Falcons and 9z win opening matches at Thunderpick World Championship 2026

The opening round of Group A at Thunderpick World Championship 2026 has come to an end, with two teams dropping to the lower bracket of the Counter-Strike 2 event.

9z beat Aurora (13-11 on Inferno, 13-1 on Nuke), while Falcons got the better of NIP (16-13 on Ancient, 13-6 on Dust2). The two winners will face each other tomorrow for a place in the playoffs.

Two more matches are scheduled for today: in the first round of Group B, PARIVISION will play Legacy, while BETBOOM TEAM take on FURIA.

Thunderpick World Championship 2026 is being held in Malta from October 14 to 18, with eight teams competing for a share of $1 million in prize money. More details about the tournament are available in our previous article.

The current Group A bracket looks as follows: