Thunderpick World Championship 2026 will feature eight CS2 teams in Malta, headlined by Team Falcons, FURIA and Legacy.
Thunderpick announced a full team list for the upcoming Thunderpick World Championship 2026 tournament, headlined by the reigning Major champions, Team Falcons.
Scheduled to take place on October 14-18 in Malta, Thunderpick World Championship 2026 is the 17th Tier-1 Counter-Strike 2 tournament of the season and one of the most lucrative events, with a US$1,000,000 prize pool.
It is also the final opportunity for participating teams to secure Valve Regional Standings (VRS) points ahead of the Singapore Major, thus raising the stakes of one of the most significant events of the year.
Despite its importance, the Thunderpick World Championship will welcome only eight squads, seven of which received direct invites from the tournament organisers, while Virtus.pro are the sole team to secure their ticket via regional qualifiers.
Joining Virtus.pro in Malta are a couple of well-known names, including the current world No.2, Team Falcons, and world No.4, FURIA, as the only two top-five ranked teams.
They, however, will not be the only two serious title contenders, with Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major semifinalists Aurora Gaming and the recently crowned FISSURE Playground #3 champions, Legacy, also joining the fray.
Rounding up the list of participants are BetBoom Team, 9z Team, and PARIVISION, currently ranked 12th, 14th, and 19th in the global standings.
Thunderpick World Championship is a short-format event, running for just five days and divided into two stages.
The action begins with two double-elimination groups, each with four teams.
All group-stage games will be played as best-of-three, with only the top two teams per group advancing to the playoffs.
The playoffs are single-elimination, with all matches played as best-of-three except the grand final, which is best-of-five.
The top-rated Counter-Strike 2 bookmakers have yet to open outright markets for the Thunderpick World Championship 2026, which should become available closer to the tournament kickoff.
Thunderpick World Championship 2026 team list
- Team Falcons
- 9z Team
- Legacy
- FURIA
- BetBoom Team
- Aurora Gaming
- PARIVISION
- Virtus.pro
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.
