Nemiga rise to face Vitality in the semis - PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
FUT bombed out of the quarter-final to Nemiga to end their run earlier than expected.
They'd been a joy to watch in the group stage, but came up against a tricky Nemiga who we'd tipped as a tough team to beat in the last few days, and have proven as such.
They pulled off a comeback from 3-9 down with a sensational CT side on Nuke, powered largely by syph0. His triple on the first gun round was backed up by a 1v2 in the next round that could have otherwise broken their backs, and it was a second 3k of the half that won Nemiga the map in the final round.
Xant3r also won a crucial 1v2 down the stretch as FUT failed to convert multiple advantageous late round situations.
New boy SunPayus had a huge map on Dust 2, but was let down by the incumbents, with none of his riflers standing tall alongside him. He went 19-11 as everyone else went negative, while the duo of khaN and robo helped Nemiga to a surprisingly simple 2-0 win.
khaN helped Nemiga break into the bombsites with his selflessness, whereas robo found multiple double kills throughout the map that changed the course of the mid rounds.
FUT will be disappointed with just a top eight, especially given the opposition.
They'll face Vitality, who came back from a one-sided first map loss to ease past NAVI into the semis. makazze destroyed Vitality on Cache, mowing down waves of attacks as Vitality looked to claw back into the game, recovering from a slower start to put out more kills and damage than anyone in a very comfortable win.
Often, though, the worst thing you can do against Vitality is to upset them.
With Vitality even at the half, on the brink of leaving the tournament, ZywOo woke up and put on a masterclass for everyone on CT side Mirage. He was everywhere, putting out fires before they occurred and sowing discord among the attacking team. NAVI couldn't find a way past him, and Vitality were even.
ropz had a superb first half to put Vitality in charge on Dust 2, but it required bits of magic from everyone to close it out. A ZywOo triple turned a 3v4 into a 3v1 and mezii found all three in a 3v3 in some swing rounds down the stretch.
NAVI ran Vitality close, but never quite had the star power to stop an on-form ZywOo and ropz. But then, who does?
MOUZ eviscerated Aurora on Cache after a one-sided first map to claim the biggest win of the quarter-finals.
Aurora's stage issues once more reared their ugly head, with neither Wicadia, XANTARES, woxic nor Jimpphat breaking 20 kills. They found just 3/19 T side rounds in a series they will want to forget as quickly as it was over.
It was one of those series that defies any sort of analysis. MOUZ were simply better in every single way. Tactically, preparation, man for man and in the clutch moments. Wicadia and XANTARES combined had fewer kills than Spinx.
One of those days.
FURIA handled a difficult BETBOOM to move into the semi-finals with relatively little fuss.
BB managed to force overtime on Dust 2 despite being 2-10 down at the half, and 2-11 down one round later, but completely ran out of steam and lost their nerve in OT, winning zero of those rounds with FURIA regaining their composure. zorte had a superb map, but YEKINDAR's 1v2 in OT seemed to break them, and KSCERATO closed it out with a triple.
Cache was a bit more simple, with BB going 6-3 up and then finding just one more round from there on out. YEKINDAR once more found himself at the heart of everything FURIA did well, and he broke BB's spirit with a nasty 4k just after they got their singular CT round.
