Vitality set up a stroll to the trophy as upsets define PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 Quarter-Finals

PARIVISION, MOUZ, Vitality, and The MongolZ prevailed after a very long day of action in the PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 Quarter-Finals. Throughout the day’s matchups, we got to see two favorites progress, sandwiched by two upset victories for underdogs who showed grit to overcome the odds. With the teams remaining in the event, Vitality may feel as though they have a stroll towards yet another trophy in 2026 – here’s how the Quarter-Finals went down.

PARIVISION prove a nightmare matchup for floundering Falcons

PARIVISION vs. Falcons went exactly as we predicted in our PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 Quarter-Finals preview, almost to the word. Although Falcons had name value entirely in their favor, the reality on the server is that PARIVISION are a nightmare matchup for this team.

As with plenty of PARIVISION maps of late, they were able to take map one of Dust2 to overtime, despite being 10:5 down at some point. Resilience is the name of the game with this roster, something Falcons dearly lack. A zweih masterclass saw PARIVISION finish the job 16:14, and Falcons were on the back foot, suffocated by Jame‘s team. Falcons were not entirely without fight. A 1.93-rated NiKo showing on Mirage was enough to tie up the series, a reminder of why he’s one of Counter-Strike’s finest riflers. On this lineup, we’ve seen this NiKo too infrequently, but he was here to show his teammates how it’s done on Mirage.

An Ancient decider was required to separate these teams. If Falcons ever had a chance in this one, it felt as though it evaporated by the second round of the game, where they lost to full PARIVISION Glocks, allowing them to take a run of rounds early. Mentally, it felt as though this shattered Falcons, and they never fully found their way into the match after this. We mentioned kyousuke as being an essential factor in this series. He was electric throughout the Group Stage of PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026, but we raised his Playoff issues prior to this match. Those problems reared their ugly head once again, with the youngster posting a 0.86 rating across the series. You have to feel that had he shown up on Mirage, Falcons would have cleaned this up 2:0 without much trouble.

MOUZ silence crowd in NAVI reverse sweep

Although not the favorites on paper, NAVI had the entire crowd on their side against MOUZ, thanks to hometown hero iM. It wasn’t enough to overcome the gulf in quality between the teams, although NAVI can hold their heads high for their efforts in this series.

It was the dream start for NAVI on Ancient. The match was very momentum-heavy, with both teams stringing a series of rounds together early on. Eventually, it was NAVI who found the longest run towards the finish, triumphing 13:10. Against the odds, they had a lead over MOUZ, and the Romanian crowd were in dreamland. In many ways, you have to admire MOUZ’s tenacity, as despite that early loss, they were not about to quit. They answered back with a rapid 13:4 Inferno, with torzsi looking fully warmed up into the series. At this point, you felt the nerves of the crowd, and map three’s conclusion felt inevitable.

Mirage was the battleground to settle the series. Despite iM’s best efforts in front of the adoring crowd, huge performances out of xertioN and Brollan meant NAVI were locked out of the series. MOUZ saw it out 13:6, adding another Semi-Final to their resume as they continue to defend their PGL Cluj-Napoca title.

Vitality walk over Aurora in easy 2:0

Vitality matches are starting to feel a little like the Astralis era, where results felt like a foregone conclusion before a bullet was fired. Anyone with sense could’ve told you that this PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 Quarter-Final vs. Aurora was going to be a total walk in the park for Vitality, and that’s exactly how it played out in practice as they romped to a simple 2:0 victory.

Aurora‘s Inferno started off promising. They posted a few important rounds on the T-side to keep themselves competitive, although when the sides reverse, Vitality’s own T-side proved surgical. Aurora could not find the answers to deal with ZywOo, a statement that could apply to so many teams of late. Although Aurora eventually posted an eight-round haul, it was nowhere near enough to come close to beating Vitality on Inferno.

The 13:10 scoreline on Overpass is completely misleading. It simply wasn’t ever that close, with Vitality finding eight straight rounds out of the gate on T-side to put an insurmountable gap between them and Aurora. A 19:4 T-side from ZywOo was one of the most dominant halves you’ll see all year from a single player, and while he slowed down towards the end, the damage was already done. Yes, Aurora mounted a cosmetic comeback as things got desperate, but it actually coming to fruition was never really in question. In reaching the Semi-Finals of PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026, Vitality have come within one of the record for consecutive top-four placings at big events held by prime Astralis. Should they repeat the feat in BLAST Open Rotterdam, they can match the record.

FURIA can’t contain cobrazera as The MongolZ shine

FURIA will put this one down to a bad day at the office. A very bad one, at that, as The MongolZ fired on all cylinders to reach their first Semi-Finals since adding cobrazera at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026. It was The MongolZ‘s newest star who shone the brightest en route to victory, with FURIA completely unable to contain the firepower he brought to the table.

The Mirage opener was pretty disastrous for FURIA. They won the opening two rounds, but were only able to find one more throughout the entire map as momentum rolled heavily in favor of The MongolZ. A massive 2.10 rating from cobrazera put FURIA in their place; comparatively, FURIA’s primary star molodoy went 6:12, failing to find any impact. The MongolZ took the map 13:3, continuing their impressive form of late.

The MongolZ missed a golden opportunity to win this one in two. They dominated the first half of Dust2 9:3, and FURIA looked dead and buried. So much so, that I had already written their tournament obituary in this article. But a second-half fightback and a terrible MongolZ T-side saw FURIA fight back to win 13:10, and we were tied up against the odds.

It was the kind of comeback that could have derailed the series for The MongolZ. You have to give them great credit for avoiding a total mental collapse after the fact – their confidence did not waver heading into Nuke, pushing out to claim what was at one point an 11:3 lead. FURIA, as on the previous map, did show some fight to draw it back to a final scoreline 13:10, but it was simply too little, too late.

FURIA were truly limp for the vast majority of this series, lacking in every single department. In truth, they got what they deserved, and The MongolZ continue to impress in life after Senzu.