Falcons and The MongolZ claim final Playoffs spots at BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026

Falcons and The MongolZ have taken the final spots in the Playoffs of BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026. As the event prepares to move from Copenhagen to the Rotterdam Ahoy, both FURIA and Spirit missed out on their places at the last hurdle.

Falcons battle back to survive tense FURIA encounter

Despite all the noise surrounding Falcons of late, they were able to block it out to secure a 2:1 win over a less-than-impressive FURIA side, completing their tough Lower Bracket run to the Playoffs of BLAST Open Rotterdam. Given the names on either side of the server here, losing one before even getting to Rotterdam was always going to be disastrous.

On the day FURIA will feel aggrieved they didn’t get Falcons out of here 2:0 thanks to map one on Mirage. They found an 11th round very early in the second half, and the momentum was fully in their favor to close this one out. Falcons didn’t exactly look impressive, but they were able to put together six consecutive round wins to deny FURIA right at the finish line, taking a 13:11 victory.

FURIA bounced back on Dust2, a strong showing from molodoy patching over the fact that they threw an 8:4 lead as Falcons dragged them to overtime. This was a cosmetic comeback, and FURIA were able to finally tie up the series with a 16:13 victory.

The Nuke decider is one FURIA will be looking to put swiftly behind them. A 9:3 CT side put them firmly in the driver’s seat, and should have been enough to guarantee overtime at a bare minimum. m0NESY and kyousuke answered back with monstrous CT sides of their own, putting up 2.29 and 1.69 halves respectively. FURIA were limited to just a single T round, as Falcons turned it around with a 13:10 win to reach the Playoffs of BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026.

The MongolZ upset Spirit to take final Playoffs spot

Spirit have missed out on the opportunity to head to the Rotterdam Ahoy and join the likes of NAVI, Aurora, Falcons, Vitality, and PARIVISION in the BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 Playoffs after falling 2:0 to The MongolZ, who looked great value for their victory.

Although it’s usually donk who can feel aggrieved at his Spirit teammates, sh1ro will be frustrated that his 22:15 scoreline wasn’t enough to earn a map win on Nuke. Flat T sides made all the difference here, as it so often has for Spirit since magixx took the IGL mantle. Their 13:11 defeat here looked rough, but you have to give all the credit in the world to mzinho, who hard-carried his team with a huge 25:12 showing.

Spirit looked as though they arrived into map two of Overpass with renewed vigour, racing to an early 7:1 lead. At one point, donk was 15:0, and he looked untouchable as Spirit looked destined to take this to a decider. As soon as their star stopped fragging, they stopped winning, and The MongolZ put together a huge string of rounds to take the lead. Despite Spirit picking up a second-half pistol round win, The MongolZ continued where they left off en route to a 13:9 win. donk’s server-best 1.86 rating shows once again the level of carry we’re seeing here, his next-best teammate coming in at exactly half that (tN1R at 0.93).

After missing out on the Rotterdam Playoffs, it’s clear that this iteration of Spirit is not the force it once was. It has always been a case of “donk and friends,” but this is taking it to new levels. It can’t go on like this.