Thunderpick World Championship 2026 Finals (Malta)
Eight CS2 teams, a $1,000,000 prize pool and a studio LAN at BLAST Studios Malta from 14 to 18 October 2026 - FURIA defend their title against Falcons, Aurora, NiP and more.
The Thunderpick World Championship 2026 Finals bring eight Counter-Strike 2 teams to BLAST Studios Malta from 14 to 18 October 2026. The fourth edition of the event is backed by a $1,000,000 prize pool, with $500,000 going to the winner.
Seven teams were invited on the basis of the Valve Regional Standings and one slot was filled through a global qualifier. FURIA arrive as defending champions and share Group B with PARIVISION, BetBoom and Legacy, while Group A pairs Falcons with Ninjas in Pyjamas, 9z and Aurora. NiP joined the field late after Virtus.pro withdrew. Groups are played in a GSL format with best-of-three matches; the top two from each group advance to a single-elimination playoff with a third-place decider and a best-of-five grand final.
The tournament is a studio LAN rather than an arena show, so for players in Croatia and the region this one is mainly about the broadcast: all matches are streamed on Thunderpick's Twitch, Kick and YouTube channels. It also matters for the Counter-Strike calendar as one of the last chances for teams to collect VRS ranking points before the invitation cut-off for the Singapore Major in November.
No ticket or live-audience information has been published by the organiser.
Image: xReDeYe / CC BY 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Referee_-_WCG_2011_GF_(2).jpg