**Team Spirit and FURIA Advance to Upper‑Bracket Final at BLAST Open Fall**
*August 29, 2026 – Copenhagen, Denmark* – In the opening stage of the BLAST Open Fall Counter‑Strike 2 tournament, Team Spirit and Brazilian outfit FURIA each secured 2‑0 victories to move into the upper‑bracket final of Group A.
– **Team Spirit** defeated G2 Esports 13‑6 on Dust II and 13‑9 on Cache. Russian player Danil “donk” Kryshkovets recorded 31 kills, while Belarusian Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich posted a match‑high 32 kills.
– **FURIA** overcame M80 with a 16‑13 overtime win on Cache followed by a 13‑5 win on Dust II. Brazilian player Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato contributed 50 kills, finishing with a +27 kill‑to‑death differential.
The losing teams, G2 Esports and M80, were relegated to the Group A lower‑bracket semifinals.
The lower bracket also began on Friday with two quarterfinal matches:
– Aurora Gaming eliminated DENDELE CS 13‑7 on Cache and 16‑12 in overtime on Mirage. Turkish player Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalcin led Aurora with 46 kills.
– Natus Vincere (NaVi) defeated paiN Gaming 13‑9 on Nuke and 13‑11 on Mirage. Ukrainian player Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy topped NaVi with 35 kills, while Brazilian Joao “snow” Vinicius recorded 39 kills for paiN.
**Tournament format and prize pool**
The BLAST Open Fall features 16 teams divided into two groups for a double‑elimination opening stage. All group‑stage matches are best‑of‑three. Group winners advance to the playoff semifinals; runners‑up proceed to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds, and the third‑place teams enter the quarterfinals as low seeds. Teams eliminated in the group stage exit the tournament.
The single‑elimination playoffs commence on September 4 in Porto, Portugal, with best‑of‑three quarterfinals and semifinals, followed by a best‑of‑five grand final on September 6. The championship prize pool totals $1.1 million, with the winning team receiving $250,000 ($150,000 for players, $100,000 for the organization) and three BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens. Additional payouts are allocated to runners‑up and other placings as follows:
– 2nd place: $160,000 (including one BLAST token)
– 3rd–4th place: $115,000 each (including one BLAST token)
– 5th–6th place: $75,000 each (including one BLAST token)
– 7th–8th place: $50,000 each
– 9th–12th place: $32,500 each
– 13th–16th place: $20,000 each
The next day’s schedule includes Group B upper‑bracket semifinals (Team Falcons vs. Legacy and MOUZ vs. IC Esports) and lower‑bracket quarterfinals (Lynn Vision Gaming vs. FUT Esports and 9z Team vs. Team Vitality).
*Source: Field Level Media, BLAST Open Fall event coverage.*
Article and image source: brazilsun.com
