PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 schedule: Day 1 starts Oct. 24 at 3 a.m. ET with eight best-of-three matches

PGL’s last big Counter-Strike event before the Singapore Major opens in the middle of the American night. Here’s when every Day 1 match at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 starts in ET and how the week plays out.

What time does PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 start?

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, at 10 a.m. in Bucharest, which is 3 a.m. ET and midnight PT. PGL runs two streams at once, so two best-of-three matches start in every slot: Aurora Gaming vs. The MongolZ on Stream A and FUT Esports vs. TYLOO on Stream B. All 16 teams play on Day 1, and the main event is played on LAN at PGL Studio Bucharest, in a studio setting.

PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 Day 1 schedule

PGL’s official schedule puts the matches three hours apart. On Stream A, Aurora Gaming vs. The MongolZ starts at 3 a.m. ET, Team Spirit vs. BetBoom Team at 6 a.m., Team Vitality vs. 9z Globant at 9 a.m. and G2 Esports vs. Natus Vincere at noon. On Stream B, FUT Esports vs. TYLOO starts at 3 a.m. ET, MOUZ vs. Team Liquid at 6 a.m., Legacy vs. Nemiga at 9 a.m. and FURIA vs. DENDELE at noon.

Each slot is a planned start, and a long best-of-three pushes the next match on the same stream back. For West Coast fans, the day runs from midnight to 9 a.m. PT. In London, the four slots are 8 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., and in São Paulo 4 a.m., 7 a.m., 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. In Mongolia and China, the first matches start at 3 p.m. and the last at midnight.

The format, from Swiss to the grand final

The group stage runs from Oct. 24 to 28 in the Swiss format, so teams with the same record meet each other after Day 1, and every match is a best-of-three. The top eight move on to the single elimination playoffs from Oct. 29 to 31, and the grand final on Saturday, Oct. 31, is a best-of-five.

The winner takes $225,000 in prize money and another $225,000 in club rewards, $450,000 in all, from a $1,250,000 total. Our PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 page has the full prize split and how the teams qualified.

The 16 teams and the lineups to watch

Team Vitality brings ZywOo, ropz, flameZ, mezii and apEX, and Team Spirit brings donk, sh1ro, zont1x, magixx and tN1R. Natus Vincere plays with Aleksib, b1t, w0nderful, iM and makazze, and FURIA with FalleN, KSCERATO, yuurih, YEKINDAR and molodoy, according to PGL’s roster announcement on Oct. 19.

The rest of the field is MOUZ, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, The MongolZ, Aurora Gaming, BetBoom Team, FUT Esports, Legacy, 9z Globant, TYLOO, Nemiga and DENDELE. Team Liquid’s lineup includes EliGE and NAF-FLY, and G2’s includes huNter, HeavyGoD and MATYS.

Why the times change after Day 1

Romania moves its clocks back an hour on Oct. 25, and the US stays on daylight time until Nov. 1. If PGL keeps its 10 a.m. start in Bucharest, matches from Oct. 25 begin at 4 a.m. ET, an hour later than on Day 1, with the last slot at 1 p.m. ET. Swiss pairings depend on results, so the matchups for each new round come out as the previous one ends.

How to watch PGL Masters Bucharest 2026

PGL streams every match on its official Twitch and YouTube channels, with approved English-language co-streams on top. The event is PGL’s last big Counter-Strike stop before the Singapore Major from Nov. 24 to Dec. 13.

This page is updated as soon as PGL posts each day’s schedule, with every match time in ET.