Astralis and Natus Vincere won their first matches at the 2026 Esports World Cup for CS2

Astralis and Natus Vincere secured victories in their opening matches at the 2026 Esports World Cup.

In the first match, Astralis defeated MIBR 13-6. In a parallel match, Natus Vincere faced off against 3DMAX. Alexi “Aleksib” Virolainen’s team defeated their opponents on Inferno, 13–9.

As a result, MIBR and 3DMAX have dropped to the lower brackets of their respective groups, while Astralis and Natus Vincere will play tomorrow to advance to the Esports World Cup 2026 playoffs.

The Esports World Cup 2026 for Counter-Strike 2 is taking place from August 12 to 23 in France. Thirty-two teams are participating in the tournament, only 16 of which will advance to the playoffs. The tournament’s prize pool is $2,000,000.

Watch all CS2 Esports World Cup 2026 matches with real-time stats in the OFFSTAGE matches section!