Who are Team Venom? – Thunderpick World Championship 2025 Team Preview

The Thunderpick World Championship 2025 is set to feature a bunch of familiar faces. The likes of NAVI, The MongolZ, and FURIA – teams we frequently see in the Playoffs of the biggest CS2 tournaments. However, these are not the names that catch the eye. Rather, it is Team Venom that many will be looking at with real curiosity.

But who are Team Venom? Are they there to simply fill a slot at the Thunderpick World Championship, or could they do the unthinkable and upset some dreams in Malta?

Team Venom’s Closed Qualifier run shows the potential for upsets

If you cast your mind back to just a month ago, Team Venom locked in their Malta spot in the Thunderpick World Championship 2025 Closed Qualifier. Two best-of-threes, two wins. Not a single map dropped against opponents Ninjas in Pyjamas and Nemiga, two teams that are more than respectable in Tier 2.

In short, you’d expect both to beat Team Venom handily, yet things played out quite the opposite in these online matches. Equally, it shows that this is a lineup capable of producing upsets, provided they show their best face on the server.

Of course, online Counter-Strike is a different beast, which is where Team Venom have spent a lot of their time. However, after traveling for events such as the Birch Cup 2025 and Frag Blocktober, they’re used to the LAN environment at this point, which should serve them well heading into the Thunderpick World Championship 2025.

Veteran innocent could bring the experience required to beat the odds

If I told you that Team Venom actually holds a three-time CS:GO Major attendee, you might not believe me. But it’s true – 31-year-old innocent attended DreamHack Winter 2014, PGL Major Krakow 2017, and ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018 with ESC, Penta, and Sprout, respectively. His LAN history in general is pretty sparse, but he does have that experience at Counter-Strike’s biggest events, and you can’t discount that.

As an in-game leader, innocent has gained a wealth of experience since his last Major appearance. He has continued to grind with teams like Rebels, Secret, and Anonymo, to mixed success. But if they’re to have any chance of upsetting the odds and causing a shockwave at the Thunderpick World Championship 2025, then they’ll need to lean on that experience.