It’s another BLAST event where Falcons defeated Vitality. They still couldn’t claim their first big CS2 trophy. PARAVISION won the grand final and thus took down three powerhouses in the Playoffs.
The first top-level tournament of Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) season 2026 brought us some amazing surprises. The march of PARAVISION to the grand final of BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 is the biggest, as this team faced Falcons in the trophy match.
Some big competitors fell even in the open qualifier. Other favorites couldn't show their champion form. Anubis was featured on the pro stage after its return to the Active Duty pool.
Team Falcons vs PARAVISION: The BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 grand final
In the best-of-five CS2 esports match, PARAVISION and Team Falcons decided who lifts the trophy at BLAST Bounty Winter 2026.
Match score | Map 1 | Map 2 | Map 3 | Map 4 | Map 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bo5 | Mirage, Falcons pick | Dust II, PAR pick | Inferno, Falcons pick | Ancient, PAR pick | Anubis, decider |
| Falcons 0:3 PARAVISION | 9:13 | 11:13 | 11:13 | - | - |
PARAVISION defeated Falcons and won BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
Despite pretty competitive maps, Team Falcons could not win even one. PARAVISION surprised everyone with their power on the top scene!
It's the first top-tier win for CS2 PARAVISION — and only second presence at tournaments of such a level.
Previously, they were grinding competitive experience at smaller events, so this win is historical for the team. Only Dzhami "Jame" Ali in the current roster has an even bigger wins in his career: with Outsiders (Virtus.pro), he won Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022.
“I sacrificed my life last year, and I think it’s good for us. CS2 is all for me.”
Team Falcons: Bitter twists but good results
In terms of the background processes, the CS2 season 2026 start was not too cheerful for Falcons. For the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 LAN Finals, the team had to bring up some last-minute replacements.
- Matej "Nucleonz" Trajkoski joined the active roster instead of Maksim "kyousuke" Lukinc — because of visa issues.
- The coach, Danny "zonic" Sørensen, couldn't lead his boys in the Playoff matches and was replaced by the assistant coach Aymein "Aymeinstein" Bencheikh. It was revealed by zonic that he left for the funeral of his brother.
As for the tournament results, Team Falcons did well at BLAST Bounty Winter 2026. During the online qualifier, Falcons defeated two lower-seeded teams, ECSTATIC and Monte. This result is quite expected. Still, Monte eliminated NAVI in their opening match, so there was a flavor of a challenge.
Due to the general rules of the Bounty tournament series, Falcons got lower-seeded opponents in the quarterfinal, too. They defeated Team Liquid with a 2:0 — including a 16:14 overtime on Nuke.
The real challenge and the biggest achievement for Falcons at BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 was their win over Team Vitality. That happened at BLAST Rivalry 2025 in Hong Kong, and now, Falcons repeated this success.
The match was close, and Vitality won with a 13:6 on Anubis. Still, the grand-final spot went to Falcons.
The loss to PARAVISION in the grand final was really harsh for Team Falcons. They still couldn't take their first big trophy, while the theoretical chances for these were very favorable.
PARAVISION: Strengthened by zweih
This team had good results at StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, and they perform even better this year. PARAVISION got a big change for this season: Ivan "zweih" Gogin joined the roster after his departure from Team Spirit.
As a team with lower VRS placement, PARAVISION could choose their opponents in each round of BLAST Bounty Winter 2026. They played against ENCE and Astralis in the online qualifier, which were rather safer picks considering the strength of other opponents.
PARAVISION advanced to the LAN Finals, and odds on most esports betting platforms expected their journey to end right in the quarterfinal. It didn't happen!
- PARAVISION defeated Spirit with a 2:1. That was an epic match, as zweih helped take down his former team.
- In the semifinal, PARAVISION faced FURIA. These opponents had great results in the second half of 2025, including their victory at BLAST Rivals Fall. Still, FURIA couldn't take even one map this time.
Just reaching the grand final would be enough to claim the Bounty Season 1 event a great success for PARAVISION. They did even more and lifted the trophy!
We should follow this team in further big CS2 tournaments to figure out if this result was just an underdog luck at the start of the season. For example, PARAVISION have qualified for the online stage of ESL Pro League Season 23.
A shaky start for big teams
The very first tournament of 2026 that begins with an online qualifier is not your ultimate test of power for CS2 pro players. Still, it was certainly interesting to see the form of the biggest teams ahead of a long journey to the Cologne Major 2026.
NAVI and FaZe Clan disappointed their fans and probably themselves. Losing to Monte and EYEBALLER is not a good sign at all.
Team Vitality had a decent tournament overall. They couldn't reach the grand final, but that happened right before their awesome win at the Budapest Major. This Vitality roster is still a great force in CS2 esports!
FURIA won over 9ine, FUT, and HEROIC. They lost to PARAVISION. As for a team with Major ambitions, it's like having no achievements at all during the Bounty Winter 2026 event.
Anubis in play
The Premier Season 4 patch hit Counter-Strike 2 right before the LAN Finals at BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1. Still, the Active Duty pool changes were reflected even in online qualifiers. Anubis was among the map picks instead of Train. The teams actually played on it a few times: we saw it in matches of FURIA, Vitality, and PARAVISION.
- Ahead of the grand final during the Playoffs, Anubis was left as a decider in the match FURIA vs Liquid. Vitality defeated Falcons on Anubis, but that was their only map win in the semifinal.
- Anubis was left as a decided in the grand final.
The next big CS2 tournament starts in just a couple of days after the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 grand final. The entire community anticipates the first LAN event with Playoffs in front of a crowd! IEM Krakow 2026 is from Jan. 28 to Feb. 8. It's an opportunity to see the top teams in action after an initial warm-up.
