PGL Astana 2026: Asia qualifiers recap

The Asian open qualifiers for PGL Astana 2026 have come to a close and two teams each from East Asia, West Asia and Oceania open qualifiers have advanced to the regional closed qualifiers. Here's a quick look at how things went down in the open qualifiers.

• West Asia

The West Asian open qualifier started with almost every team getting a bye in the Ro16. The quarter-finals saw The Unit take down Altay, while XOM9KI and DEPO posted comfortable 2-0s themself to head to the semi-final. t996 were handed another bye off of a no-show from Team Algyra. t996 who got free semi-final berth, did not show up for their game, netting DEPO a closed qualifier slot.

On the other side of the bracket, XOM9KI fought a The Unit in a grueling three map series and emerged Victorious in the decider. The 2-1 confirmed their closed qualifier spot but they conceded the seeding match to DEPO.

Qualified teams: DEPO & XOM9KI

• East Asia

The East Asian qualifier on the other hand was packed, starting with a reasonably occupied Ro32. The second round had a few tight games with the opener going to overtime and Alter Ego surviving with a scary 13-11 in their BO1 against QUBE. Alter Ego's troubles continued in the next round as Mongolian side FullW pushed them to their absolute limits in the opening map. Off of a triple overtime win in the opener, FullW knocked Alter Ego out of the qualifier.

However FullW conceded their semi-final match against NEXVOID and VTM took down BORING PLAYERS to confirm their closed qualifier spots.

Qualified teams: NEXVOID & VTM Esports

• Oceania

Half of the teams received byes in the opening Ro16 of the Oceanic open qualifier and it was 2-0s across the board in the quarter-finals. In the qualifying games, Ground Zero kicked things off with a 2-0 against 11mins winning out Dust2 and Anubis, dropping just eight rounds between both maps, while Abyssal took the scenic route. After dropping the opening map, Abyssal took down DXA on Mirage and Nuke to book a closed qualifier spot.

Qualified teams: Ground Zero & Abyssal

Three regional closed qualifiers will take place before the Asian closed qualifier. These regional qualifiers will feature two teams from the open qualifier and two teams invited teams through the Asian VRS in a double-elimination best-of-three bracket with the winners advancing to the Asian closed qualifier. The Asian closed qualifier will feature three teams in a single-elimination bracket with a best-of-five grand-final. The winners advances to PGL Astana 2026- an $800,000 USD, S-tier LAN in the second ween of May.

Here are the confirmed teams for the regional closed qualifiers in Asia: