Prestigious. Iconic. Words not usually used to describe the CCT Global Finals, and that’s not the case this time either.

The medium-sized LAN event in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal (it’s just a suburb of Porto) has wrapped up this weekend, and while we can’t exactly describe it as a must-see, we did see some interesting storylines unfold.

Most eyes will probably have gone the way of Ninjas in Pyjamas, trying to catch a glimpse of just how bad the car wreck would be with their new spaghetti-armed sniper.

Turns out, stavn might actually be a good AWPer. Posting not only positive ratings in the team’s first four out of five series played at the event, but actually hard carrying on his debut?

Much like a young Mr. Simpson, we must say the line:

We owe you an apology. We weren’t familiar with your game.

In further news at the event, 100 Thieves were in attendance, and that’s about all we can say about them. They lost two close matches against BIG and NIP and were handed a forfeit win over illwill, and unfortunately that’s all she wrote.

While it’s no doubt a disappointing result for the team, who seem to have slightly stagnated after their meteoric rise in March, they can at least take solace in the fact that they didn’t lose to any embarrassingly sh-t opponents.

Unlike some of messioso’s former squads.

The event culminated in a best-of-five grand final where HEROIC took on Monte, and started the final by going 0-13 on their own first pick. Naturally there was still a potential four maps left to play in the series, but it was already over.

Monte eventually took the win 3-1, with afro somehow continuing his stellar 2026 form with an electric final, once again making us ask the question where this was when he was playing on actually good teams.

Imagine where fnatic had been now if afro was posting 1.45 ratings for them. Actually, on second thought, they’d probably still be horrible.

All in all, most teams that showed up to Portugal can be happy with their stay, though some more than others. Particularly BIG, it seems.

Lovely.