The Esports World Cup Counter-Strike 2 tournament has moved to its quarter-finals after the Round of 16 saw some teams impress and others severely falter.
FURIA and G2 play out the first quarter-final as the rest of the field prepare for clashes on Friday.
Favorites remain in competition as Accor approaches
Vitality, Spirit, Falcons, and FURIA remain after the Round of 16 clashes, coming out on top against FaZe, B8, The MongolZ, and Aurora respectively.
With the nature of the imbalanced draw, the matches are only heating up as teams aim to make the Grand Final in the Accor Arena, especially on the lower side of the bracket.
The EWC CS2 2026 quarter-finals are:
- G2 vs FURIA
- FUT vs MOUZ
- Legacy vs Falcons
- Vitality vs Spirit
Vitality vs Spirit is certainly the pick of the litter, as Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut clash again in Paris.
However, at the IEM Cologne Major, donk told Insider Gaming, “It’s more like Vitality against Spirit than ZywOo against donk” but donk is really the only bright sign for Spirit, whose T-sides have been languishing outside of the prodigy’s impact.
Elsewhere, it’s revenge time for both MOUZ, who lost to FUT in groups, and Falcons, who lost the CAC Grand Final to Legacy.
MOUZ AWPer Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás told Insider Gaming that the MOUZ roster had good preparation but failed to act on it in their first clash. Will they get it right this time?
NAVI dejection but silver linings for FaZe
NAVI are undoubtedly the most bitterly disappointed roster with their Round of 16 exit, and for various reasons. NAVI were the favorites against Legacy, coming into EWC after skipping BLAST Bounty to prepare further for the season.
NAVI were seemingly confident with their pre-tournament preparation, hoping to win EWC as they had in 2024, but they did not even come close to being competitive with a Legacy who ran over time.
Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov saved NAVI’s blushes on Inferno, recovering from a 2-11 deficit to make it a respectable 9-13 defeat, but on Ancient (NAVI’s map pick), there was no quarter, as Legacy took the map 13-2.
NAVI’s loss had no salvageable aspects, but FaZe’s loss to Vitality certainly did. FaZe could have taken Vitality’s home map of Dust 2 in different circumstances, as Jason “JBOEN” Nielsen once again showed his promise.
On Cache, Vitality’s world-class preparation completely countered FaZe, who have shown the map several times already in this young part of the season.
For GamerLegion, it was a defeat to MOUZ, a defeat in which they had multiple opportunities to win both map losses on Mirage and Nuke.
However, the overall picture for GamerLegion was a positive one, especially with the shining performances of Timur ‘FL4MUS’ Maryev, who returned to GL from Virtus.pro in the summer.
Who do you see taking home the EWC title? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, see our interview with NAVI Head Coach B1ad3. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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