PGL Astana 2026 Playoffs: Preview

The group stage of PGL Astana 2026 has come to a close and eight teams have survived the Swiss system iteration. The MongolZ who started their tournament with a win against magic, lost their matches against Spirit, Falcons and Aurora to miss out on the playoffs. The MongolZ now head to Shanghai to gear up for the CS Asia Championships.

9z pulled off a stunning group stage run, taking down PARIVISION, Falcons and MOUZ to qualify with a 3-0 record. donk topped the charts for Spirit every single match, taking the Russian side into the playoffs after a flawless group stage. MOUZ, Falcons and FURIA were quick to bounce back after a single loss and make it to the playoffs from the 3-1 pool while magic, G2 and Aurora took the scenic route, scraping through with a 3-2 record.

The playoffs will host a single-elimination best-of-three bracket that concludes with a best-of-five grand-final on Sunday, 17th May 2026. The quarter-finals begin tomorrow at 10:30 AM IST with MOUZ taking Aurora to kick things off. Here are the quarter-final matchups:

• MOUZ vs Aurora

• G2 vs Spirit

• 9z vs magic

• Falcons vs FURIA

PGL Astana 2026 will be the penultimate S-tier Counter-Strike event before the IEM Cologne Major with CS Asia Championships wrapping up the first season of non-Major S-tier tournaments this year.