BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 will retain its MVP status, even though most of the teams in the world’s top 10 did not make it to the LAN finals.
At first, the situation was unclear. According to HLTV rules, MVP status in the main part of the tournament typically requires the participation of at least two teams from the top 10. BLAST Bounty, however, will be an exception to this rule.
Nearly all of the invited teams from the top 10 agreed to play in the tournament and participated in the online stage. The absence of some of the favorites from the LAN finals was the result of their performance, not a refusal to compete. This is precisely what allowed BLAST Bounty to retain its MVP status.
Accordingly, players’ results at the tournament will be taken into account when determining contenders for individual awards based on the 2026 season, particularly in the race for spots in the annual ranking of the best players.
At the same time, the tournament’s final tier in the HLTV system has not yet been confirmed. BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 may receive silver MVP status instead of bronze. In that case, the participants’ results will carry even greater weight when evaluating their performances throughout the year.
The online stage carries more weight in the VRS than the LAN finals
In addition, this year’s BLAST Bounty stood out for its unusual distribution of ranking weight between the online and LAN stages in the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).
Due to the large number of upsets and victories by lower-seeded teams, the online portion was assigned a higher ranking weight. After the favorites were eliminated and lost their Bounty prizes, the prize pool for the online stage grew to $410,000. Meanwhile, the LAN finals will award $740,000.
However, the VRS takes into account not only the direct prize pool but also the value of the spots in future tournaments that the winners receive. As a result, the online stage has been assigned a 90% ranking weight—equivalent to approximately $780,000: $410,000 in prize money plus an additional $370,000 in value.
By comparison, the LAN finals are currently valued at 88% of their $740,000 prize pool.
Thus, the teams’ performances in the online portion of BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 will have a greater impact on the VRS than the results of the LAN finals. This is a rather unusual situation for a tournament system, where the qualifying stage carries more weight in the rankings than the main offline portion.