Round 1 of PC Gamer’s reader-vote bracket for the best FPS mode is finished, and eight modes have advanced to Round 2. Team Deathmatch, Battle Royale, Conquest, Bomb Defusal, Payload, Infection, Capture the Flag, and Attack & Defend each won their opening matchup. Round 2 is now open for voting, and the column’s stated deadline is Monday, October 12, 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT.
Round 1 results
The results below come from Morgan Park’s FOV 90 column on PC Gamer, published October 8, 2026. The column reports that more than 7,000 votes were tallied over five days. These are reader poll outcomes. They show how the people who voted split in each head-to-head, and they are not estimates of what all FPS players prefer.
| Round 1 matchup | Winner | Winner’s share | Losing mode’s share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team Deathmatch vs. FFA/Deathmatch | Team Deathmatch | 75% | 25% |
| Battle Royale vs. Extraction | Battle Royale | 52% | 48% |
| Conquest vs. Domination | Conquest | 68% | 32% |
| Bomb Defusal vs. Hostage | Bomb Defusal | 85% | 15% |
| Payload vs. Gun Game | Payload | 52% | 48% |
| Infection vs. Prop Hunt | Infection | 61% | 39% |
| Capture the Flag vs. VIP | Capture the Flag | 91% | 9% |
| Attack & Defend vs. King of the Hill | Attack & Defend | 52% | 48% |
Three winners took 52% of the vote: Battle Royale, Payload, and Attack & Defend. Those were the narrowest wins of the round. Capture the Flag (91%) and Bomb Defusal (85%) were the most lopsided.
Round 2 pairings
Round 2 pairs the Round 1 winners as follows. The column’s descriptions of each pairing are its own editorial framing, and they are summarized below.
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Team Deathmatch or Battle Royale?
The column frames this matchup as “Intimate team-based action, or large-scale slaughter?” The contrast is between team-scale intimacy and large-scale survival. The column notes that Team Slayer, the Halo name, is a version of Team Deathmatch-style play.
Conquest or Bomb Defusal?
The column describes Conquest as “the consensus king of competitive” and sets it against “all-out warfare.” That contrasts competitive objective control with broad warfare. Related names given in the column include Warfare (Hell Let Loose), Bomb (Rainbow Six Siege), and Plant/Defuse (Valorant).
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Payload or Infection?
The column describes both as unusual asymmetric formats that depend on players staying together. Payload is the more objective-driven of the two, while Infection turns on a small group of players changing sides over the course of a round. Both formats reward coordination more than individual duels.
Capture the Flag or Attack & Defend?
This matchup sets flag capture against attack-and-defend objectives. The column gives 2CP (Overwatch) and Breakthrough (Battlefield) as Attack & Defend examples. Capture the Flag is the familiar shorthand for the flag-based mode.
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How to read the pairings
The column’s title refers to 1v1 combat, but the modes in this bracket are group formats, and the poll asks readers to pick a favorite rather than measuring one-on-one play. The comparison axes used in the column are team-scale intimacy versus large-scale survival, competitive objective control versus broad warfare, coordinated asymmetric play, and flag capture versus attack-and-defend objectives. These are concise editorial descriptions, not complete definitions of the modes.
Mode names also vary between games. The examples above are the column’s own illustrations, and the same label can work differently across titles. A mode called Conquest or Attack & Defend in one shooter may not match the same name in another, so a vote for a mode is best read as a vote for a general format.
Voting and what happens next
The Round 2 poll closes on Monday, October 12, 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. The column also lists the close as 06:59 AM on October 13, 2026. That is the same moment expressed in UTC, so readers in other time zones should check their local time against the PDT deadline. Round 2 winners and later bracket results had not been reported at the time of writing on October 9, 2026, and will appear in PC Gamer’s column once the poll has concluded.
Quick Recap
- Source: Morgan Park, “Crowning the best FPS mode of all time through 1v1 combat (ROUND 2),” PC Gamer, October 8, 2026.
- Round 1 totals: more than 7,000 votes over five days, as reported by PC Gamer.
- Round 2 status: open for voting until the deadline above.
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