Finn “karrigan” Andersen made his highly anticipated debut for Falcons yesterday, guiding the roster to a convincing 2-0 series victory over Russian squad K27 in the opening round of the PGL Astana 2026 group stage. The match concluded the first set of Swiss system fixtures, cementing the initial 1-0 and 0-1 pools for the $1.6 million event in Kazakhstan.
Falcons secured early dominance on K27’s map choice of Dust2. The team converted a 9-3 halftime lead into a swift 13-5 map win. Ancient proved to be a closer affair. Despite Falcons rushing to a 6-0 lead, K27 forced an 11-11 tie before Falcons claimed the final two rounds to close the map 13-11. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov anchored the server with 36 kills and a 1.56 rating.
Elsewhere in Astana, South American representatives 9z delivered a decisive upset against PARIVISION. Luciano “luchov” Herrera dominated Inferno with two aces and a 2.68 rating, pushing 9z to a 13-6 win before the squad closed out Ancient 13-8. Top tier contenders including G2, Spirit, and FURIA also secured clean 2-0 sweeps in their opening matchups to advance into the high bracket. MOUZ faced stiff resistance from Gentle Mates but managed to scrape by with a 2-1 victory.
The tournament will continue today with the second round of the Swiss stage. Teams will battle to secure a 2-0 record and step closer to the playoff stage at the Barys Arena.
Round 1 match results
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team |
| FURIA | 2-0 | Monte |
| G2 | 2-0 | Fisher College |
| Spirit | 2-0 | The Huns |
| 9z | 2-0 | PARIVISION |
| The MongolZ | 2-0 | magic |
| Falcons | 2-0 | K27 |
| HEROIC | 2-0 | Aurora |
| MOUZ | 2-1 | Gentle Mates |
Today’s fixtures
| Matchup | Time (CEST) |
| MOUZ – G2 | 07.00 |
| K27 – Gentle Mates | 07.00 |
| Spirit vs The MongolZ | 10:00 |
| Aurora vs The Huns | 10:00 |
| FURIA vs HEROIC | 13:00 |
| PARIVISION vs Fisher College | 13:00 |
| 9z vs Falcons | 16:00 |
| Monte vs magic | 16:00 |
