Long day, huh?

The Playoffs of PGL Bucharest 2026 are officially underway, and day one gave us a BO3 marathon.

Realistically, the upper side of the bracket wasn’t exactly must-watch material - unless you’re French or Danish, of course. If by the divine roll of the dice you happen to be from one of those places, first of all, our condolences.

On the bright side, though, you’ll be pretty happy with how things played out for your team.

3DMAX showed clear signs of recovery, taking down MIBR 2-1 in a series that initially looked out of their hands. MIBR started strong and seemed in control, only to completely collapse and throw it away. Quick shoutout to misutaaa, who’s been fitting in nicely despite the team’s struggles.

We then got a rerun of the opening series, with Astralis taking on EYEBALLERS. After winning Mirage off the back of a JW nostalgia-fueled masterclass, the Swedes stormed to an 11-4 lead on Ancient and looked set for the semis. Unfortunately, they ended up choking harder than FaZe in Boston, handing Astralis the map and ultimately the series.

Naturally, the only match where phzy drops a 0.95 rating stinker is against his countrymen. Honestly, we get it. Swedish CS needs some Love these days.

With the appetizers out of the way, it was time for the main courses.

The only sweep of the day came in FUT vs B8, but it was anything but clean. It took full regulation on Ancient and OT on Overpass for FUT to seal their semi-final spot.

As for B8… what can we even say? Maybe signing another 16-year-old straight out of ESEA Advanced right after the last one went so well wasn’t the brightest idea.

To close out the day, the big boys came out to play. The MongolZ and PARIVISION traded blows across Dust2 and Mirage, setting up what looked like a banger Ancient decider. And it really was a bang… for one side. After going down 3-9, The MongolZ answered back with a flawless T-side to close out the series.

You’ve got to feel for nota and xiELO, they probably went straight into the dastan torture chamber after that one.