The Champions-eight teams entered closed-scrim bootcamps in Cologne between June 12 and 14. Tier-1 source reporting from HLTV's Issaa, Dust2.us's Dafkeh, and 1pv.fr's Glouton confirms three distinct preparation patterns across the bracket.
The Vitality-MongolZ-Spirit scrim-trade triangle
Vitality, The MongolZ, and Spirit ran four scrim days with rotating opponents in a triangular scrim-trade arrangement. Sources confirm the trio swapped Mirage and Anubis tapes across the days to neutralise pool-specific reads — the three teams are the most likely Mirage pickers in their respective Champions QFs, and the trade prevents any of them from running scrim-clean Mirage tape against the others.
ZywOo and donk reportedly opened the trade on a Vitality-Spirit Mirage scrim on June 12 evening. Vitality won 13-11 on a half-time-comeback scrimline.
The Falcons-MOUZ extended Anubis block
Falcons and MOUZ scrimmed each other across two consecutive days (June 13-14), with the Anubis pool taking 60% of the scrim time. Both teams flagged Anubis as the most likely decider-map in their respective Champions QFs and used the back-to-back to deep-test default setups and CT-side retake reads.
frozen reportedly led the Anubis-side preparation for MOUZ. NiKo led Falcons' read.
NAVI's closed-room preparation
NAVI declined the scrim-trade arrangement and ran closed-room preparation between June 12 and 14. Sources frame this as preserving their Stage 2 map-pool reads — NAVI ran 3-1 Stage 2 with strong Mirage and Inferno tape and the team is reportedly confident the Stage 2 reads remain accurate at Champions.
paiN and Aurora — bootcamp scrim partners
paiN and Aurora — the two lowest-seeded Champions teams — scrimmed each other across two days (June 13-14). The Brazilian and Almaty sides were each other's most accessible scrim partner at the Champions-eight tier, with both teams' time-zone schedules aligning.
What this changes for the Champions bracket
The triangular scrim-trade is unprecedented in CS2 Major preparation — historically tier-1 teams refused to scrim each other in the 72-hour pre-bracket window. The shift reflects how tight the Vitality-MongolZ-Spirit consensus has become: each side calculates they gain more from removing the other two's pool reads than they lose by exposing their own.
