ChaiViz
14.10.2026
Eight teams. Two groups. Four playoff spots. The Thunderpick World Championship 2026 opens in Malta today, and a GSL group leaves little room for error. Lose twice and you leave with $20,000 and no playoff run.
The field is small but loaded. Falcons arrive as IEM Cologne Major 2026 champions. FURIA are back to defend their title. Legacy sit second in the Valve Regional Standings. Every group series is a best-of-three, so teams can survive one bad map. They cannot survive a bad day.
GoCore's daily Pick'ems contests and match tips cover every series in Malta, with a dedicated CS2 lobby and leaderboard running all week. Below are our four playoff picks and the reasoning behind each one.
The format is simple. Each group plays a double-elimination GSL bracket. The two opening match winners meet in the winners' match, and that winner goes straight to the playoffs. The opening match losers play an elimination match. The loser of the winners' match then faces the elimination match winner in a decider for the second spot.
The stakes go beyond the $1,000,000 prize pool. This is a Valve Tier 1 event that awards VRS points, and it is one of the last stops before the November 2 cutoff for PGL Major Singapore invites. Few cs2 tournaments this fall carry more weight for teams sitting near the invite line.
Today's opening matches (CEST):
10:30: 9z vs Aurora
13:00: Falcons vs NIP
15:30: Legacy vs PARIVISION
18:00: FURIA vs BetBoom
Our pick: Falcons and Aurora advance.
Falcons are the clear favorites. NiKo and m0NESY can win rounds on their own, kyousuke adds a third star rifle, and karrigan keeps the structure tight. No lineup in Malta carries more of the best cs2 players on paper. Their ESL Pro League Season 24 run ended against Spirit in the quarterfinals, and Spirit did not make the trip. Neither did Vitality or MOUZ.
NIP are a tricky opener. They only joined after Virtus.pro withdrew on October 9, but they arrive with two straight LAN titles under new in-game leader Krimbo. Respect the momentum, then back the firepower.
Aurora are the logical second team. They beat FURIA in the EPL Season 24 Swiss stage and sit ninth in the VRS. Their opener against 9z looks favorable. 9z lost 2-0 to FURIA in an EPL decider, and the experience gap is real.
The safest opening day picks are Falcons over NIP and Aurora over 9z. Even if Aurora slip early, the GSL format gives them two more chances to recover.
Our pick: FURIA and BetBoom advance.
This is the group that will separate the leaderboard. FURIA are the defending champions after beating NAVI in the 2025 final, and they sit fourth in the HLTV ranking. FalleN leads a veteran core of yuurih, KSCERATO and YEKINDAR, with molodoy supplying the firepower. Their recent form has been uneven, but their ceiling is the most reliable in the group.
The bold call is fading Legacy. They rank second in the VRS, yet arT only returns now after missing ESL Pro League Season 24 through illness. Legacy went out in the Swiss stage with a stand-in. arT's aggressive system runs on rhythm, and he has had little time to rebuild it.
BetBoom have the stronger motivation. HLTV's invite simulation puts their Singapore Major chances at 75.4% without a deep run and 98.9% with a trip to the final. That is a team with every reason to grind through the lower side of the bracket.
PARIVISION are the wildcard. They signed HObbit on September 17, and Malta is one of the new lineup's first events. Jame's teams are hard to break, but cohesion takes time.
The path we expect: FURIA through the winners' match, BetBoom through the decider.
The GSL format rewards patience. Opening matches lock today, but the winners', elimination and decider matches follow on October 15 and 16. Keep cs2 live scoring open during the openers. Map scores show which teams win comfortably on their own picks and which ones only survive. That context matters most in the deciders.
A simple strategy works here. Lock the favorites early in Group A, where the gap is wider. Save your conviction for Group B, where a single upset decides the playoff field.
Head to GoCore, lock in your opening day picks, and see where your read lands on the CS2 leaderboard by Friday.
The playoffs begin Saturday with two semifinals, and the Bo5 Grand Final closes the event on Sunday. Get the groups right and you start the weekend ahead of the pack.
ChaiViz
14.10.2026
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