BLAST Open Fall 2026 continues on August 28 with Spirit vs G2, FURIA vs M80, Aurora vs DENDELE and NAVI vs paiN.
BLAST Open Fall 2026 continues on Friday, August 28, with the second round of play in Group A, when Team Spirit face G2 Esports and FURIA take on M80 in the upper bracket, while DENDELE meet Aurora Gaming and paiN Gaming look to upset Natus Vincere in the lower bracket.
Esportbet brings you free Counter-Strike 2 predictions and expert picks for the four matches, along with odds from the top-rated esports bookmakers.
Aurora Gaming and DENDELE will clash on Friday in the lower bracket of Group A at BLAST Open Fall after failing to handle their round-one opponents.
Aurora Gaming got swept by G2 Esports, while DENDELE suffered the same fate, albeit against Team Spirit.
Despite their poor performance against G2, losing the game with 5-13 on Inferno and 12-16 on Anubis, Aurora Gaming enter this match listed as -500 favourites on top-rated bookmakers.
This does not sound too wrong considering DENDELE are a relatively unproven team. On the other side, DENDELE have been making some noise in their more recent competitive endeavours.
The Brazilian squad have not won much of late, but they have beaten paiN Gaming and FURIA, and even played a close game against FaZe Clan.
Those results indicate that DENDELE can hold their own against teams of Aurora’s calibre.
Considering Aurora Gaming’s form, having won four of the last seven, albeit only against weaker opponents, it is hard to take the Turkish squad’s side at this number.
DENDELE to steal at least one map at -120.48 is a no-brainer pick.
DENDELE +1.5 maps
G2 Esports handled Aurora Gaming in the opening round of the group stage, but are now set to face a much tougher challenger in Team Spirit.
The latter had a fairly manageable start to the tournament, beating DENDELE 2-0, dropping just 15 rounds across Ancient and Cache.
Despite the promising start to the event, G2 are viewed as significant underdogs for this match, which, considering Spirit’s more recent showings, sounds fair.
Spirit are in excellent form, having recently won the Esports World Cup, adding to their silver medal from BLAST Bounty Summer, a semifinal run at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major, and a gold medal from PGL Astana.
Besides posting promising tournament placements, Spirit have also beaten G2 Esports five times this season, so the question is not so much whether Spirit will win, but rather by how much.
G2 Esports have been largely disappointing of late, going 5-3 in their last eight, but with no notable wins against strong opponents.
Until they show they can consistently challenge elite teams, it is fair to doubt G2.
Team Spirit -1.5 maps
Natus Vincere, in their own style, lost the opening match of BLAST Open Fall against M80, who reverse-swept them 13-6 on Mirage and Inferno.
Losing to an inferior team like that stings, but it is not like Natus Vincere have been known for their consistency of late.
This begs the question of whether NAVI will manage to be any more successful on Friday, when they take on paiN Gaming.
The latter have not been having the best time of late, with early eliminations from BLAST Bounty Summer and the Esports World Cup.
Over that stretch, they have lost against 9z Team, The MongolZ, and Astralis, and defeated Gentle Mates, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Wildcard.
Not the most demanding schedule, yet with middling results, raising doubts about paiN’s chances of derailing a tier-one team.
Natus Vincere have been volatile of late, but they should be viewed as favourites against a much lower-rated, struggling paiN Gaming.
Natus Vincere -1.5 maps
M80 cooked up a big upset in the opening round of BLAST Open Fall, reverse-sweeping Natus Vincere.
It marks one of their most notable victories over the last couple of months, but hardly an indication of M80’s strength, as it was mainly NAVI collapsing.
FURIA kicked off the tournament by winning the regional derby against paiN Gaming, now sporting a 5-3 record since reaching the grand final of the Cologne Major.
Over that stretch, FURIA have handled Wildcard, 9z Team, Aurora Gaming, and G2 Esports, but lost against DENDELE, FUT Esports, and Legacy, which is nothing to write home about.
FURIA were underwhelming during the Esports World Cup, but they performed much cleaner against paiN, suggesting they came to play.
As a very momentum-driven team with a high ceiling, FURIA are rightly viewed as favourites here, as M80 have not shown enough this season to believe they can consistently challenge elite teams.
FURIA -1.5 maps
Mark Prezelj
Esports Betting Analyst
Mark Prezelj is a Slovenian esports betting analyst with over 3,500 articles at EsportBet and the founder of Lines64.com — someone who has been reading odds longer than most readers have been watching esports.
