Team Spirit secured their place in the BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2 grand final after prevailing in a tense three-map battle against FaZe.
The heavily favored Russian squad started strong, dominating their Dust2 selection and racing to a 6-1 advantage on Cache. But Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken's FaZe refused to go quietly, mounting an impressive comeback from that early deficit on their map pick. After narrowing the gap before halftime, FaZe won crucial forcebuy exchanges, highlighted by Ryan "Neityu" Aubry's stunning Deagle triple kill. David "frozen" Čerňanský shook off his slow start to help FaZe close out Cache comfortably on their preferred CT side.
The series came down to Anubis, where FaZe again jumped ahead 6-1 on their T side. Spirit finally found their rhythm through Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov's impactful AWP play. Even after FaZe captured the second pistol round and extended their lead to 10-5, Spirit's patient, calculated approach kept their opponents guessing late into rounds.
FaZe briefly halted Spirit's momentum with an aggressive A-site push, but their follow-up aggression through Connector backfired. Spirit sealed the 13-11 victory with a clutch bomb plant in the final seconds.
Notably absent was Danil "donk" Kryshkovets, who entered the match averaging a 1.60 rating at Bounty but failed to make his usual impact. Instead, sh1ro led the charge alongside Boris "magixx" Vorobiev, who dominated on Dust2, and Myroslav "zont1x" Plakhotia, whose crucial plays kept Spirit alive on Anubis.
The defeat ends FaZe's tournament run, though they achieved consecutive top-four finishes following XSE Pro League. Currently ranked 13th on the preliminary VRS, they're narrowly outside direct invite range for ESL Pro League and IEM Beijing, with invites distributing on August 3, while remaining well-positioned for FISSURE Playground 5.
