Thunderpick World Championship 2026: Full Team List, Rosters and Who Can Actually Win in Malta

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Eight teams land in Malta for the Thunderpick World Championship 2026, and the field looks lopsided in a way that makes the whole thing interesting. Team Falcons, FURIA, Legacy and Aurora Gaming carry the headline value, with BetBoom Team, 9z Team, PARIVISION and Ninjas in Pyjamas filling out the bracket. Every slot came by invitation, most of them off the VRS Global (Aug. 2026) standings.

The biggest story before a single map is played is who is missing. Virtus.pro withdrew on October 9th after visa problems hit Aleksandr “AquaRS” Kovalev and health issues forced Dias “F0R3VER” Kutubay to step away from the lineup temporarily. Ninjas in Pyjamas took the vacant spot. On the brighter side, Legacy get Andrei “arT” Piovezan back in the server after the in-game leader sat out ESL Pro League Season 24 while recovering from meningitis. Pedro “bobz” Rocha stood in for him in Poland, where Legacy went out in the group stage.

Thunderpick World Championship 2026 Rosters

One more roster note worth tracking: PARIVISION benched Russian rifler slaxejezzz on September 17th and signed Kazakh veteran Abay “HObbit” Khasenov, pairing him with Dauren “dastan” Kystaubayev on the bench. Jame still calls the shots, and the AWPer-plus-HObbit structure gives them a different look from the one that qualified.

Team Falcons

The Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major champions arrive as the second-highest-rated side in the field, sitting fifth in the global standings. That number is softer than you would expect from a Major winner, and the reason is simple: since lifting the trophy in Germany, Falcons have managed just one top-four finish across four events.

Their most recent outing was a fifth-eighth place exit at ESL Pro League Season 24, with losses to Team Vitality and Team Spirit. Zoom out across the last three months and the pattern repeats. Falcons beat the teams they are supposed to beat, then stall against the actual elite, having fallen to Spirit twice plus Vitality, MOUZ and Legacy.

In Malta that flaw barely matters. None of the top three teams in the world made the trip, so karrigan’s men can win this event without ever solving the problem that has been costing them trophies elsewhere. We think they start as favourites and should be priced that way.

Aurora Gaming

Aurora are the team we would back against the market. They are not the headline pick, but their form curve has been climbing. A semifinal at the IEM Cologne Major, then a quiet stretch, then second place at StarLadder StarSeries Fall in September, then a bronze medal at ESL Pro League Season 24.

The EPL run is the one to study. Yes, they lost to Team Falcons and Team Vitality, but they also beat Team Spirit, FURIA and 9z Team along the way. Two of those three opponents are in this bracket. XANTARES, Wicadia and woxic give the Turkish core the raw aim to trade with anyone here, and Jimpphat has been the stabiliser they lacked for years.

Legacy

Legacy are the hardest team in the field to price. The trophy cabinet from recent months is genuinely strong: titles at the CS Asia Championships and FISSURE Playground #3, plus bronze at the Esports World Cup. The crashes are just as loud. They finished ninth-12th at BLAST Open Fall and 12th-14th at ESL Pro League Season 24.

The arT factor cuts both ways. His return after meningitis restores the aggressive structure that produced those two titles, though it also brings back the volatility that comes with it. High ceiling, low floor, and almost no middle ground. Treat Legacy as a live outright at long odds rather than a safe group-stage bet.

FURIA

Cologne Major finalists, and that result still carries weight. What has happened since does not. FURIA have been largely underwhelming across their post-Major schedule, repeatedly falling apart once they run into the sides above them, which is the same disease Falcons are carrying.

The cure here is the bracket itself. With Falcons, Aurora Gaming and Legacy the only other top-10 teams in Malta, FalleN’s side can reach the late stages without facing the opponents that have exposed them. molodoy and YEKINDAR give them two aggressive entry threats, and on a good day yuurih and KSCERATO can carry any series.

BetBoom Team

BB Team have the most to prove. Since their quarterfinal at the IEM Cologne Major, their only other meaningful run was a top-four at FISSURE Playground #3. At ESL Pro League Season 24 they managed a single win over M80 against defeats to Aurora Gaming and 9z Team.

Firepower is not the issue. Boombl4’s roster has upset top-rated squads before and d1Ledez can detonate a series on his own. They need an early win to build from. Get one and the Russian side can genuinely reshuffle this bracket; drop the opener and they look like the first team out.

The Outsiders: 9z Team, PARIVISION and Ninjas in Pyjamas

9z arrive with a fully South American core in max, HUASOPEEK, luchov, meyern and dgt under coach BIT, and they already have a scalp over BetBoom from EPL. PARIVISION’s HObbit signing is too fresh to judge properly, but Jame’s teams rarely beat themselves. Ninjas in Pyjamas had the least preparation time of anyone, stepping in only on October 9th, and stavn plus sjuush will need to drag a lot of rounds out of this lineup for it to matter.

Betting Angles for Malta

• Falcons are the cleanest outright, purely because the teams that beat them are not here.
• Aurora at semifinal-or-better markets looks like the best value on the board given their EPL head-to-heads.
• Legacy map handicaps are a coin flip. Avoid them unless the price is generous.
• Fade Ninjas in Pyjamas in their opening series until they show something as a replacement roster.

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