The MongolZ and Falcons favorites as FISSURE Playground 2 Playoffs approach

The FISSURE Playground 2 Playoffs are here, starting with tomorrow’s Quarter-Finals. We’ve already seen the total team count cut in half, with only eight of the sixteen teams in attendance heading to Serbia’s Belgrade Arena to play in front of a crowd.

We’re taking a look at every Quarter-Final match at FISSURE Playground 2, to see which teams are in with a real shot of making an even deeper run.

The MongolZ vs. G2 may hold a finalist

In The MongolZ vs. G2, we have the winners of the two most recent S-Tier CS2 tournaments with the Esports World Cup 2025 and BLAST Open Fall 2025 respectively. Both were fairly surprising winners, but deserving nonetheless. Now, only one will make it to the Semi-Finals of FISSURE Playground 2, having been drawn against each other here to kick off the Playoffs. Given this status, you’d expect the winner of this one to make it through to the Final.

For me, the jury is still out on G2’s floor. They’re capable of good games, sure, but are still equally capable of off days, as shown by their 2:0 loss at this event at the hands of FURIA. Yet, The MongolZ have looked very messy throughout FISSURE Playground 2, losing to 3DMAX and dropping maps to both TYLOO and FaZe. It feels as though they aren’t playing their best CS at the moment, which could see them be vulnerable in this particular tie.

My prediction: The MongolZ 1:2 G2

Aurora vs. Liquid could get messy

I expect Aurora vs. Liquid to be a start-to-finish brawl. Tactics won’t go out the window, of course, but they’ll be secondary to whoever can simply shoot the hardest between these two. Raw firepower will make all the difference.

Of the two teams, Aurora have looked the most convincing at FISSURE Playground 2, making it out of the groups in a pretty clean 2:0. But Liquid have paradoxically looked much better since announcing Twistzz’s return to FaZe Clan, like a weight has been lifted from their shoulders and they can play without expectation, especially now they seem to have farmed enough VRS points to reach the StarLadder Budapest Major. Any team operating under “Last Dance” vibes are always a danger to anyone.

My prediction: Aurora 2:1 Liquid

FURIA vs. Astralis may hold a surprise tournament underdog

Taking a look at the slate of teams in the FISSURE Playground 2 Playoffs, it’s difficult to see a true underdog run coming to fruition. But if it does, it’ll likely come from the winner of FURIA vs. Astralis. On the one hand, you have FURIA, who continue to rack up impressive wins over solid teams, with inconsistency being their only downfall.

And on the other, there’s Astralis, who have looked very unimpressive throughout FISSURE Playground 2 so far, needing all five matches in the Swiss groups to qualify after losing to Aurora and paiN. Yet, this is Astralis, and we all know they’re capable of picking up some big scalps if their stars show up. This could be decided by Staehr – Astralis’ ups and downs seem to directly correlate with how he plays, and he’ll be the key if the Danes are going to have any chance of beating this FURIA side.

My prediction: FURIA 2:0 Astralis

Falcons vs. paiN should be one-sided

Falcons vs. paiN is, on paper, the most one-sided clash of the FISSURE Playground 2 Quarter-Finals. It doesn’t feel as though paiN have kicked on in the way we expected them to a while ago, their progress stagnating when facing the best of the best in Tier 1.

Although Falcons are still very much undergoing growing pains with kyousuke in the lineup (despite his own excellent performances), it’s hard to look past the sheer firepower in this one. That won’t be enough to carry them over the line against better teams, but vs. paiN, it could be a winning strategy.

My prediction: Falcons 2:0 paiN