PGL Astana 2025 Power Rankings: Spirit’s to lose?

It’s time for PGL Astana 2025, with an eye-watering $1.25 million up for grabs for 16 teams to compete for. PGL events have been some of the best in the 2025 CS2 calendar so far. Despite many of the best teams choosing to skip out on these tournaments, they always seem to deliver the goods regardless.

With Vitality declining their invite to PGL Astana, it’s an opportunity for another team to get their first taste of glory in 2025. Of the teams in attendance, only Team Spirit have won an event this year, which is why every other team will be chomping at the bit at the chance to secure some silverware. You can find all our PGL Astana 2025 Power Rankings for all 16 teams below!

PGL Astana is Team Spirit’s to lose

Even in the midst of Vitality’s utter dominance, I can’t remember a Tier 1 event with a clear favorite quite like Team Spirit at PGL Astana 2025. If you take one look at the teams in attendance, donk and friends are the ones with the most firepower by a country mile. Sure, the likes of Aurora and The MongolZ are a threat, but even they shouldn’t have what it takes to stop Team Spirit lifting the trophy at PGL Astana – neither team has pushed on like we expected them to in 2025.

Although some believe that Team Spirit will be due for a roster change after the BLAST.tv Austin Major, this is an excellent opportunity to shut down the critics and respond by tasting glory for the first time this year since BLAST Bounty Season 1. Frankly, considering the level of opposition at PGL Astana, I’d almost be more concerned if they didn’t win this event. It really feels like it’s Team Spirit’s to lose, which is why they’re top of my PGL Astana 2025 Power Rankings.

HooXi makes his return, but Astralis are in dire straits

One of the main storylines at PGL Astana 2025 is Astralis. Just, everything Astralis. They’ve been an utter flop throughout 2025, although they come into this event with a change of leadership. After almost a year away from competitive play, former G2 IGL HooXi is back on the server, filling in for Astralis to help them navigate a tough period. Will it be enough to solve the team’s many, many problems? I’m not entirely convinced, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see how he gets the best out of Astralis’ strongest pieces. They’ve looked much less than the sum of their parts for some time now, so HooXi’s addition feels like a final roll of the dice for this core.

Astralis’ attendance at PGL Astana 2025 comes under the shadow of rumored financial peril for the four-time Major-winning organization. There were even some rumblings that Astralis’ roster may play under a new name at PGL Astana, although that seems unlikely at this late stage. Regardless, it could be the last time we ever see Astralis – will this pressure get to the players? Or will it give them a newfound freedom to play without the pressure that they’ve been crushed by time and time again in recent years? Let’s wait and see.

Potential PGL Astana 2025 underdogs

A couple of teams are heading to PGL Astana 2025 who, while they won’t win the trophy, could be fascinating underdogs to follow. The first is G2. It’s set to be hades’ first event in the active lineup, and it will be interesting to see how big the fall off is without m0NESY. If it clicks, G2 could be one to keep an eye on, and if it doesn’t, there’s a high chance that the total crash and burn will be must-watch stuff regardless.

You should also keep an eye on Ninjas in Pyjamas. Having overhauled their roster at the start of the year, they’ve been doing the Tier 2 online grind for the past few months, only now having climbed high enough to begin receiving direct event invites through the Valve Regional Standings. They earned their Astana place through open qualifiers, arguably the most brutal format of all. Regardless of what you think of NIP in recent years, I’m just happy to see a legacy organization back at Tier 1 CS2 tournaments.