The Thunderpick World Championship 2026 is starting with the eight-team event, placing huge pressure on IEM Cologne 2026 Major champions Team Falcons.
Without a trophy since Cologne, Falcons enter the tournament as significant favorites for the Counter-Strike 2 tournament.
Thunderpick World Championship 2026 Teams & Format
The Thunderpick World Championship 2026 begins with two double-elimination four-team groups followed by a four-team single-elimination playoff bracket.
The Grand Final will be a Best of 5 contest, with all other contests being Best of 3, including the Third/Fourth placed decider, which will precede the Grand Final.
The Thunderpick World Championship groups and opening matchups are:
Group A
- Falcons vs NiP
- 9z vs Aurora
Group B
- Legacy vs Parivision
- FURIA vs BetBoom
Thunderpick World Championship 2026 Predictions
Team Falcons simply have to win this event after a series of failures that have seen Team Falcons fail to make a single Grand Final in four events since their Cologne win.
The roster won that Major after close contests with Spirit and Vitality, which showed that they still had plenty to work on in building in-game synergy and protocols, but they have seemingly made no progress since then in that regard.
The roster has looked rough and was quite easily beaten by Spirit at ESL Pro League, but there is no Spirit here, there is no Vitality, and no MOUZ, who have made three Grand Finals already this season.
That makes the field open for Falcons to show their firepower superiority, even if not everything is perfect in a team-play sense.
Coming from the easier group, they really should make the playoffs, but the roster has struggled with Legacy in the past, so that may be a potential pitfall for the roster in the Playoffs.
With expectations for Falcons, they will be under a lot of pressure to deliver despite the stature of the event, especially Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen whose poor individual form has once again been in the spotlight, with Falcons’ T-sides not compensating for his lack of output.
Outside of Falcons, FURIA will be looking for their first trophy in a long run of events in the hope of securing a trophy for Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo in his final season with the team.
But it’s Legacy as the Brazilian team that has won most recently, and they’re now back to full strength after IGL Artyom ‘Art’ Shevchenko recovered from meningitis.
Aurora are also a roster with a lot of momentum after making the ESL Pro League Season 24 semi-finals in Katowice, and beating Spirit in the third-place decider. The roster’s pivot to international has now come to maturity, and Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker is delivering in spades for the roster with his lightning-fast AWPing ability.
But there can be no mistake: the tournament is Falcons’ to lose, and losing it would be a severe indictment of the lack of development in the roster since their historic Cologne Major triumph.
Who do you think will win the Thunderpick World Championship? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Deadlock is skyrocketing on Steam, and don’t forget to 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.
More from Darragh Harbinson
Comments