🇺🇦 Big NAVI announcement - they've signed a 6th player!

Apparently the entire 🌊 underwater world is now repping Natus Vincere. The new EWC 2026 jersey said it loud: "From the depths to the stage."

🕹 The signing breakdown:
- VRS rating: #0 globally
- Points: 1,000,000+
- Rating: 0.00 (zero deaths recorded)
- Region: Atlantic / Pacific / Indian (cross-region eligibility)

Welcome to the roster🔥

👉 cs2analytics.com

#NAVI #EWC2026

🏆Playoffs are here - 🇪🇺 G2 (#12) vs new-look🇪🇺 FaZe (#28)!

🏆 Tournament info
BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 · Playoffs
May 1 · 10:30 PM UTC | BO3

📊 Win chance by VRS model
🇪🇺G2 — 73%
🇪🇺FaZe — 27%

🕹 Worth knowing

1. G2 enter the bracket on a high — 2-0 over Astralis to open the tournament. Last trophy lifted at BLAST Open Fall 2025 with the same core (huNter, malbsMd, MATYS, HeavyGod, SunPayus).

2. FaZe lost their debut to NAVI 0-2, but bounced back with a 2-1 over defending Rivals champs FURIA. frozen 1.34 led that one. Twistzz at IGL, neityu standing in.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #G2 #FaZe

🇪🇺 FaZe debuted with a loss to 🇺🇦 NAVI (0-2) - and bounced back by knocking out defending Rivals champs 🇧🇷 FURIA (2-1) the next day.

It's the new-look lineup's first big result: Twistzz at IGL, neityu standing in, enkay J as new head coach. frozen led the server at 1.34 in the upset.

🕹 +34.7 VRS pts, jumping #38 → #27 globally.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #FaZe

🇽🇰 makazze isn't just 🇺🇦 NAVI's hot rookie - he's the best Ancient player on tier-1 LANs in 2026 by rating.

Top rifler ratings on Ancient at tier-1 LANs this year:

1. 🇺🇦 makazze - 1.40
2. 🇩🇰 Staehr - 1.38
3. 🇩🇰 HeavyGod - 1.37
3. 🏴‍☠️ donk - 1.37
5. 🇩🇰 jabbi - 1.32
5. 🇲🇰 kyxsan - 1.32
7. 🇨🇦 Twistzz - 1.29
8. 🇧🇦 NiKo - 1.28
8. 🏴‍☠️ m0NESY - 1.28
10. 🇧🇷 cobrazera - 1.23

🧐 Worth knowing:
🇺🇦 b1t already leads the world among B-anchors on Ancient (+6.6% Hold Above Average). Now 🇺🇦 NAVI also have the highest-rated rifler on the same map. No coincidence the team's been carrying so much weight on 🗺 Ancient this season.

🕹 Source: HLTV stats, tier-1 LANs 2026

🕹 Global VRS standings - May 1, 2026.

🇪🇺 Vitality - 2076 (+13)
🇺🇦 NAVI - 1898 (-5)
🇩🇰Falcons - 1833 (+64) ↑3
🇩🇰 Astralis - 1832 (+143) ↑6
🇷🇸 Spirit - 1819 (+98) ↑4
🇪🇺 FUT - 1817 (+198) ↑6
🇲🇳 The MongolZ - 1801 (+54) ↑1
🇷🇺PARIVISION - 1758 (-40) ↓5
🇷🇺Aurora - 1749 (-28) ↓4
🇪🇺 MOUZ - 1744 (-25) ↓3

🕹 Worth knowing

- FUT's +198 is the biggest single-week gain in the top 10 — Bucharest trophy + Vitality scare at BLAST Rivals.

- Astralis surged +143 / 6 spots after their Bucharest GF run and BLAST Rivals revenge over FUT.

- Falcons crack the top 3 for the first time with the new karrigan-led lineup — without playing this week.

- PARIVISION drop hardest, falling 5 spots out of the top 5.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#CS2 #VRS

🏆 Playoffs continue - GamerLegion (#19) vs Astralis (#4).

🏆 Tournament info
BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 · Playoffs
May 1 · 01:30 UTC | BO3

📊 Win chance by VRS model
🇩🇪 GamerLegion — 25%
🇩🇰 Astralis — 75%

🕹 Worth knowing

1. 🇩🇪 GL come into this hot — 2-1 upset over defending champs FURIA in their opener, then a 0-2 to NAVI in the UB final. PR led the FURIA series at 1.31.

2. 🇩🇰 Astralis on a tear — surged +143 VRS pts this week alone. Lost the PGL Bucharest grand final 1-3 to FUT, then took revenge 2-0 against the same FUT in BLAST Rivals LB QF.

The risk math: GL gain a massive +53.4 and jump #19 → #13 with the upset. Astralis only drop #4 → #6 if they fall.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #GamerLegion #Astralis

🇫🇷 apEX heads back to Texas with a track record there.

Vitality won both their last big tier-1 trips to the state - IEM Dallas 2025 and the BLAST Austin Major 2025. apEX is famously the villain at US events, and the Austin crowd's "fuck you apEX" chants only got louder as Vitality lifted the trophy. Now Fort Worth's BLAST Rivals adds a third Texas event to the streak.

🕹 Worth knowing:

🇪🇺 Vitality opened the tournament 2-1 vs 🇪🇺 FUT and 2-1 vs G2 - and yes, the crowd is already against them.

📊 Sources: HLTV, Escorenews, Liquipedia

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #Vitality #apEX

🇩🇪BIG have paused their EQUIPA project "for the foreseeable future."

The reigning 🏆 ESL Impact Season 8 champions and 🕹 HLTV's Women's Team of the Year 2025 went all of 2026 with only one event under their belt - JB Pro League Female S1. After waiting five months for a women's circuit that never materialised, the org has stepped away.

Team Manager AlphaHirsch: the players will be free to pursue stream sponsorships and other earnings.

EQUIPA's last roster: 🇫🇷 ASTRA · 🇵🇱 Hanka · 🇬🇧 aiM · 🇸🇪 Emmsan · 🏴‍☠️ sosya

🇩🇪 BIG follow🇸🇪 NIP Impact and Imperial Valkyries, who exited women's CS earlier this year after the end of ESL Impact.

👉 https://x.com/BIGCLANgg/status/2050243857691164721?s=20

#CS2 #BIGEQUIPA

🏆 Upset of the playoffs - FaZe (#28) take down G2 (#12) 2-1 to book a semifinal spot at BLAST Rivals.

The 73/27 forecast flipped completely. Faze took Dust 2 13-11, G2 answered on Ancient 13-9, and Faze closed it on Mirage 16-13 in overtime.

🇪🇺 frozen ran the show on the decider:

Rating 3.0 - 1.63
ADR - 111.2
KAST - 75.9
swing per round - +3.26
K/D - 1.72.
Match-defining performance!

broky was solid in support at 1.04 / 68.6 ADR.

📊 VRS impact:
FaZe +62.2, jumping #28 → #22.
G2 drop -23.8 but hold #12.

🕹 Worth knowing

- First 🇪🇺FaZe playoff win at any tier-1 event since Budapest Major 2025 - 140 days.

- For the first time in 1000+ days,🇪🇺 G2 lost to FaZe on Mirage.

- 2026 G2 playoff wins: 2-1 Faze (HLC Belgrade) → Faze 2-1 G2 (BLAST Rivals).

- At that same Budapest Major they beat 🇺🇦 NAVI on the way to the final - and tomorrow's semi is exactly that matchup again.

🇪🇺 Head coach enkay J: "they have unreal fans who genuinely believe FaZe will win it all."

Karrigan-less FaZe make their case.

#BLASTRivals #FaZe #G2

🇪🇺 NAVI vs 🇪🇺 Vitality grand final is LIVE - and it's wild.

🏆 BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 · Grand Final · May 3 · BO3

🕹 Win chance by VRS: Vitality 61% - NAVI 39%

🔥 NAVI lead Nuke 12-9. They opened CT side with a pistol round and just kept rolling — 10-0 at one point. That's the first time in 2026 Vitality have been down 0-10 on a map.

For Vitality, this is also only the second time this year they're starting the second half down 1-11.

Two captains, two moods before the match:

🇫🇷 apEX:
"I'm never sure if I'm comfortable playing against NAVI. The stats show it, but in my head, I'm never like that. A grand final is never like the other games."

🇺🇦 Aleksib:
"We have nothing to lose. We're always doing twice the amount of work when we face them. We can't be nervous - Vitality is the final boss, so let's just enjoy it."

👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQiRqmHDq_U

#BLASTRivals #Vitality #NAVI

🇪🇺 Vitality lead the grand final 2-0 - but not the way anyone expected.

🗺 Anubis - 13-11 for🇪🇺 Vitality, decided in the closing maps. 🇽🇰 makazze keeping 🇺🇦 NAVI alive - incredible Anubis performance, especially that final round clutch attempt that nearly stole the map back.

🇪🇺 NAVI need to win three maps in a row off Vitality's #1 form to lift the trophy. 🇷🇸 Dust 2 next.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #Vitality #NAVI

🇪🇺 Vitality are your 🏆 BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 champions - 3-0 over 🇺🇦 NAVI in the grand final.

🇺🇦 NAVI took the Nuke half 11-1, but Vitality flipped it on CT and closed 16-12 in OT. Anubis went the distance at 13-11. Then Dust 2 was a 13-3 statement to seal it.

🇪🇪 ropz 1.55 was the highest-rated player on the server. 🇺🇦 w0nderful 1.07 the steady hand for Navi across all three.

📊 +5.1 VRS for Vitality, -14.8 for NAVI. Both hold their global ranks.

That's a fourth Big Event trophy in a row in 2026 for Vitality — Kraków → Cluj-Napoca → Rotterdam → Fort Worth. The "real test" Aleksib called it before the tournament went exactly the way the stats said it would.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #Vitality #NAVI

🗺 Maps VRS - Mirage standings, May 4, 2026.

🇪🇺 Vitality - 1974 · EU
🇩🇰 Falcons - 1947 (↑1) · EU
🇪🇺 FUT - 1879 (↑1) · EU
🇪🇺 NAVI - 1823 (↓2) · EU
🇧🇷 FURIA - 1809 (↑5) · AM
🇪🇺 MOUZ - 1729 (↑5) · EU
🇲🇳 The MongolZ - 1718 · AS
🇷🇺 Aurora - 1703 (↑1) · EU
🇷🇺 Spirit - 1646 (↓4) · EU
🇩🇰 Astralis - 1644 (↓4) · EU

🇺🇦 NAVI drop two spots after the 🏆 BLAST Rivals grand final loss. 🇷🇺 Spirit and 🇩🇰 Astralis both fall four. 🇧🇷 FURIA and 🇪🇺 MOUZ jump five each - the biggest gainers in the top 10.

🕹 Worth knowing

1. Mirage was the most-played map at BLAST Rivals S1 - 8 series. Inferno and Anubis tied for least at 2 each.

2. It's also the only map to appear at every CS:GO Major in history — 19 in a row before CS2 launched.

3. The map started life as de_cpl_strike, made by Michael "BubkeZ" Hüll for the Cyberathlete Professional League back in CS 1.6. Valve only added it as an official map on June 6, 2013, with a full Moroccan-themed rework.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#VRS #Mirage

🇪🇪 Ropz finished the Grand Final as the highest-rated player on either team. He went home without the medal.

🇪🇺 Vitality 3-0 🇪🇺 NAVI, Fort Worth Grand Final:
-🇪🇪 ropz - 1.55
- 🇫🇷 ZywOo - 1.29
- 🇮🇱 flameZ - 1.28
- 🇺🇦 w0nderful (NAVI top) - 1.07

Across the full playoffs, ropz averaged 1.42 - the best on Vitality. flameZ landed at 1.33, ZywOo at 1.32.

What flipped the MVP race?

A 2.18-rated Dust 2 from ZywOo on the third map of the final, plus ropz's quiet group stage (0.90 vs FUT in the opener) that left him just shy on total maps played.

ZywOo himself didn't dispute it. He told HLTV he expected the medal to go to ropz or flameZ, then joked: "For once, I'll say I robbed them." He even framed it as payback - ropz took the MVP off him at BLAST Open Rotterdam in March with a 1.54 playoff rating, his sixth career MVP and first since CAC 2023.

Fort Worth keeps the pattern alive: when the playoffs start, ropz raises his level. The medal math doesn't always agree.

🕹 Worth knowing:
Rotterdam in March was the first time anyone other than ZywOo had won an MVP in this Vitality lineup. Two months later, ZywOo paid the favor back.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#BLASTRivals #Vitality #ropz #ZywOo

🕹 Player VRS Top 8 - May 4, 2026

🕹 Players:

🇫🇷 #1 ZywOo (Vitality) - 2023
🇮🇱 #2 flameZ (Vitality) - 1950
🇪🇪 #3 ropz (Vitality) - 1941
🇽🇰 #4 makazze (NAVI) - 1878
🏴‍☠️ #5 mONESY (Falcons) - 1861
🇷🇴 #6 iM (NAVI) - 1853
🇬🇧 #7 mezii (Vitality) - 1840
🇸🇪 #8 phzy (Astralis) - 1834

📌 The shape of the board:

- 🇫🇷ZywOo - the only player above 2000. A 73-point lead over #2.
- 🇪🇺Vitality occupy 1, 2, 3, and 7. Only apEX(#11) is outside the eight.
- 🇪🇺NAVI hold 4 and 6 - the closest challengers to the wall.
- Outside those two rosters, only 🇩🇰mONESY and 🇩🇰phzy break in.

🧐 Worth knowing:
🇮🇱 flameZ and 🇪🇪 ropz sit just 9 points apart at #2/#3. flameZ leads on group-stage consistency; ropz finished BLAST Rivals as Vitality's highest-rated playoff player (1.42). Below ZywOo, the leaderboard is a coin-toss.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#PlayerVRS #CS2 #Vitality #NAVI

🇪🇺 Vitality 10. 🇪🇺 NAVI 0.

🖥 Last 10 head-to-heads, Vitality vs NAVI:
- 10 series won, 0 lost
- 23 maps to 1 — a 96% map win rate
- 7× 2-0, 2× 3-0, 1× 3-1
- Most recent: BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 grand final, May 3 - 3-0

🇪🇺 NAVI are the world's #2 team. They take series off the rest of the field. The wall they keep hitting is one specific opponent - and they keep arriving at finals to hit it again. That's both the cruelty and the credit of this rivalry.

Across all 10 series, NAVI have taken exactly one map. And that one came inside a series they still lost 3-1.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#NAVI #Vitality

🇫🇷 ZywOo: THE CHOSEN ONE!

🏆 BLAST Rivals 2026 S1 MVP. 1.34 rating across 11 maps. The 32nd of his career.

🕹 All-time HLTV MVP leaders:
- ZywOo - 32
- s1mple - 21
- device - 19

🔥 The shape of the era:

- 4 MVPs in the first 5 months of 2026 (Kraków, Cluj, Rio, BLAST Rivals)
- 🇪🇺 Vitality - 5 titles in a row, 27-map playoff win streak
- 4× #1 Player of the Year (2019, 2020, 2023, 2025) - most ever
- 3 Major titles. 3 Major MVPs. Both records.

Twenty-five years old. Eleven medals clear of second place. Still adding. By every counter HLTV tracks, no player in CS history has done what he's doing - and we're watching it live.

🧐 Worth knowing
At Fort Worth he dropped a 2.18-rated Dust 2 on the final map of the grand final to seal the medal. He still called it his worst tournament of the year personally. That's the bar.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#ZywOo #Vitality

🇬🇧 mezii signed with 🇪🇺 Vitality in January 2024. The team has lifted 14 S-Tier trophies since. The Briton has been on stage for all of them.

🖥 The 2026 stretch:

- 5 trophies in 5 months - Kraków, Cluj, Rotterdam, Rio, BLAST Rivals
- Every Big Event Vitality has entered this year
- 2 Majors already won (Austin + Budapest 2025)
- 2 Grand Slam runs completed - Seasons 5 and 6

🇪🇺 Vitality became the first team in CS history to win two Grand Slams. mezii lifted both.

#mezii #Vitality

🇺🇦 NAVI lost 0-3 in the 🏆 BLAST Rivals grand final. The score doesn't tell the full story of what nearly happened.

🙇‍♂️ What the GF actually looked like:
-🗺 Nuke - NAVI led 11-0 before Vitality won 12-16 in OT
- 🗺 Anubis - NAVI led 11-9 before Vitality won the last four straight, 13-11
- 🇷🇸 Dust 2 - Vitality 13-3, the only one-sided map of the series

Two maps with leads big enough to win them. Two leads that didn't hold. Aleksib was honest about it after the match:

"It was hard to go outside afterward because I knew it was a huge fumble."

🇺🇦 What still stands:

1. NAVI are #2 in the world on both HLTV and VRS.
2. Three of the world's top 8 players wear their badge - makazze (#4), iM (#6), and w0nderful inside the wider tier-1.
3. ESL Pro League Season 23 already sits on the shelf as their 2026 trophy. And they've made grand finals at three of their last four Big Events.

🇺🇦 About Aleksib:

- Finnish IGL, 29 years old - born March 30, 1997
- HLTV IGL of the Year 2024
- First Finn ever to win a Major - PGL Copenhagen 2024, leading NAVI to the title
- Has captained 🇵🇱 ENCE, 🇪🇺 OG, 🇸🇪 NIP, 🇪🇺 G2, and now 🇪🇺 NAVI

🕹 Worth knowing:
NAVI have lost 12 maps in a row to Vitality going back to IEM Cologne 2024. Streaks like that always end. The only question is who's holding the rifle when it does.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#NAVI #Aleksib #CS2 #BLASTRivals

🏆 PGL Astana 2026 — May 9–17. 16 teams. $1.6M on the line.

🙇‍♂️ Day 1 - eight matches, all Bo3:

- 🇷🇺 Aurora (#9) - 🇩🇰 HEROIC (#20) · 69% / 31%
- 🇪🇺 G2 (#12) - 🇵🇱 Fisher College (#97) · 94% / 6%
- 🇪🇺 MOUZ (#11) - 🇪🇸 Gentle Mates (#38) · 82% / 18%
- 🇲🇳 The MongolZ (#7) - 🇺🇦magic (#46) · 90% / 10%
- 🇩🇰 Falcons (#3) - 🇷🇺 K27 (#36) · 89% / 11%
- 🇷🇺 Spirit (#5) - 🇲🇳 (#84) · 97% / 3%
- 🇧🇷 FURIA (#10) - 🇪🇺Monte (#18) · 63% / 37%
- 🇷🇺 PARIVISION (#8) - 🇺🇾 9z (#19) · 67% / 33%

The two closest opening matches by win probability - Aurora vs HEROIC, FURIA vs Monte and PARIVISION vs 9z.

🏆 The shape of the field:
- $1.6M is the second-largest prize pool in CS2 history outside the Stockholm Major
- 9z entered through the South American closed qualifier
- Final three days play at Barys Arena, Astana

The two missing names: 🇪🇺 Vitality and 🇪🇺 NAVI. Both skip Astana for IEM Atlanta, which runs in parallel from May 11. That leaves the door wide open - for the first time in 2026, an S-Tier title will be lifted without the world's top two in the room.

🕹 Worth knowing
First place takes home $512,000. Falcons, Spirit, or MongolZ winning here would close the gap on Vitality faster than any other event left before Cologne.

👉 cs2analytics.com

#PGLAstana