If you saw Vitality - the best team in the world - taking on a kyousuke-less Falcons, and FURIA - the kings of the second half of 2025 - facing an inexperienced PARIVISION in the semifinals of a tier one tournament, you could safely predict the picks of all rational, sound-minded CS fans.

Well, at the BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 Playoffs, the schizos took home the metaphorical cake.

In the first semi-final, Vitality took on a Falcons squad that everyone thought should be grateful they even made it this far. And yet, they pushed past apEX and the boys in what turned out to be a rather entertaining series.

NiKo was at the centre of it all, delivering two aces to drag Falcons into the grand final. He looked very confident throughout, taking duels left and right, and reminding everyone just how fun NiKo is to watch when he’s feeling it.

The same cannot be said about ZywOo, though.

He pulled his best ultimate impression and dropped an all-time stinker of a performance, finishing the series with a 0.85 rating. This match alone earned him two new entries in his top-10 worst map ratings ever: a 0.54 on Inferno and a 0.56 on Mirage.

Shoutout to stand-in NucleonZ, who got thrown straight into the lions’ den and still managed to contribute solidly against the best team in the world. So, the solution was one less superstar?!

And then came what might be the most surprising result of the Playoffs. Well, the most surprising result so far…

Jame’s PARIVISION dismantled FURIA in a clean 2-0 sweep to earn the last grand final spot. Just like in the previous semi, the AWPer of the favored side completely sh-t the bed, with molodoy’s 0.76 rating shying away from the impact we’ve come to expect from the sixth best player of 2025.

Behind Jame’s pristine calling, nearly everyone on PARI showed up, with zweih and BELCHONOKK leading the charge.

You know what we’d pay top dollar for? To be a fly on the wall in VP’s front office right about now.