G2 stun world No. 1 MOUZ as Spirit survive 13-0 shock in Hong Kong

Opening day delivers drama in Hong Kong

The opening day of BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 2 in Hong Kong delivered everything Counter-Strike fans could have asked for: a 13-0 map, a six-match losing streak snapped against the world's best team, and four playoff places decided in a single day. FURIA, Team Vitality, Team Spirit and G2 Esports all won their opening series on Tuesday, November 11, guaranteeing themselves a place in the six-team playoff of the $1,000,000 event at the AsiaWorld-Expo. The tournament is the final top-tier Counter-Strike 2 event before the PGL Singapore Major, which begins on November 24, and day one suggested the last stop before Singapore will be anything but a formality.

In BLAST's eight-team format, only two sides miss the playoffs, so an opening win was enough to book a place in the next stage. The four winners will now contest upper finals to decide who advances directly to the semi-finals and who must start in the quarter-finals, while the four losers get one last chance in elimination matches. FURIA will face Vitality and Spirit will meet G2 in the upper finals; Falcons play Legacy and FUT face MOUZ with survival on the line.

G2 end the losing run against the world's best

The last series of the day produced the biggest upset. G2, who arrived in Hong Kong on a six-series losing streak, beat MOUZ 2-1 to hand the IEM Beijing champions and world No. 1 side a first defeat of the event. MOUZ took the opener on Nuke 13-7, but G2 recovered to win Ancient 16-14 in overtime and closed the series with a 13-7 win on Inferno.

It was a statement result for a G2 roster that had endured a torrid run of form coming into the tournament, with six consecutive series defeats weighing on the team. Beating the world's top-ranked side, fresh from a 3-0 grand-final win over The MongolZ in Beijing on November 8, changes the conversation around them immediately. MOUZ, meanwhile, must regroup quickly: their elimination match against FUT on Thursday is win-or-go-home, and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač summed up the mood after the defeat, writing: "Really rough times, we will do our best to bounce back tomorrow, thanks for the support."

Spirit survive the unthinkable on Nuke

Team Spirit's 2-1 win over FUT Esports produced the day's most extraordinary scoreline. Spirit took the opener on Cache 13-9, but the second map, Nuke, ended 13-0 in FUT's favour — a whitewash at the highest level of the game, and one Spirit's players laughed off before recovering to win the decider on Ancient 13-5.

The context made the result even more remarkable. FUT arrived in Hong Kong without in-game leader Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija, who missed the event because of visa issues, and played with coach András "coolio" Fercsák standing in. A stand-in coach handing one of the world's strongest rosters a 13-0 defeat on one of its own map picks is the kind of result that will be replayed for years, even if Spirit had the last laugh by closing out the series. Spirit now meet G2 in an upper final that pits the tournament's most feared roster against its great comeback story.

FURIA and Vitality take care of business

The day's first two series were more straightforward, though neither was without tension. FURIA were the first team into the playoffs, beating fellow Brazilians Legacy 2-0 in a messy all-Brazilian contest that finished 13-10, 13-7, with Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato emerging as the difference maker.

Vitality joined them soon after, dispatching Falcons 2-0 on the return of Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, who was back in action after the birth of his child. The French veteran was in chirpy form throughout, needling the Falcons players as Vitality recovered from losing leads on both Anubis and Dust2 to win each map 13-10. It was a composed, professional performance from a side that knows how to win these events, and the upper final against FURIA will be a genuine test of where both teams stand before Singapore.

What day two decides

With the group stage concluding on Wednesday, November 12, the playoff picture will be complete by the end of day two. The upper finals decide seeding into the semi-finals and quarter-finals, while the elimination matches decide the last two playoff places. The single-elimination playoffs run from November 13 to 15, with the best-of-five grand final scheduled for Sunday, November 15.

For MOUZ, the task is simple and unforgiving: beat FUT or go home before the playoffs begin. For G2, the question is whether one famous win can become a run. And for Spirit, the 13-0 on Nuke will either be a footnote to another deep run or the warning sign that this tournament's favourites are not invincible. Day one in Hong Kong gave us all three storylines at once — and the Major in Singapore is now less than two weeks away.