Blast Paris Major 2023

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023

2023
Tournament information
Game	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location	Paris, France
Dates	May 8–21, 2023
Administrator	Valve BLAST
Tournament format(s)	Two 16-team Swiss-system group stages 8-team single-elimination playoff
Host(s)	BLAST.tv
Venue	Accor Arena
Teams	24
Purse	US$1,250,000
Final positions
Champions	Team Vitality
1st runners-up	GamerLegion
2nd runners-up	Heroic Apeks
MVP	Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
←  Rio 2022 Copenhagen 2024  →

The BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, also known as BLAST.tv Major 2023 or Paris 2023, was the nineteenth and final Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. ^[1] It was held in Paris, France at the Accor Arena from May 8 to 21, 2023. Twenty-four teams qualified for the event, which featured a US$1,250,000 prize pool, via regional major rankings. It is the first Major Championship tournament hosted by BLAST. Team Vitality won the major, defeating GamerLegion in the grand final 2–0. ^[2]

Background

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve Corporation. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. In professional CS:GO, the Valve-sponsored Majors are the most prestigious tournaments. ^{[3] [4]}

The defending Major champions were Virtus.pro ^[a] , who won their second Major championship at IEM Rio Major 2022. ^[6] Virtus.pro were eliminated by MOUZ during the European Major qualifiers, making them the first defending Major champions to fail to qualify for the following Major. ^[7]

This event was the final Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major tournament, with the game to be succeeded by Counter-Strike 2 , and that game's first Major tournament set to be held in March 2024. ^[1]

Format

Twenty-four teams qualified for the tournament. Sixteen teams qualified for the Challengers Stage, while eight teams received a bye to the Legends Stage. In the Challengers Stage, 16 teams participated in a Swiss bracket. The top eight teams advanced and joined the eight teams that received a bye in the Legends stage. The top eight teams from the Legends stage advanced to the Champions stage. The Champions stage was a single-elimination tournament, where each match was a best-of-3. ^[8]

Map pool

• Anubis
• Mirage
• Inferno
• Nuke
• Ancient
• Overpass
• Vertigo

Teams

Legends

• Natus Vincere
• 9INE
• Furia Esports
• Fnatic
• Heroic
• Into The Breach
• Bad News Eagles
• Team Vitality

Challengers

• paiN Gaming
• GamerLegion
• Apeks
• OG
• G2 Esports
• FORZE
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Monte

Contenders

• MOUZ
• Team Liquid
• Grayhound Gaming
• Complexity Gaming
• The Mongolz
• Fluxo
• ENCE
• FaZe Clan

Qualification

Qualification took place through 3 Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events to determine qualifications for the geographic regions. The 3 regions were Europe, the Americas and Asia. Each region received a certain number of places at the Major in Paris based on the performance of teams from the same region at the IEM Rio Major 2022.

The RMR tournaments took place in the following cities: ^[9]

• European RMRs: Copenhagen, Denmark: April 6–9 (Group A) and April 11–15 (Group B)
• American RMR: Monterrey, Mexico: April 5–9
• Asian RMR: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: April 4–8

RMR Results

Region	Legends	Challengers	Contenders
Europe A	Natus Vincere Into The Breach fnatic Bad News Eagles	GamerLegion Apeks OG	MOUZ
Europe B	Heroic 9INE Vitality	G2 Esports FORZE Ninjas in Pyjamas Monte	ENCE
America	FURIA	paiN Gaming	Team Liquid Complexity Gaming Fluxo
Asia			Grayhound Gaming The Mongolz
Last Chance Qualifier			FaZe

Source: ^[10]

Challengers Stage

Pos	Team	W	L	RW	RL	RD	Qualification
1	G2	3	0	64	34	+30	Qualification to Legends Stage
2	ENCE	3	0	76	52	+24
3	Apeks	3	1	91	80	+11
4	Ninjas in Pyjamas	3	1	76	65	+11
5	FaZe Clan	3	1	101	93	+8
6	Monte	3	2	110	92	+18
7	GamerLegion	3	2	126	110	+16
8	Team Liquid	3	2	133	107	+26
9	Grayhound Gaming	2	3	73	104	-31	Eliminated
10	paiN Gaming	2	3	107	109	-2
11	FORZE	2	3	94	100	-6
12	OG	1	3	75	86	-11
13	The MongolZ	1	3	62	75	-13
14	Complexity Gaming	1	3	43	75	-32
15	Fluxo	0	3	53	75	-22
16	MOUZ	0	3	37	64	-27

Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2023. Source: BLAST.tv

Legends Stage

Pos	Team	W	L	RW	RL	RD	Qualification
1	Heroic	3	0	75	56	+19	Qualification to Champions Stage
2	Vitality	3	0	64	49	+15
3	Team Liquid	3	1	106	86	+20
4	Monte	3	1	90	70	+20
5	GamerLegion	3	1	74	55	+19
6	Apeks	3	2	95	97	-2
7	Into The Breach	3	2	112	98	+14
8	Faze Clan	3	2	140	137	+3
9	Navi	2	3	94	137	-24	Eliminated
10	Fnatic	2	3	120	133	-13
11	Ninjas In Pyjamas	2	3	101	95	+6
12	ENCE	1	3	53	73	-20
13	G2 Esports	1	3	101	95	+6
14	Bad News Eagles	1	3	78	83	-5
15	9INE	0	3	40	64	-24
16	FURIA Esports	0	3	30	64	-34

Updated to match(es) played on 16 May 2023. Source: BLAST.tv

Champions Stage

With eight teams remaining, the final stage of the Major was a single-elimination bracket, with all matches played as best-of-3 maps.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals								Semifinals								Finals
	1	Heroic	16	12	16	2
	8	FaZe Clan	14	16	6	1
									Heroic		16	14	6	1
									GamerLegion		13	16	16	2
	4	Monte	10	3	–	0
	5	GamerLegion	16	16	–	2
																	GamerLegion		6	13	–	0
																	Vitality		16	16	–	2
	3	Team Liquid	10	11	–	0
	6	Apeks	16	16	–	2
									Apeks		14	12	–	0
									Vitality		16	16	–	2
	2	Vitality	16	16	–	2
	7	Into The Breach	11	12	–	0

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinals	May 18	Heroic	2	–	1	FaZe Clan	Paris, France
							AccorHotels Arena
		16	Nuke			14
		12	Overpass			16
		16	Mirage			6

Quarterfinals	May 19	Monte	0	–	2	GamerLegion	Paris, France
							AccorHotels Arena
		10	Mirage			16
		3	Overpass			16
			Vertigo

Quarterfinals	May 19	Team Liquid	0	–	2	Apeks	Paris, France
							AccorHotels Arena
		10	Ancient			16
		11	Overpass			16
			Anubis

Quarterfinals	May 19	Team Vitality	2	–	0	Into The Breach	Paris, France
		Statistics					AccorHotels Arena
		16	Vertigo			11
		16	Anubis			12
			Mirage

Semifinals

Semifinals 1	May 20	Heroic	1	–	2	GamerLegion	Paris, France
							AccorHotels Arena
		16	Ancient			13
		14	Inferno			16
		6	Mirage			16

Semifinals 2	May 20	Apeks	0	–	2	Team Vitality	Paris, France
							AccorHotels Arena
		14	Mirage			16
		12	Vertigo			16
			Inferno

Grand Final

Grand Final	May 21	GamerLegion	0	–	2	Team Vitality	Paris, France
							AccorHotels Arena
		6	Overpass			16
		13	Nuke			16
			Inferno

Final standings

The final placings are shown below. In addition, the prize distribution, seed for the next major, roster, and coaches are shown. Each team's in-game leader is shown first.

Place	Prize Money	Team	Seed	Roster	Coach
1st	US$500,000	Team Vitality	PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 RMR	apEX, ZywOo, dupreeh, Magisk, Spinx	zonic
2nd	US$170,000	GamerLegion		siuhy, iM, acoR, isak, Keoz	ashhh
3rd – 4th	US$80,000	Apeks		kyxsan, nawwk, jL, jkaem, STYKO	kuben
		Heroic		cadiaN, TeSeS, stavn, jabbi, sjuush	Xizt
5th – 8th	US$45,000	Team Liquid		nitr0, EliGE, oSee, NAF, YEKINDAR	daps
		FaZe Clan		karrigan, rain, Twistzz, broky, ropz	RobbaN
		Monte		sdy, Woro2k, DemQQ, BOROS, kRaSnaL	–
		Into the Breach		Thomas, CYPHER, volt, rallen, CRUC1AL	Juve
9th – 11th	US$20,000	Fnatic		mezii, FASHR, KRIMZ, roeJ, nicoodoz	keita
		Natus Vincere		electroNic, Perfecto, s1mple, b1t, npl	B1ad3
		Ninjas in Pyjamas		Aleksib, k0nfig, REZ, Brollan, headtr1ck	djL
12th – 14th	US$20,000	G2 Esports		HooXi, NiKo, huNter-, m0NESY, jks	Swani
		ENCE		Snappi, dycha, NertZ, maden, SunPayus	sAw
		Bad News Eagles		SENER1, gxx-, sinnopsyy, rigoN, juanflatroo	Devilwalk
15th – 16th	US$20,000	FURIA Esports		arT, KSCERATO, yuurih, saffee, drop	guerri
		9INE		mynio, Goofy, hades, KEi, Kylar	nawrot
17th – 19th	US$10,000	paiN Gaming	–	biguzera, hardzao, NEKIZ, skullz, zevy	bruno
		FORZE Esports		Jerry, zorte, shalfey, r3salt, Krad	Fierce
		Grayhound Gaming		INS, Sico, aliStair, Liazz, Vexite	–
20th – 22nd	US$10,000	Complexity Gaming		JT, hallzerk, FaNg, floppy, Grim	T.c
		The MongolZ		bLitz, Techno4K, Bart4k, hasteka, ANNIHILATION	maaRaa
		OG		niko, flameZ, degster, F1KU, NEOFRAG	ruggah
23rd – 24th	US$10,000	MOUZ		dexter, JDC, torzsi, frozen, xertioN	sycrone
		Fluxo		WOOD7, V$M, felps, Lucaozy, history	zews

Source: ^[11]

Notes

1. Due to sanctions against Russia in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Virtus.pro competed under the neutral name Outsiders. On March 22, 2023, tournament organizers ESL and BLAST lifted the ban on Virtus.pro. ^[5]

References

1. Chalk, Andy. "CS:GO's next Paris Major will be its last". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
2. Stubbs, Mike. "Vitality Win The BLAST Paris Major To Become Last Ever CS:GO World Champions". Forbes. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
3. Chiu, Stephen. "Retrospective of the Majors: Lineups with 2 Major Wins and Players with 3". VPEsports. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
4. Kovanen, Tomi. "Why CS:GO needs major events". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
5. "ESL and BLAST lift their bans on Virtus.pro". HLTV.org. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
6. "Outsiders Defeat Heroic 2–0 To Win IEM Rio Major". HLTV.org. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
7. "Virtus.pro eliminated from EU RMR after surprise swap backfires". HLTV.org. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
8. https://blast.tv/major/rulebook
9. "BLAST unveils Paris Major RMR locations". January 11, 2023.
10. "All CS:GO teams qualified for BLAST Paris Major". April 15, 2023.
11. "BLAST Paris Major Champions Stage". May 15, 2023.