The grand final is set to be a brawl as both teams are good on practically the same maps.
Tomorrow, the #2 and #3 ranked-VRS teams, Team Spirit and Falcons, will face off for the PGL Astana title in the absence of Vitality, the goliaths of the scene, who just stomached a loss to NAVI.
Here is what you need to know ahead of their matchup:
karrigan: Falcons’ cure for choking?
Yesterday, Falcons took down FURIA for the first time on stage since Falcons signed NiKo. They prevailed across two different overtime maps, which they have never won against FURIA.
Falcons’ star rifler, kyousuke, has struggles on stage in 2026. Karrigan seems to have been the difference maker, leading to a 32% increase in kyousuke’s HLTV rating basically overnight.
| Stage rating in 2026 | Before PGL Astana (7 maps) | PGL Astana (5 maps) |
| kyousuke | 0.97 | 1.28 (32% increase) |
| m0NESY | 1.20 | 1.34 (12% increase) |
FURIA’s solid rock and closer, KSCERATO, was having a blinder of a game to try and close out the series on the second map, Nuke. He had the most multikills on the server with 11 and 98 ADR.
Despite, this Falcons still came through with massive clutch factor, mainly through m0NESY, who had repeated post-plant highlights.
On Dust2, it was another overtime affair, as Falcons had the early lead but FURIA was resilient in the second half. Late in the match, it was TeSeS to have a late pop-off, clinching a 19-17 win with a solo hold on B.
With this momentum and “magic”, Falcons have turned their tale from being chokers to being clutch in the last moments. They will need that magic against Spirit, boasting the world’s most explosive player.
donk back in the best player conversation?
Spirit have heated up throughout 2026, and going into the IEM Cologne Major, donk is playing at the peak of his powers.
Going into the grand final, donk has averaged a rating of 1.63 across PGL Astana. The next highest are molodoy with a 1.36 and m0NESY with a 1.33.
| Opening Kill Stats | Opening Attempt % | Opening Success % |
| donk | 30.7% | 64.9% |
Prior to the final, it is already practically guaranteed that donk will take his first MVP of 2026, unless m0NESY comes through with a hyper-carry performance to win.
With that in mind, donk may be able to put himself back in the “best player” conversation. This is contingent on ZywOo, winner of four MVP medals in 2026, dropping off alongside his team. That does not seem so far away, as Vitality has been known for their late season dips and have just been eliminated by NAVI from IEM Atlanta.
Massive map pool overlap – karrigan trickery incoming?
The grand final is set to be a brawl as both teams are good on practically the same maps.
Spirit always removes Inferno, while Falcons removes Overpass. While Spirit plays Overpass, they almost never pick it, and likewise, Falcons have only played Inferno once this tournament and lost.
| Map | Spirit win % | Falcons win % |
| Dust2 | 83% | 54% |
| Ancient | 78% | 75% |
| Nuke | 60% | 75% |
| Mirage | 56% | 75% |
| Anubis | 50% | N/A |
Spirit and Falcons both adore playing Dust2, Mirage, Ancient and Nuke. Anubis is likely to be the handshake fifth map between the two, unless karrigan spots a chink in the armor.
It would not be the first time karrigan has attempted to fool around in the map veto against Spirit. Perhaps he will leave Anubis earlier in the pool? Or maybe he will bait Spirit into an Overpass pick?
Since it is a BO5, trickery in the map veto will have lesser impact than usual. Spirit comes in as the favorite on paper, having won their last two meetings on stage against the Falcons.
