Winline CIS LAN Season 9 announced with $50,000 prize pool

The CIS Counter-Strike 2 scene just got its biggest regional prize pool of the year. Winline CIS LAN Season 9 will run from October 20-23, 2026, carrying a $50,000 purse and serving as the capstone of a four-event offline series designed to sharpen regional talent ahead of the PGL Singapore Major. Organized by MPKBK and backed by Russian betting operator Winline, the tournament lands at a pivotal moment: it’s the last meaningful opportunity for CIS teams to rack up Valve Regional Standings points before the VRS invite cutoff for Major qualification. A series that kept raising the stakes Season 9 doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s the fourth and final LAN event in a series that kicked off in July 2026, with each installment gradually escalating the competitive pressure and the money on the table. Season 5, held in May, carried a $30,000 prize pool. Season 6 followed in July at $40,000, and Season 7 matched that figure in September. Season 9’s $50,000 pot represents a 67% increase over where the series started and a 25% bump from the two middle installments. The format has stayed consistent across editions: 16 teams slot into GSL-style group stages before advancing to single-elimination...