Gizmy Among Top Picks for EWC Fantasy Group Stage

Rafał Kończyk Rafał Kończyk

Published: Aug 12, 2026

HLTV’s Hellcase-backed Fantasy game has added a group-stage edition for the Esports World Cup’s 32-team Counter-Strike field. The Fantasy season offers $10,000 to its 10 best players at its conclusion after the Singapore Major in December, according to HLTV.

The EWC group stage begins on August 12 in Paris and features four eight-team double-elimination groups. The top four teams from each group advance to the playoffs, with opening matches played as best-of-ones before the format shifts to best-of-threes for the remainder of the event, as detailed in Esports Bets’ breakdown of the completed 32-team EWC CS2 field. Four teams – 100 Thieves, BIG, JiJieHao, and K27 – advanced through the open qualifier and were added to the Fantasy game alongside the other main-event teams. The game includes 32 teams and 160 players, with further group information available in the group draw breakdown.

Prize Breakdown

Season points contribute to the eventual $10,000 payout, while the EWC group-stage game also offers Hellcase-sponsored skin prizes for top finishers.

HLTV lists the season-long cash split as $5,000 for first place, $2,000 for second, $1,000 for third, and $300 apiece for fourth through 10th.

Who’s Getting Drafted

According to HLTV’s Fantasy data, Jack ‘Gizmy’ von Spreckelsen is the fourth most-picked player in the game despite playing for a lower-ranked 100 Thieves side. HLTV also reports that Gizmy costs $170k and averaged a 1.23 rating in the open qualifier’s competitive playoff matches.

HLTV lists Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets, Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut, and Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov at $245k each. The same Fantasy data identifies donk as the event’s most-picked player, appearing on 27% of submitted teams.

The EWC Counter-Strike tournament has a $2 million prize pool, up from $1.25 million last year. Its group stage uses a double-elimination format before the event concludes with a best-of-five grand final, with broader event context available in Esports Bets’ wider Esports World Cup 2026 coverage.

Rafał Kończyk
Rafał Kończyk

Since: June 3, 2026

Rafał Kończyk has been following competitive gaming since the early days of StarCraft II and League of Legends, back when esports betting was barely a footnote in the broader gambling conversation. Growing up in Wrocław, Poland, he developed a sharp eye for team dynamics and meta shifts that most casual fans overlook, and that analytical instinct eventually pulled him toward the betting side of the scene. He approaches every matchup the way a statistician would, but writes about it the way a fan would, which tends to resonate with readers who are tired of surface-level picks and gut-feel predictions.

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