For a second time in the year, PGL has won the battle for supremacy amongst Counter-Strike TOs. Much like PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026, Astana will play host to the majority of the top ten CS2 teams. The only notable absentees? Vitality and NAVI. With both #1 and #2 staying across the Atlantic for IEM Atlanta, who will lift the PGL Astana 2026 trophy?
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PGL Astana 2026 Teams
Right off the bat, Astana’s headliner is without a doubt Falcons. The international squad, which already featured Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin, and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, has added the “superteam-whisperer” Finn “karrigan” Andersen to lead the roster ahead of IEM Cologne Major 2026.
While karrigan’s stock may be at an all-time low due to FaZe’s failure to qualify, Falcons are putting their faith in him to finally make the team work. Against a field lacking Vitality, Falcons certainly have the firepower, and now the tactical nouse, to lift a trophy. Though they’ll face stiff competition from the likes of FURIA and Spirit.
- FURIA
- Aurora
- Falcons
- Spirit
- PARIVISION
- The MongolZ
- MOUZ
- G2
- 9z
- Monte
- HEROIC
- Gentle Mates
- magic
- Fisher College
- K27
- The Huns
PGL Astana 2026 Prize Pool
The event features a $1.6 million prize pool, equally split between the players’ share and that of the organizations.
| Placement | Players’ Share | Club Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 256,000 | 256,000 |
| 2nd | 120,000 | 120,000 |
| 3rd | 96,000 | 96,000 |
| 4th | 56,000 | 56,000 |
| 5-8th | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| 9-11th | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| 12-14th | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| 15-16th | 8,000 | 8,000 |
PGL Astana 2026 format explained
Just like previous PGL events, Astana uses a two-stage format with the tournament kicking off with the Group Stage. The 16-team Swiss System sees all teams play best-of-3 matches, with rounds 2 through 5 seeded using the Buchholz system based on opponents’ performance and teams’ initial seeds, much like the Major format.
The top eight teams from the Group Stage advance to the Playoffs. The playoffs are a standard single-elimination bracket with best-of-3 matches, except for the Grand Final which is best-of-5.
PGL Astana 2026 Match Schedule and Results
Saturday, May. 8, 2026
- Aurora vs. HEROIC (7:00 CEST)
- G2 vs. Fisher College (7:00 CEST)
- MOUZ vs. Gentle Mates (10:00 CEST)
- The MongolZ vs. magic (10:00 CEST)
- Falcons vs. K27 (13:00 CEST)
- Spirit vs. The Huns (13:00 CEST)
- FURIA vs. Monte (16:00 CEST)
- PARIVISION vs. 9z (16:00 CEST)
The schedule and results will be updated as the tournament progresses.
Where to watch PGL Bucharest 2026
You can watch all the matches live on PGL’s official Twitch, YouTube, and Kick channels:
