Donk Leads Fantasy Picks as BLAST Open Porto Playoffs Begin

The BLAST Open Porto 2026 playoff bracket is set with six teams, and HLTV’s Fantasy game for the event has opened for entries, giving users a single-elimination field to build around ahead of the confirmed playoff matchups. Spirit, Falcons, FURIA, Vitality, MOUZ and G2 make up the field, with teams created at HLTV’s fantasy portal.

According to the primary evidence published September 1, the format runs single elimination across six teams: quarter-finals and semi-finals are best-of-three, with the grand final stretched to best-of-five. That structure carries direct fantasy implications, and it’s one of four fantasy contests HLTV opened in the same release – the other three tied to separate CS2 qualifier brackets running alongside Porto.

Bracket Quirks and Player Pricing

Spirit and MOUZ enter directly at the semi-final stage after topping their groups, and their rostered players collect six points automatically for skipping the quarter-finals – a scoring wrinkle fantasy managers need to account for before locking teams. The BO5 grand final also pays out 25% more rating points than a standard BO3, making grand-finalist picks disproportionately valuable if a team goes the distance.

On pricing, donk sits on roughly half of all submitted teams despite a $245k tag, a pick rate far ahead of any other high-cost card, though the value hinges entirely on Spirit closing out their semi-final. jL, by contrast, offers value at $194k after a 1.17 rating in groups – second only to ZywOo on Vitality – and ranks third in overall picks despite Vitality not being tournament favorites, per HLTV’s evidence around how MOUZ and Falcons shaped the bracket.

Professional CS2 player donk of Team Spirit smiling while wearing a headset at a gaming tournament.
Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets competing for Team Spirit.

Three Partner Contests, Same Sponsor

Beyond Porto, HLTV opened fantasy games for the IEM Beijing 2026 Asia Closed Qualifier (eight teams, double elimination, BO3), the IEM Beijing 2026 Closed Qualifier (sixteen teams, double elimination, BO3), and the Stake Ranked Episode 4 Closed Qualifier (sixteen teams, single elimination, BO3, no grand final). Hellcase sponsors skin prizes across all four games, though roster gaps matter: FlyQuest’s unannounced fifth keeps them out of the Beijing Asia game, GamerLegion fields Maden in place of Tauson, and Ninjas in Pyjamas won’t be addable until a fifth is confirmed.

All four contests are open now – Porto teams can be built at HLTV’s fantasy page, with the Beijing Asia, Beijing, and Stake Ranked qualifiers each running their own separate entry links through the same portal.

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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