M80 Wins Thunderpick NA After Five Forfeits; Two Roster Exits

M80 defeated Wildcard 2-0 on Sunday to win the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 North America title. The eight-team playoff saw only two of seven scheduled matches played; five matches were decided by forfeits after teams failed to field eligible lineups.

In the final, Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich led M80 with a 47-26 K-D, 82.9 ADR and a 1.48 Rating3.0. Elias “s1n” Stein went 35-27 with 73.9 ADR and a 1.17 rating, and Michael “Swisher” Schmid posted a 32-26 line with 76.0 ADR and a 1.14 rating. Josh “JBa” Barutt and Mason “Lake” Sanderson finished with negative K-Ds but recorded solid KAST numbers.

Wildcard’s top performers in the final were Jadan “HexT” Postma at 34-30 with 64.7 ADR and a 1.26 rating, and Miłosz “mhL” Knasiak at 38-32 with a 1.06 rating. Danny “Cxzi” Strzelczyk, Ethan “reck” Serrano and Nemanja “nEMANHA” Đukić posted lower ratings in the match.

The win moved M80 to 24th in the global VRS rankings. The organization confirmed the team will attend IEM Atlanta and the CS Asia Championships before traveling to Europe for the Cologne Major.

Aimclub announced that Eduard “Ed1m” Nelÿ Ichim has left the organization after nearly a year. In an announcement, aimclub wrote: “We’re thankful for the work, commitment, and moments we shared, and we wish him all the best in his next chapter.” Ed1m averaged a 0.88 Rating3.0 while with aimclub.

Acend confirmed the departure of Bulgarian AWPer Slaven “AwaykeN” Lyubenov, who was replaced in the starting lineup last month by Deyvid “h4rn” Benchev. AwaykeN posted on X: “It’s been an unforgettable journey; thankful for the memories and everything. I’m looking for a team as an AWPer.”

Five forfeits reduced the tournament to a small number of played matches as several teams were unable to field eligible lineups during the North America playoff.