ECSTATIC replace Imperial at BLAST Bounty Winter 2026

BLAST have announced on Wednesday, December 23, that Imperial Esports decided to withdraw from BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 and will be replaced by ECSTATIC.

Imperial Esports are not the first Counter-Strike 2 team to withdraw from the first S-Tier tournament of the 2026 season.

Other notable squads who will not attend include G2 Esports, The MongolZ, and MOUZ, who all opted to have an extended winter break.

ECSTATIC, currently ranked No.35 in the global Valve Regional Standings (VRS) rankings, were originally not invited to participate, as they missed the cut-off line by four VRS points.

They will now join a competitive field of 32 teams, who will start their climb to the LAN stage on January 13, in a single-elimination bracket.

All BLAST Bounty Winter online stage games will be played as best-of-three.

• 

  Fast Payouts

The LAN stage will follow the same single-elimination format with best-of-three fixtures, up until the grand finals, which are best-of-five.

With the likes of Team Vitality, FURIA, Team Falcons, FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, and Team Spirit in attendance, BLAST Bounty Winter will be the most stacked tournament ECSTATIC have attended this year.

They have yet to feature in an S-Tier event, but have competed in various C- and B-Tier tournaments.

ECSTATIC have recently attended CCT Season 3 European Series #12, where they placed ninth-16th.

• 

  The bookies' bookie

Prior to the disappointing tournament run, they won two silver medals from DraculaN #3 and Galaxy Battle 2025 // Phase 5, which are two of ECSTATIC’s most notable tournament placements of the year.

BLAST’s announcement of ECSTATIC as a replacement invite comes just three weeks after the Danish team transfer listed their entire roster.

However, so far, none of the players have left the team.

BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 kicks off on January 13, and will culminate with the grand finals on January 25 at BLAST Arena Studios, in Attard, Malta.