As early as August 26, BLAST Open Porto 2026 kicks off — one of the main tournaments at the end of the summer season in Counter-Strike 2. Sixteen teams will first meet in the group stage in Copenhagen, after which the top six will head to Porto, where the champion will be decided from September 4 to 6.
The tournament features a $1.1 million prize pool, and its key feature will be an extremely stacked lineup of participants: as many as ten teams came to BLAST right after competing at the Esports World Cup 2026. Therefore, Porto will be not only the next tournament of the season, but also the first opportunity to check whether the teams can quickly recover after the exhausting EWC.
Spirit — main favorite after triumph in Paris. The greatest attention will be focused on Spirit. The team approaches BLAST Open Porto as the reigning EWC champion, having defeated FUT in the final and taken home $600 thousand.
In Paris, Spirit played almost the entire tournament against low-level opponents, nearly dropping out to BIG in the group stage, and in the final match against FUT showed once again that they are not in optimal form. Special attention goes to the form of donk, without whom the team could have ended their tournament run back in the group match against BIG.
At BLAST, the team will begin their performance against DENDELE — one of the most unusual participants of the tournament. But underestimating the opponent after such an intense EWC is also dangerous.
FUT — EWC sensation that now needs to be confirmed. If Spirit were expected title contenders, FUT became the main surprise of the EWC.
The European roster reached the grand final, knocking out a number of favorites along the way. In the decisive match, FUT could not stop Spirit, but second place and $340 thousand became the team's best result at a major LAN tournament.
Now FUT faces a completely different challenge. In their first match at BLAST, they will play against Legacy, who had a phenomenal EWC themselves and finished in third place.
A particular point of interest for Ukrainian fans will be the form of dem0n and cmtry. While dem0n already showed an incredible level of play in the Paris final, cmtry ran into problems in the match against Spirit. But now they need to regain the level the roster had before the EWC 2026 final and show that their place in the final was no accident.
Legacy — another team that exceeded expectations
Legacy became one of the main revelations of the EWC. The Brazilians broke into the top 3, losing only to Spirit and leaving behind a number of favorites.
Their result is especially important ahead of BLAST, as the team has already proven that it is capable of playing series against top opponents on equal terms. That is why the match against FUT in the first round of Group B could become one of the most interesting opening matchups.
At the same time, Legacy will have to quickly switch from the EWC playoff atmosphere to a new tournament format. The BLAST group stage is held using a double-elimination system, with every match being a best-of-three.
FURIA also left Paris with a strong result — fourth place.
The Brazilians reached the third-place match, where they lost to Legacy, but overall demonstrated stable play throughout the playoffs. At BLAST, they will have to prove that this result was not a one-time flash in the pan.
Their first opponent is paiN, who couldn't go far at the EWC and finished the tournament in the 17th–24th range. Therefore, FURIA got an opponent at the start against whom it will be important not just to win, but to do so convincingly.
Three teams from BLAST's top lineup finished the EWC in the quarterfinal stage at once.
G2 reached 5th–8th place. The team featuring Ukrainian player r1nkle had a tough tournament and will now start BLAST with a match against a revamped Aurora.
MOUZ also finished the EWC in the top 8. Their first opponent is 9z, who stopped at 17th–24th position at the previous tournament. Here, MOUZ will have a good opportunity to build winning momentum right away.
Vitality, however, found themselves in a special situation. The French team also became an EWC quarterfinalist, but will compete at BLAST without mezii. For the duration of the tournament, he will be replaced by jL, who returns to play in a new roster for him. Vitality's first opponent will be the Ukrainian team Inner Circle.
For NAVI, BLAST Open Porto will be an opportunity to forget their unsuccessful performance at EWC.
The team finished the Paris tournament in 9th–16th place, failing to break into the playoffs. For a roster with such a high level of expectations, this is obviously below the desired result.
Now NAVI have been given a chance to quickly turn things around. The first match is against M80, who finished the EWC in the bottom half of the standings altogether.
However, this match cannot be called simple. After a disappointing performance in Paris, NAVI are under pressure, while M80 will have the opportunity to play against one of the favorites without high expectations.
Falcons approach the tournament after a 5th–8th place finish at EWC. The team failed to reach the semifinals, but overall left a positive impression and retained its status as one of the most dangerous rosters in the second tier of top teams.
Their first opponent will be Lynn Vision, who finished in 17th–24th position at EWC.
Meanwhile, Aurora, after an unsuccessful EWC where the team stopped at 9th–16th place, will have to face G2 right away. This is one of the most unpredictable matches of the first day: Aurora cannot afford a slow start, and G2 needs to show that the failure in Paris is behind them.
Aside from the main favorites, 9z, paiN, Lynn Vision, M80, DENDELE, and Inner Circle will fight for six tickets to the Portuguese playoffs.
For some of these teams, BLAST will be an opportunity to redeem themselves after a failed EWC. 9z, paiN, Lynn Vision, and M80 finished the Paris tournament in the 17th–32nd range, while DENDELE and Inner Circle didn't even make it through the EWC open qualifiers.
That is precisely why the group stage could deliver a few surprises. The double elimination format means that one loss will not be a death sentence, and every team will have the opportunity to make a run through the lower bracket.
The group stage will run from August 26 to August 31 in Copenhagen. 16 teams are divided into two groups of eight rosters each.
All group stage matches will be played in a Best-of-3 format. The group winners will immediately secure a spot in the playoff semifinals. The teams placing second and third will advance to the quarterfinals.
First match day:
On August 27, Group B kicks off:
After the group stage concludes, the six best teams will head to the Super Bock Arena in Porto. The quarterfinals will begin there on September 4, the semifinals will take place on September 5, and the tournament will conclude on September 6 with a Best-of-5 grand final.
BLAST Open Porto starts almost immediately after the EWC final, so the main question will be not only the individual form of the teams, but also who better survives the transition from one major LAN to another.
Spirit arrive as champions and the main favorite. FUT and Legacy will try to prove that their breakthrough in Paris was no fluke. FURIA, G2, MOUZ, Vitality, and Falcons will aim to take a step further than at EWC. Meanwhile, NAVI will get a chance to quickly redeem themselves after a disastrous tournament.
For Ukrainian fans, it will be especially interesting to follow several teams at once — NAVI, G2, FUT, and Inner Circle. Each of them has its own storyline leading up to the start, but the goal is the same: survive the group stage and reach Porto.
BLAST Open Porto 2026 starts as early as August 26. After EWC, the world's best teams will meet again — and this time there will be even less room for error.
As a reminder, Lake from M80 on the team's problems and preparation for BLAST Open Porto 2026: "North America is in a tough spot right now."
