BLAST Open Porto 2026 Sets Six-Team Race for Live Playoffs
BLAST Open Porto 2026 has locked in its 16-team field, double-elimination group format and $1.1 million total payout, with the tournament splitting between BLAST’s Copenhagen studio for the group stage and Porto’s Super Bock Arena for the live playoffs.
The event runs August 26 to September 6. Sixteen teams open play in Copenhagen from August 26-31 across two eight-team double-elimination groups played entirely in BO3, and only six survive to the September 4-6 playoffs at Super Bock Arena, where the bracket shifts to single-elimination with BO3 quarterfinals and semifinals and a BO5 grand final.
Groups and Qualification Wrinkles
Group A pairs Team Spirit and FURIA as the clear favorites against NAVI, G2, Aurora, paiN, DENDELE and M80, with Aurora opening directly against G2 and DENDELE – who beat FURIA 2-1 at BLAST Bounty in July – drawing Team Spirit in round one.
Group B is tighter: major champions Falcons, Rotterdam winners Vitality, BLAST Bounty champions MOUZ, and EWC playoff upsetters FUT and Legacy all land together. FUT beat MOUZ twice at EWC 2026, while Legacy defeated NAVI and Falcons, and the two teams face off immediately. Twelve teams received direct invites via Valve Regional Standings, while four came through regional qualifiers, including Inner Circle, who qualified through the European regional route and open against a Vitality side fielding stand-in jL for mezii. BetBoom withdrew over visa issues, with paiN inheriting their slot despite losing the South American qualifier final to DENDELE.
Prize Pool Breakdown
The $1.1 million total splits into $400,000 in player prize money and $700,000 in club payments.
- 1st: $150,000 player / $100,000 club
- 2nd: $60,000 player / $100,000 club
- 3rd-4th: $40,000 player / $75,000 club
- 5th-6th: $20,000 player / $55,000 club
- 7th-8th: $10,000 player / $40,000 club
- 9th-12th: $7,500 player / $25,000 club
- 13th-16th: $5,000 player / $15,000 club
The map pool runs Ancient, Anubis, Cache, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage and Nuke, with Cache having influenced several major series since its return to the professional map pool. MOUZ arrive as reigning BLAST Bounty Season 2 champions after beating Spirit 3-1 in that grand final, but their two losses to FUT at EWC 2026 flag a real vulnerability against aggressive, well-prepared opposition heading into Copenhagen.
