HEROIC defeat paiN and become the first team to qualify for the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 LAN

The revamped HEROIC lineup got off to a confident start at the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier, securing a two-map victory over paiN. Despite strong resistance from the Brazilian side on Mirage, the European squad showed better adaptation in key moments and became the first team to lock in a spot at the LAN stage of the tournament in Malta.

The map veto for the match looked as follows:

1. paiN removed Ancient
2. HEROIC removed Anubis
3. paiN picked Nuke
4. HEROIC picked Mirage
5. paiN removed Overpass
6. HEROIC removed Dust2
7. Inferno was left over

Nuke (6:13 HEROIC)

On their opponent’s pick, HEROIC looked very confident. They started on the CT side, where it was extremely difficult for paiN to deal with such an aggressive defense. paiN managed to win only three rounds in the first half. After switching to the T side, HEROIC continued to dominate and closed out Nuke without any trouble, 13:6.

Mirage (14:16 HEROIC)

On their own map pick, HEROIC faced much tougher resistance from paiN. The first half was evenly contested, with both teams trading rounds and ending the half tied. In the second half, paiN reached map point, but HEROIC managed to disrupt their momentum and push the game into overtime. In overtime, HEROIC left no chances for their opponents and secured Mirage 16:14.

Match MVP

The best player of the match was nilo, who finished the series with an ADR of 90.4 and a rating of 1.48.

paiN end their tournament run despite a strong performance on the second map. HEROIC become the first team to qualify for the LAN stage in Malta. BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier takes place from January 13 to 18, where 32 teams compete for 8 spots at the LAN event in Malta.