CS2 and Esports News Digest – July 20–24, 2026

The past week brought a notable gameplay update, several roster decisions, an integrity action, and multiple surprises at BLAST Bounty Season 2. Team Liquid changed its in-game leadership, while 100 Thieves and FOKUS upset established opponents. Below are the key professional CS2 developments from July 20 to 24.

This Week’s Highlights

Valve released a CS2 update on July 21 that changed when the bomb-damage health preview becomes available and made bomb explosions interact with smoke clouds, incendiary grenades and Molotovs. The patch also updated the community maps Fachwerk, Boulder and Debris to their latest Workshop versions, bringing recent geometry, clipping and gameplay fixes into the game.

BLAST Bounty Season 2 began online on July 21 with 32 teams competing online for eight places at the Malta finals. Its draft format allowed the 16 lower-seeded teams to choose their opening opponents. The first round delivered several upsets, with Cologne Major champions Falcons, Aurora and GamerLegion all eliminated by lower-seeded challengers.

100 Thieves eliminated Falcons 2–1 after recovering from a 3–9 deficit on Anubis, the deciding map. The result gave the organisation’s new roster a statement victory in its tier-one debut and sent the Cologne Major champions out of their first tournament after the player break.

Team Liquid benched in-game leader Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek after 15 months on its active roster. The organisation then signed former Complexity captain Johnny “JT” Theodosiou to take over the leadership role. Liquid made the change after an inconsistent season that ended with elimination during Stage 1 of the IEM Cologne Major.

CCT disqualified Subtop de France and excluded the team from its invitation process for 18 months. The organiser described the lineup as a material risk to competitive integrity but did not publicly provide detailed allegations. The decision removed Subtop de France from the CCT Europe Series 6 Closed Qualifier and awarded its scheduled matches to opponents.

FOKUS eliminated Aurora from BLAST Bounty Season 2 with a 2–1 series win, closing the Dust2 decider 13–4. The result ended Aurora’s first tournament with its new international lineup and showed the risk of BLAST’s opponent-selection format, where lower-seeded teams can directly target higher-ranked opponents in a single-elimination bracket.