BLAST Rivals 2026 S1: Preview

BLAST's last big Counter-Strike event for the first season of 2026- BLAST Rivals Season 1 is all set to begin later today. Featuring a total of eight teams invited through the Global VRS, the group stage of BLAST Rivals Season 1 2026 will see two double-elimination best-of-three brackets across two groups of four teams each. Many top teams including The MongolZ, Falcons and Spirit declined their invites to the event.

The opening matchups are as follows:

Vitality will kick off proceedings against FUT today at 08:30 PM IST in Group A and on the other side of the bracket, Astralis will take on G2. In Group B, FaZe will take stage without karrigan for the first time in a while against NAVI and FURIA lock horns with GamerLegion. The top three teams from each group advance to the single-elimination bracket playoffs. An opening round win guarantees teams a playoffs spot. A best-of-five grand-final on Sunday, 2nd May 2026 will crown the champion.

Taking place in Texas, United States- BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 1 carries a prize pool of $1,000,000 USD with the winner bagging $250,000 USD including the club share. After BLAST Rivals Season 1 concludes, IEM Atlanta, PGL Astana and CS Asia Championships are the only big Counter-Strike LANs remaining before the IEM Cologne Major kicks off.