What to expect from the BLAST Porto Playoffs

BLAST Open Porto 2026 is firmly underway, and we’ve already had all manner of upsets, bangers, and close-fought affairs. As we head into the playoffs stage soon, let’s take a quick look at the quarterfinal matchups, and what to expect from the remaining teams.

Falcons vs G2

Falcons have shown fairly good form in Porto thus far, with relatively comfortable wins over Lynn Vision and Legacy guaranteeing them a playoff spot, before a loss to MOUZ put them in the quarterfinal rather than the coveted semifinal berth. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is currently the second-highest-rated player of the tournament, behind Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, at a 1.40 rating.

Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s side have, however, had a rocky run of it in their continued attempts to introduce Ancient into their map pool. The Falcons IGL mentioned in an interview with HLTV that he is aware of the need for the team to “play other maps as well” as their tried-and-tested favourite, Dust II. Due to this, and after some apparently promising signs in practice, the major champions decided to throw Ancient into the mix for Porto. The decision is yet to look like a wise one. In their 2-1 victory over Lynn Vision, Falcons lost Ancient 13-10. In their 2-1 victory over Legacy, they lost Ancient…well, 13-10. And then in their 1-2 loss to MOUZ, they lost Ancient 13-6. Not a good look so far.

G2 have had a slightly tougher route to the playoffs than the aforementioned superteam. Starting off with a fairly comfortable 2-0 victory over Aurora, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and co. ran into an in-form Team Spirit and were sent down to the Group A lower bracket. Thanks in part to an impressive 1.61 rating performance from Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko, G2 were able to calmly dispatch a struggling NAVI before closing out the victory in a rematch against Aurora; a match which ended with a 13-1 drubbing on Mirage.

This is almost certainly going to be a hard-fought match. A clean 2-0 for either side doesn’t seem tremendously likely. Falcons are looking fairly strong, but their shallow map pool might come back to haunt them against a more battle-hardened G2. My prediction? A 2-1 victory for G2.

FURIA vs Vitality

FURIA had a hot start in Porto, with a ferocious dismantling of an underwhelming paiN Gaming in 13-2 and 13-6 fashion, on Mirage and Cache, respectively. In their next match – against M80 – they started with a back-and-forth affair on Cache, closing out the first map 16-13, before sweeping the NA org under the rug with a clinical 13-5 beatdown on Dust II. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s team came up against Spirit in the Upper Bracket Final, losing 2-0 and finding themselves in the quarterfinal matchup again Team Vitality.

Vitality’s run through Porto has been a fun one to watch. With Justinas “jL” Lekavičius standing in for William “mezii” Merriman, nobody was sure precisely where to place their expectations regarding the most dominant team of the year for this event. Right from the outset, this mentality seemed vindicated, as Vitality suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Inner Circle. Bouncing back, however, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and co. stormed past 9z 2-0, only dropping eight rounds in total, with jL netting a ridiculous 1.96 rating over the entire game.

Next to fall at the hands of the French org was Legacy, in a 2-1 battle. Heading in to the Lower Bracket Final against FUT seemed like it was destined to be another thing entirely, however, with FUT’s aggressive style of CS all but guaranteed to stretch the resilience of a team with a stand-in. That was not to be, however, as Vitality took a comfortable 2-0 victory, sending them into the aforementioned matchup with FURIA.

Sure, Vitality have looked impressive with a stand-in, but I’m still leaning towards FURIA being able to rely on their fundamentals to put away this wildcard version of Vitality. I think it’s going to be another 2-1 affair, but I think Vitality’s time in Porto is coming to an end.

As for who will win the event as a whole? Both Spirit and MOUZ wait in the semis, and whilst MOUZ have been looking good in Porto, my money is on Spirit to secure the win. Hot off a victory at EWC 2026, I think donk’s form in Porto is going to carry them through for back-to-back titles.