Team Spirit, 9z Team first to advance at PGL Astana 2026

Field Level Media|published: Mon 11th May, 17:37 2026

YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year.

Team Spirit and 9z Team became the first two squads to advance to the playoffs at the $800,000 PGL Astana 2026 following 2-1 victories Monday in Kazakhstan.

Spirit took down FURIA and 9z outlasted MOUZ in the Round 3 High Matches. That put Spirit and 9z at 3-0, the first two teams to get the three wins necessary to advance.

FURIA and MOUZ will get up to two more cracks at it, as they'll appear in the Round 4 High Matches on Tuesday before Round 5 comes Wednesday.

The group stage runs through Wednesday, with all matches best-of-three in a Swiss System format and the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs. The single-elimination playoffs are best-of-three matches until the best-of-five grand finale on May 17, with the winner taking home $256,000.

On Monday, Spirit sandwiched a 13-8 win on Dust II and a 13-11 result on Mirage around a 16-12 overtime setback to FURIA on Overpass. Russia's Danil "donk" Kryshkovets led all players with 71 kills for Spirit.

9z beat MOUZ 13-10 on Nuke, fell 13-4 on Inferno and rebounded to prevail 13-9 on Ancient. The South American club was led by Argentina's Luciano "luchov" Herrera, who posted a match-high 49 kills.

In the Round 3 Mid Matches, all four fixtures ended in 2-0 sweeps. Gentle Mates blanked HEROIC, Aurora Gaming defeated PARIVISION, Team Falcons beat Monte and The MongolZ shut out G2 Esports. Those four winning teams moved on to the Round 4 High Matches.

The Round 3 Low Matches provided the first two eliminations of the tournament, as magic shut out K27 2-0 and The Huns Esports did the same to Fisher College.

The tournament continues Tuesday with six matches:

--MOUZ vs. Aurora Gaming (Round 4 High)

--The MongolZ vs. Team Falcons (Round 4 High)

--FURIA vs. Gentle Mates (Round 4 High)

--HEROIC vs. magic (Round 4 Low)

--Monte vs. The Huns Esports (Round 4 Low)

--PARIVISION vs. G2 Esports (Round 4 Low)

PGL Astana 2026 Group Stage standings:

T1. Team Spirit, 3-0

T1. 9z Team, 3-0

T3. MOUZ, 2-1

T3. FURIA, 2-1