The Swiss Stage at PGL Bucharest 2026 is done, and we’re now in the playoffs. With the format now shifting to single elimination, the room for error is gone, and the teams that relied on late recoveries will have far less chances to fix their mistakes.
Astralis vs EYEBALLERS
Astralis look like the cleaner pick here, both on paper and on the server, coming through the Swiss in three rounds, beating MIBR, B8, and The MongolZ along the way. EYEBALLERS did make the playoffs, but they looked much shakier – they got a freebie from FaZe’s Round 1 forfeit, were swept by The MongolZ, then had to scrap their way through NRG, and finally FOKUS in the decider.
EYE do have JW’s experience to guide them and avoid folding very early, but Astralis are far more stable, in better form, more experienced in playoff single-eliminations, and simply have more firepower than them.
Prediction: Astralis 2-0
3DMAX vs MIBR
This one is a bit trickier than it looks. 3DMAX are still the higher-ranked team at #15, and they finally found some success in Bucharest, beating Team Voca, B8, and PARIVISION to lock in quarters. MIBR arrive at the playoffs with a three-match win streak too, winning against BC.Game, Legacy, and EYEBALLERS after the opening loss to Astralis. Still, the stronger single result in this matchup belongs to 3DMAX after sweeping PARIVISION to secure playoffs early in Round 4, which stands out as one of the more convincing wins either team had in Bucharest – and the fact it’s against PARIVISION just puts more weight to it. If 3DMAX show up at the same level again, they should edge this.
Prediction: 3DMAX 2-1.
The MongolZ vs PARIVISION
This is probably the best quarterfinal of the batch, but also the hardest one to call. The MongolZ are looking a bit better throughout this event: they beat BC.Game and EYEBALLERS comfortably, the only loss came against Astralis in Swiss Round 3, then handled Wildcard 2-0 to reach the playoffs with a 3-1 score.
PARIVISION are still ranked higher on paper, but they’re not looking particularly sharp in Bucharest. They arrive in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 scoreline, but even against FOKUS, and especially that decider against Wildcard we could see them struggling, looking anything but clean. They played the third longest map in tier-one CS2 against a tier-two team (at best), and if nota and BELCHONOKK show up that quiet again, The MongolZ will surely punish them.
Prediction: The MongolZ 2-1.
B8 vs FUT
FUT deserve to be crowned heavy favorites here with the way they’re playing lately. They went through the group stage in three rounds with wins over Inner Circle, NRG, and PARIVISION, making it look easier than it should’ve been. B8, in contrast, needed all five rounds, and although they finished strong by beating Inner Circle and Legacy, their road was much bumpier.
The head-to-head is split between these two is split 1-1, but the more relevant result is the more recent one – FUT beat B8 2-0 a month ago at ESL Pro League Season 23 Online Stage in a dominant fashion, taking Dust2 13-8 and Anubis 13-3. B8 swept them too earlier at BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 Closed Qualifier, but FUT are clearly improved since, and from what we’ve seen – their current level is a lot sharper than anything B8 have shown at the event.
Prediction: FUT 2-0.
