava Centar arena promised a big stage. But poor timing and controversy sank its appeal. If top teams like Vitality or at least G2 had joined it could’ve been a hit. Instead, it’s a stepping stone for teams like paiN or 3DMAX to grab VRS points, not a must-watch event.