Counter-Strike 2 BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 Preview

BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 is an S-Tier Counter-Strike 2 tournament where 16 teams will compete from March 18 to 29. The group stage will take place at the BLAST studio in Copenhagen, while the playoffs will be held in Rotterdam.

Team Vitality is considered the clearest favorite, while the main challengers are Team Falcons and Spirit. The tournament prize pool is $1,100,000, with first place receiving $150,000 + $100,000 in the Club Share program.

Here, we will look at the most important tournament information and the main favorites.

The Counter-Strike 2 BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 tournament consists of two stages: groups and playoffs.

In the group stage, 16 teams will compete in Groups A and B, with three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs. The teams that finish first in their group will go directly to the semi-finals, while the teams that finish in 2nd and 3rd place will face each other in the quarter-finals. 

Eight teams in each group will start in the Upper Bracket. The four winners will advance to the Upper semi-finals, while the losing teams will drop to Lower Bracket Round 1. Teams in the group stage have the chance to lose once. A second loss means elimination from the tournament. 

All matches in the group stage and playoffs will be played in a BO3 format, while the grand final will be BO5.

BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 is only the second esports tournament this season where all of the currently strongest Counter-Strike 2 teams will compete. Although the tournament is not one of major importance, when the best teams meet, all of them automatically have extra motivation to perform as well as possible. 

The tournament will feature Team Vitality and Team Falcons, who skipped ESL Pro League Season 23, while MOUZ, Spirit, PARIVISION, Natus Vincere and FURIA will also take part. Of all the participating teams, three main favorites can be singled out:

• Team Vitality
• Team Falcons
• Spirit

MOUZ can always be placed among the favorites as well, but this season the team still has not managed to secure any major victories. They consistently reach the playoffs, but the semi-final barrier has not yet been overcome. 

Natus Vincere, who won ESL Pro League Season 23 just a few days ago, became champions without defeating a top-tier opponent, so they should not be included among the main favorites.

Team Vitality continues to prove in the 2026 season that it is currently the best team. It has already won the IEM Krakow and PGL Cluj-Napoca tournaments. In both events, it did not suffer a single defeat and won 11 matches in a row. 

In addition to Vitality having an 11-match winning streak, the team lost only 3 maps during that stretch. It won both tournament finals 3:1 against FURIA and 3:0 against PARIVISION. 

BLAST Open Rotterdam is not the tournament that Vitality would give the most attention to. The team will not play at PGL Bucharest, while the next tournament, IEM Rio, will take place from April 13. 

Vitality skipped ESL Pro League Season 23, so the team will be rested for this tournament. The team will play in the much stronger Group B, where Spirit, PARIVISION and MOUZ are also present. A loss in the group would not be surprising, but if the team reaches the playoffs, Vitality will clearly be the biggest favorite there. 

Team Falcons has so far been the most disappointing team. The roster includes top-level players, but major victories have not followed. 

At the start of the season, the team reached the BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 final, but at IEM Krakow it did not even make the playoffs, while at PGL Cluj-Napoca it lost in the quarter-finals. 

Falcons will begin the tournament without its full lineup. Due to visa issues, Maksim “kyousuke“ Lukin will miss the match against NRG and will be replaced by Matej “⁠NucleonZ⁠” Trajkoski. The 18-year-old already played for Falcons at the BLAST Bounty tournament, where the team managed to reach the final. 

It is not clear whether “kyousuke“ will join the team later, but with him or without him, Falcons is capable of reaching the final. It should also be noted that Falcons will play in Group A, which looks much weaker than Group B. 

Falcons will play their first match against NRG, and in the event of a win, a meeting with NaVi or B8 would follow. Winning that match would secure a place in the playoffs. For first place in the group and a place in the semi-finals, a potential match against FURIA, Aurora or FaZe awaits. All those teams are definitely beatable. 

Before the 2026 season, Team Spirit made several changes, with “magixx“ and “zont1x” returning to the lineup after previously playing for the team. 

The team lost to FURIA in the IEM Krakow semi-final and then comfortably defeated MOUZ in the third-place match. The team did not play at PGL Cluj-Napoca, while ESL Pro League Season 23 ended in a fiasco after a quarter-final loss to Astralis. 

Team Spirit arrives at BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 with strong motivation. A team that has gone a particularly long time without a trophy has enough talent to win tournaments, even those where Vitality is playing. 

Group B will not be easy, but to reach the playoffs, Spirit only needs to beat Liquid and then defeat PARIVISION or Ninjas in Pyjamas. There is a strong possibility that Spirit will face Vitality in the group final. The match will not decide too much, so it will be a great chance to test its strength. 

BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 begins on March 18, and the group stage will be played first. Matches in Groups A and B will be played at the BLAST LAN studio in Copenhagen. The final group matches will be played on March 23, while the playoffs will begin on Friday, March 27. The key tournament dates are:

BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 will feature all of the strongest Counter-Strike 2 teams, but the tournament is not one of major importance, which means some teams may lack motivation. 

Surprises can be expected in the group stage, but once the playoffs begin, the favorites usually show a much stronger level of play. 

When placing bets on BLAST Open Rotterdam, keep in mind:

• Teams can lose once in the group stage.
• Group winners go directly to the tournament semi-finals, so weaker teams have more motivation in the group stage.
• April 6 is the day when it will be announced which teams will qualify for the IEM Cologne Major 2026, so for teams such as Liquid, FaZe and Ninjas in Pyjamas, BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 is very important in the fight for a place at the world championship.
• Falcons starts the tournament without “kyousuke“, and it is not clear whether the player will join the team later.