The group stage of BLAST Open Porto 2026 kicks off this Wednesday, and Fantasy players have made their picks.
The tournament features two eight-team double-elimination groups with all matches played in best-of-three format. Teams reaching the upper bracket finals receive padding points for skipping a round. This Fantasy game covers only the group stage portion, with playoffs launching separately once groups wrap up.
Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius steps in for Vitality at this event, replacing William 'mezii' Merriman who's taking paternity leave. Given the uncertainty around his stand-in performance, organizers assigned jL a neutral $200k price tag. That valuation has proven attractive to Fantasy managers, with approximately 20% of teams rostering the Lithuanian. This makes him the seventh most-selected player overall and Vitality's most popular pick.
Meanwhile, Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets leads all selections at 38% ownership despite his premium $245k cost. The Russian phenom arrives fresh off his MVP showing at EWC and historically performs well in group stage formats. His path through the bracket looks favorable for accumulating padding points, with DENDELE awaiting Spirit in the quarterfinals and the G2/Aurora winner likely in semifinals.
Participants compete for Season points plus Hellcase-sponsored skin prizes. The prize pool includes Shadow Daggers Tiger Tooth for first place, AK-47 Asiimov for second, AWP Redline for third, M4A4 The Battlestar for fourth, and Desert Eagle Mecha Industries for places five through ten.
