NRG, Aurora Gaming, FURIA and Team Vitality won their matches on the opening day of StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 on Thursday in Barcelona.
NRG defeated MOUZ 2-1, Aurora blanked Natus Vincere 2-0, FURIA rallied past MIBR 2-1 and Vitality swept magic 2-0. The winners advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals, while the losing sides dropped into the tournament’s lower bracket.
The $500,000, Tier 1 Counter-Strike 2 event runs Thursday through Sunday and features eight teams in a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
The winning club will take home $200,000 split between a $100,000 player prize and a $100,000 team share.
On Thursday, NRG sandwiched wins of 13-11 on Cache and 13-10 on Dust II around a 13-5 loss to MOUZ on Inferno. Nick “nitr0” Cannella of the United States led NRG with 50 kills.
Aurora beat NaVi 13-8 on Nuke and 13-7 on Mirage. Finland’s Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo led the way for Aurora with a match-high 38 kills.
FURIA opened their match with a 13-11 setback to MIBR on Inferno, then answered with consecutive 13-6 triumphs on Nuke and Cache. Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato of Brazil starred for FURIA with 51 kills.
Vitality eased past magic 13-6 on Mirage and 13-9 on Dust II. Estonia’s Robin “ropz” Kool had a match-high 43 kills for Vitality and teammate Dan “apEX” Madesclaire of France had 38 kills.
The tournament continues Friday with four matches:
–NRG vs. Aurora Gaming (upper-bracket semifinals)
–FURIA vs. Team Vitality (upper-bracket semifinals)
–MOUZ vs. Natus Vincere (lower-bracket Round 1)
–MIBR vs. magic (lower-bracket Round 1)
StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 prize pool (divided into player prize, team share)
1. $200,000 ($100,000, $100,000)
2. $130,000 ($65,000, $65,000)
3. $70,000 ($35,000, $35,000)
4. $40,000 ($20,000, $20,000)
5-6. $20,000 ($10,000, $10,000)
7-8. $10,000 ($5,000, $5,000)
–Field Level Media
