BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 Tournament preview & betting tips

The Tier-1 Counter-Strike 2 scene enters the 2026 season on Tuesday, January 13, with the kick-off of BLAST Bounty Winter 2026.

The first S-Tier tournament of the year will begin with a closed qualifier stage featuring 32 teams competing for eight spots in the LAN Finals.

The closed qualifiers are played entirely online, with all participating squads placed into a single-elimination bracket. All matches are played as best-of-three until only eight remain.

The top eight squads will secure invites to the main event, scheduled to take place on January 22-25 at BLAST Arena Studios in Attard, Malta.

The playoffs will continue with a single-elimination bracket, featuring best-of-three quarterfinals and semifinals, and a best-of-five grand final.

With everything set for BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 to begin, Esportbet brings you a free tournament preview along with our expert picks, with our top tips, and inviting outsider bets.

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  Fast Payouts

BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 Outright Odds

• Team Vitality – +175
• FURIA – +225
• Team Falcons – +300
• Team Spirit – +375
• Natus Vincere – +900
• FaZe Clan – +1100
• Aurora Gaming – +1400
• Team Liquid – +2500
• 3DMAX – +4000
• PARIVISION – +4000
• Astralis – +5000
• Ninjas in Pyjamas – +6600
• Passion UA – +6600
• M80 – +7500
• Virtus.pro – +7500
• paiN Gaming – +8000
• FUT Esports – +10000
• GamerLegion – +10000
• HEROIC – +10000
• BetBoom Team – +15000
• Fnatic – +15000
• Gentle Mates – +15000
• ECSTATIC – +25000
• ENCE – +25000
• EYEBALLERS – +25000
• HOTU – +25000
• Inner Circle Esports – +25000
• OG – +25000
• 9INE – +50000
• Monte – +50000
• NRG – +50000
• SINNERS Esports – +50000

BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 Teams to Watch

Team Vitality

Team Vitality firmly cemented their status as the best Counter-Strike 2 team of 2025 by winning StarLadder Budapest Major, bringing up their total tally of S-Tier trophies to nine.

Despite the one-month break, things likely won’t change much early into the 2026 season. Vitality have kept their core intact, and as shown before, time away from the arena rarely affects Vitality’s ability to get back on track and perform.

FURIA

FURIA were a surprise in the latter months of 2025. Going from a competitive team to serious S-Tier title contenders, FURIA have found their rhythm at a crucial time, winning four big events between September and November.

They did not live up to the high expectations at the Budapest Major; however, FURIA still managed a quarterfinal run, which, along with the four tournament titles at the end of the year, is a good indication of this team’s quality.

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  The bookies' bookie

Team Falcons

Team Falcons continue to carry the tag of “sleeping giants.” Despite fielding arguably one of the most stacked rosters in the scene, the Falcons have become known to fall apart in the crucial stages of bigger events.

They finished the 2025 season with just one S-Tier tournament title, but five grand finals appearances, and four more top-four placements. The quality is there; the main question is whether the Falcons can find the much-needed stability when it matters the most.

Team Spirit

After a disappointing season – for their standards – Team Spirit opted to make some roster changes for 2026, bringing back Boris “magixx” Vorobyev and Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia to the main roster.

With the duo back, Team Spirit will aim to find their old lost form, which helped them dominate the CS2 scene. And while big changes should not do them any favors early into the season, zont1x and magixx are far from unknown players and should fit in quickly.

BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 Predictions

Outright Bet – Team Vitality to win

Team Vitality are billed as the team to beat at BLAST Bounty Winter on the best CS2 betting sites and for all the right reasons. They were the most dominant team of 2025, and having made no roster changes, they should be just as potent in 2026.

While the winter break will introduce some rust, that applies to the entire team. Moreover, Vitality are known to warm up quickly, so if they can survive the early single-elimination stage, the Bees should be in a good spot to start the year with another trophy.

Outsider Bet – FaZe Clan to win

FaZe Clan are not among the top contenders according to the outright betting odds. Considering they didn’t win a single tournament in 2025, that would make sense; however, FaZe showed up at the Budapest Major, and they’ve produced solid performances before the season-ending event.

Even though FaZe can be unpredictable, their upside is big enough to take a small position on Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his crew to start the season strong.