DENDELE upset FURIA to cap a day full of surprises at BLAST Bounty

A debut win under a new name

Friday was a rough day to be a favorite at BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2. The biggest name to fall was Vitality, whose 24-event playoff streak was snapped by Team Liquid in a clean 2-0. But the day closed out with another shock: DENDELE, a Brazilian squad making their debut under a freshly minted organization name, knocked out FURIA 2-1 in the final match of the online Stage 1.

The scoreline read Anubis 13-6, Mirage 6-13, Cache 16-14, and if that Cache result looks tight, it was. The map went to overtime before DENDELE finally pulled it across the finish line, according to HLTV’s reporting on the match.

maxxkor sets the tone, Cache delivers the drama

DENDELE came out sharp on their own Anubis pick, and Maximo “maxxkor” Cortina was the primary reason why. He was particularly strong on the defensive side, helping his team bank seven rounds on what is traditionally the harder half. DENDELE carried that momentum to a confident 13-6 finish, leaving FURIA looking uncomfortable on a map where they had presumably felt safer.

FURIA steadied themselves on Mirage, winning 13-6 and setting up a decider on Cache, the map pool’s newest addition. Neither team looked especially at ease there. By the time it was over, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato were the only FURIA players with a positive rating on the map, finishing at 1.20 and 1.05 respectively, per the HLTV stats breakdown. The rest of the FURIA roster spent most of Cache in the red.

maxxkor ended the full series with a 1.27 rating, the highest on either side. Joao “koala” Pfeffer contributed a solid 1.06, and Danilo “doc” Barros sat at 1.05, giving DENDELE three players who outperformed or matched FURIA’s best individual outputs. FURIA’s YEKINDAR posted a 1.09 but it wasn’t enough to swing either of the contested maps.

A day of bracket chaos

The DENDELE result was the punctuation mark on a Stage 1 that rewarded very few preseason predictions. Earlier on July 24, 3DMAX beat magic in what HLTV described as a hard-fought series, with Jeremy “Kursy” Gast, a recent addition to the roster, topping the server at a 1.42 rating across the match.

The MongolZ also survived a serious scare against HEROIC. The revamped MongolZ roster needed a double-overtime Dust2 decider to get through, and it was new recruit Dugarsuren “DarkMeister” Ireedui who made the difference, putting up 36 kills and a 1.39 rating to keep his team alive. Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch was highlighted as the team’s star across the series as a whole, but DarkMeister’s performance in the moment that mattered most was what kept the MongolZ in the competition.

Then came Liquid’s win over Vitality, the result that will probably get the most attention heading into the next stage. Ending a 24-event playoff streak is the kind of thing that reshapes a team’s reputation, in both directions.

What comes next

With Stage 1 wrapped up, 16 teams remain in BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2. The next round of matchups will be set through the tournament’s signature draft format later on Friday, per HLTV. DENDELE, now established under their new identity with a marquee upset already on the books, will find out who they face next in a bracket that has already proven it has very little patience for comfortable favorites.