wrote this a while ago to someone else.
Heres a website to see past tournaments easier if you’re new.
https://liquipedia.net/counterstrike/S-Tier_Tournaments
Events:
S+: Majors - sponsored by Valve and chosen TO organizes it (2 per year typically one usually in Summer and one in Winter); IEM Katowice (Feb/March) and Cologne (July/August) - events that feel like a major but not technically (organized by ESL); Blast World Final (typically in December) - slightly under the previous events imo in terms of hype and prestigiousness but still huge event (organized by Blast ofc)
Edit: World Finals will not exist next year. Due to the open circuit rule that will start in 2025, Blast redesigned their events (Bounty, Open, Rivals) for two seasons. I think Open will be the next S+ event by Blast, but we will see.
S: Blast Spring Final and Fall Final - season big events, Fall final is little more hype usually since it is in Copenhagen Royal Arena with a bigger CS audience; IEM events - big events but not as huge as Cologne or Katowice, around 3-4 events spread out per year, location depends but some in the past were in Sydney, Rio, Beijing, Dallas (very common per year), etc.
Edit: Again, these Blast Finals event will not exist next year. Due to the open circuit rule that will start in 2025, Blast redesigned their events (Bounty, Open, Rivals). I think Bounty and Rivals will both be S tier. (If you’re interested how these events work, its on Blast’s youtube channel)
S-: ESL Pro League (variable time every year)- this is borderline to S tier as it has a big prizepool, but this is a chill event, however games are still very hype typically; Blast Spring and Fall Groups - big events to get qualified to Blast Spring Finals and Fall Finals. If you bomb out, you get another chance to qualify through Blast Spring and Final Showdown which is basically LCQ; Gamers8 - new organizer event that was added recently with a huge prizepool but the event itself is smaller than the rest (unsure if this event will continue next year and so forth).
Edit: Blast Groups/Showdown will not exist next year. Gamers8 is now EWC and can be argued to be S tier, but for me it is still S- tier due to be lower in hype personally.
Rest are A or below tier you can find on the link. If you think this is a lot, there used to be more events back then 2015-2019. My thoughts is that I like how many events there is because I can always watch many good events throughout the year.
Edit:
All these TOs entering/reentering CS in 2025, Starladder, PGL, Skyesports, Perfect World, etc; these events seems to be good with hugh prizepools but for now we need to see them first before we rank them. I have higher expectations for PGL due to their CS event experience, so they may be S tier. The rest are probably S- tier or below. It is insane though that most of these are at least a million in prizepools.