BLAST Bounty Summer 2026: Semi-Finals Kick Off in Malta

From July 30 to August 2, BLAST Arena Studios in Malta is hosting BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 — the first Counter-Strike 2 offline tournament of the new season. Eight teams that earned their spots through online qualifiers are competing in a Single-Elimination bracket.

The offline stage features best-of-three (Bo3) matches, with the trophy winner to be decided in Sunday's best-of-five (Bo5) grand final. The competition broadcast is available on official BLAST Premier channels on YouTube and Twitch.

Match schedule in Kyiv time:

• 13:30 — Team Spirit vs. FaZe Clan;
• 16:30 — MOUZ vs. Astralis.

The unique feature of the BLAST Bounty series is its "bounty-hunting" concept, where lower-seeded participants select their own opponents, shaping the tournament bracket and the prize rewards earned for eliminating rivals.

Following the quarterfinal matches, four semi-finalists were determined, and the first prize money was distributed:

• Team Spirit confidently defeated Team Liquid 2:0 (13:7 on Dust II, 13:5 on Anubis).
• MOUZ snatched a hard-fought victory against 3DMAX — 2:1 (10:13 on Dust II, 22:18 on Nuke in overtimes, 13:3 on Inferno).
• FaZe Clan defeated The MongolZ — 2:1 (16:12 on Nuke, 7:13 on Mirage, 13:8 on Ancient). This was the first tournament for The MongolZ's updated roster featuring new players Zolbayar “Tikuak” Chimedtseren and Ireedui “DarkMeister” Dugarsuren.
• Astralis prevailed over paiN Gaming 2:1 (10:13 on Nuke, 19:17 on Inferno, 16:14 on Mirage), closing out the last two maps after a series of overtimes.

Thanks to the accumulated "bounty" rewards, the final prize money for teams eliminated in the quarterfinals was distributed as follows: Team Liquid earned $81,250 (5th–8th place), 3DMAX earned $61,250 (5th–8th place), while paiN Gaming and The MongolZ each received $51,250 (5th–8th place).

This tournament marked the first LAN event to feature Cache in the official competitive map pool, which Valve reinstated following the Cologne Major.

The online stage of the tournament delivered major surprises: favorites Team Vitality, Team Falcons, and FURIA failed to qualify. Meanwhile, 100 Thieves' new roster defeated Cologne Major champions Team Falcons, but later lost to Team Spirit.

As a reminder: On August 1, 2011, Valve announced the first The International, and Ukrainian NAVI subsequently became the first Dota 2 world champion.