Jordan Woodruff
FaZe Clan and Astralis earned matching 2-1 decisions on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 event in Attard, Malta.
FaZe defeated The MongolZ and Astralis rallied past paiN Gaming to fill out the semis. Team Spirit and MOUZ were already in the semis thanks to their wins Thursday.
Eight teams are playing in the BLAST Bounty Summer finals after advancing from a pool of 32 clubs in the closed qualifier. Of the $740,000 prize pool, $410,000 was awarded to participants in the closed qualifier.
The finals are a single-elimination bracket where the quarters and semis are best-of-three and the grand final is best-of-five. The champions will also earn three BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens, while the other seven teams will collect one.
On Friday, FaZe Clan opened with a 16-12 overtime win on Nuke, absorbed a 13-7 loss to The MongolZ on Mirage and went on to win 13-8 on Ancient. Jason “JBOEN” Boe Nielsen of Denmark led FaZe with 56 kills against a team-low 41 deaths and a 1.16 match rating.
Astralis fell 13-10 to paiN on Nuke but responded with a pair of overtime wins, 19-17 on Inferno and 16-14 on Mirage. Denmark’s Victor “Staehr” Staehr (1.23 match rating) and Lithuania’s Gytis “ryu” Glusauskas (1.14) had 66 kills apiece to pace Astralis.
The tournament continues Saturday with the semifinal matches:
–Team Spirit vs. FaZe Clan
–MOUZ vs. Astralis
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 prize pool (player prize, team share)
1. TBD
2. TBD
3-4. TBD
5-8. Team Liquid ($41,250, $40,000); 3DMAX ($21,250, $40,000); The MongolZ ($11,250, $40,000); paiN Gaming ($11,250, $40,000)
–Field Level Media
