FURIA became the champions of the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 in Counter-Strike 2. In the grand final, the Brazilian team defeated BETBOOM 3:2 and successfully defended the title they won at the same tournament last year.
The deciding match took place on October 18 in Malta and went the full five maps. FURIA opened the series with a 13:6 victory on Dust2, but BETBOOM responded by winning Ancient 19:16 and Nuke 13:9. One map away from defeat, the Panthers won Mirage 13:11 before confidently closing out the series on the deciding Cache, 13:6.
As a result, FURIA won the grand final 3:2 and became Thunderpick World Championship champions for the second year in a row.
The victory in Malta marked FURIA's first championship title of 2026. The team had last lifted a trophy almost 11 months earlier, in November 2025 at BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 2, where they defeated Falcons 3:1 in the grand final.
Throughout 2026, FURIA had come close to winning another title several times. The team finished second at IEM Kraków 2026 and reached the grand final of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 in the summer, where they lost to Falcons.
At the Thunderpick World Championship, the Brazilian squad finally ended its title drought while successfully defending its championship. FURIA also won the tournament in 2025, defeating NAVI 3:2 in the grand final.
One of the standout stars of the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 was Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player by HLTV.
For the 27-year-old Brazilian, this is only the second MVP medal of his career, with both coming at the Thunderpick World Championship. KSCERATO received his first award after FURIA's victory at the tournament in 2025.
Ahead of the grand final, KSCERATO had averaged a 1.52 rating across his first three series and had been the highest-rated player on a map six times. He continued his strong performance in the final, opening the match against BETBOOM with a 1.83 rating on Dust2.
The Brazilian finished the tournament with an overall 1.34 rating, having already established himself as the leading MVP candidate before the deciding match began.
The Thunderpick World Championship 2026 took place from October 14 to 18 in Malta. Eight teams competed at the tournament, which featured a total prize pool of $1 million.
On their way to the title, FURIA finished first in their group after defeating BB and Legacy, before beating Aurora 2:0 in the semifinals. In the final, the team faced BETBOOM, whom the Panthers had already played during the group stage.
In the end, FURIA won the Thunderpick World Championship for the second consecutive year and claimed their first trophy of 2026. The tournament was also special for KSCERATO, who repeated last year's achievement and received the MVP award for the second time in his career.
As a reminder, LOUD defeated Team Vitality to claim the world championship title at VALORANT Champions 2026.