Blast Premier

Last updated
Blast Premier
Blast Premier logo.svg
Official logo
Formerly BLAST Pro Series
Game Counter-Strike 2
FoundedJanuary 2020
Owner(s)Blast ApS
No. of teams32 (Bounty)
16 (Open)
8 (Rivals)
Headquarters Copenhagen, Denmark
ContinentsWorldwide
Most recent
champion(s)		 Team Spirit (Bounty)
TV partner(s)
Official website blastpremier.com

Blast Premier (stylized as BLAST Premier) is a Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) (previously Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ) professional esports league launched in 2020. It is primarily based in two regions: North America and Europe.

Contents

The Danish esports organisation, RFRSH Entertainment, announced the series as a successor to the BLAST Pro Series in 2019. [1] The 2020 Blast Premier Series experienced disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the transition of all events except the Spring regular season online and reduced prize pools for many of the events. This disruption continued into the 2021 season, with both the Spring Groups and Spring Showdown occurring online. [2]

Format

The Blast Premier series is divided into two seasons per year: Spring and Fall. Each season lasts around four months with 16 regular season partnered teams participating in the Group stage, ending with a season finals for the 6 top teams from the group stage. [3] The season finals are also open to two teams from each season's Showdown events, which are open to a much broader array of organizations, including those that did not advance in the regular season. Non-partnered teams usually qualify for the Showdown events via invites or via regional tournaments (One such example being the ACE North American Masters for teams from North America). The winner of each season's finals goes on to participate the Global Finals at the end of the year, as well as winners of other prestigious non-BLAST Premier events and those that rank highest in the BLAST Premier Global Leaderboard, a standings of the top events of the year from multiple leagues and tournaments. [4]

In August 2023, Counter-Strike developer Valve announced that the partnership system that Blast Premier used would be abolished in 2025, forcing all tournament organizers to pivot to an open circuit or an invitational system using Valve's rankings. [5] In order to prepare for the change to an open circuit, Blast announced that the 2024 Blast Premier season would feature 16 partnered teams: the previous 12 partnered teams that, with the exceptions of 100 Thieves, MIBR and Evil Geniuses (who had their spots sold to BIG Clan, Heroic and Cloud9 in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively), [6] [7] [8] had been partnered since Blast Premier's inception, and four one-year affiliate teams, those being GamerLegion, Team Falcons, Team Spirit and Virtus.pro. [9]

BLAST announced their plans for 2025 and beyond during the 2024 Spring Final in London. To align with Valve's new rules forcing their partnership system to cease, BLAST will use three formats - Bounty (a 32-team invitational tournament where teams receive bounties for winning matches against their opponents), Open (a 16-team tournament mimicking the Intel Extreme Masters), and Rivals (where the top 4 teams in the Valve rankings, plus the next-best teams in Europe, the Americas and Asia) will play each other in the old Final format). With this, 2024's World Final was the last BLAST Premier World Final. [10]

Partnered teams

TeamYear joinedYear ended
100 Thieves 20202021
MIBR 2022
Evil Geniuses 2023
Astralis 2025 [5]
Complexity Gaming
FaZe Clan
G2 Esports
Team Liquid
Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas
OG Esports
Team Vitality
BIG Clan2021
Heroic 2022
Cloud9 2023
Team Falcons 2024 [a]
GamerLegion
Team Spirit
Virtus.pro
  1. ↑ Joined as affiliate partner.

Editions

Partner league

EditionDateVenue, Host cityChampionsRunners-upPrize poolMVPRef.
Spring 2020: Regular SeasonJanuary 31–February 16, 20203 Mills Studio, London FaZe Clan
Natus Vincere
G2 Esports 		OG Esports
Complexity Gaming
Team Liquid 		US$300,000Not awarded [11]
Spring 2020 Europe ShowdownJune 1–15, 2020Europe / Online Vitality
ENCE 		Ninjas in Pyjamas US$182,500 [12]
Spring 2020 Americas ShowdownJune 1–7, 2020North America / Online MiBR
Furia Esports 		Evil Geniuses US$142,500 [13]
Spring 2020 Europe FinalsJune 15–21, 2020Europe / Online Complexity Gaming Team Vitality US$500,000 Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut [14]
Spring 2020 Americas FinalsJune 16–21, 2020North America / Online Evil Geniuses MiBR US$250,000Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov [15]
Fall Series 2020October 15–31, 2020Europe / Online OG Esports
Team Vitality
G2 Esports 		Natus Vincere
BIG Clan
Astralis 		US$300,000Not awarded [16]
Fall Showdown 2020November 24–29, 2020 Furia Esports
mousesports 		Cloud9
Team Liquid 		US$150,000 [17]
Fall 2020 FinalsDecember 8–13, 2020 Team Vitality Astralis US$425,000Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut [18]
Global Final 2020January 19–24, 2021 Natus Vincere Astralis US$1,000,000 Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev [19]
Spring Groups 2021February 4–14, 2021BIG Clan
Complexity Gaming
Natus Vincere 		Ninjas in Pyjamas
Evil Geniuses
FaZe Clan 		US$150,000Not awarded [20]
Spring Showdown 2021April 13–18, 2021 G2 Esports
Gambit Esports 		Team Spirit
Heroic 		US$162,500 [21]
Spring Finals 2021June 15–20, 2021 Gambit Esports Natus Vincere US$425,000Abay "Hobbit" Khassenov [22]
Fall Groups 2021September 16–26, 2021 Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Team Vitality 		FaZe Clan
BIG Clan
Astralis 		US$150,000Not awarded [23]
Fall Showdown 2021October 12–17, 2021 Heroic
Team Liquid 		OG Esports
MAD Lions 		US$162,500 [24]
Fall Finals 2021November 24–28, 2021 Royal Arena, Copenhagen Natus Vincere Team Vitality US$425,000Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev [25]
World Final 2021December 14–19, 2021BLAST Studio, Copenhagen Gambit Esports US$1,000,000 [26]
Spring Groups 2022January 28–February 6, 2022Europe / Online Team Vitality
OG Esports
Faze Clan 		G2 Esports
Natus Vincere
BIG Clan		US$117,500Not awarded [27]
Spring Showdown Europe 2022April 27–May 1, 2022Europe / Online ENCE Astralis US$67,500 [28]
Spring Showdown North America 2022North America / Online PaiN Gaming Furia Esports US$67,500 [29]
Spring Finals 2022June 15–19, 2022 Altice Arena, Lisbon Natus Vincere Team Vitality US$425,000Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev [30]
Fall Groups 2022August 19–28, 2022BLAST Studio, Copenhagen OG Esports
Natus Vincere
Team Liquid 		FaZe Clan
Ninjas in Pyjamas
G2 Esports 		US$117,500Not awarded [31]
Fall Showdown Europe 2022October 19–23, 2022Europe / Online Heroic Astralis US$67,500 [32]
Fall Showdown North America 2022North America / OnlineFluxo MiBR US$67,500 [33]
Fall Finals 2022November 23–27, 2022 Royal Arena, Copenhagen Heroic FaZe Clan US$425,000 Helvijs "broky" Saukants [34]
World Final 2022December 14–18, 2022 Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi G2 Esports Team Liquid US$1,000,000 Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov [35]
Spring Groups 2023January 19–29, 2023BLAST Studio, Copenhagen Team Vitality
Faze Clan
G2 Esports 		Natus Vincere
Heroic
Astralis 		US$117,500Not awarded [36]
Spring Showdown Europe 2023March 29–April 2, 2023Europe/Online Cloud9 BIG ClanUS$67,500 [37]
Spring Showdown North America 2023March 29–April 2, 2023North America/Online Imperial Esports PaiN Gaming US$67,500 [38]
Spring Final 2023June 7–11, 2023 Entertainment and Sports Arena, Washington D.C. Heroic Team Vitality US$425,000Casper "cadiaN" Møller [39]
Fall Groups 2023July 13–23, 2023 Copenhagen FaZe Clan
Heroic
Ninjas in Pyjamas 		Natus Vincere
Team Vitality
Astralis 		US$177,500Not awarded [40]
Fall Showdown 2023 EuropeOctober 4–8, 2023Europe/Online Cloud9 BIG ClanUS$67,500 [41]
Fall Showdown 2023 AmericasOctober 4–8, 2023North America/Online Complexity Gaming Team Liquid US$67,500 [42]
Fall Final 2023November 22–26, 2023 Royal Arena, Copenhagen Team Vitality FaZe Clan US$425,000Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut [43]
World Final 2023December 13–17, 2023 Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi US$1,000,000 [44]
Spring Groups 2024January 22–28, 2024 Copenhagen Virtus.pro
FaZe Clan
Natus Vincere
Team Vitality 		Astralis
G2 Esports 		US$190,000Not awarded [45]
Spring Showdown 2024March 6–10, 2024OnlineSAW
Team Spirit 		OG Esports
Metizport		US$135,000 [46]
Spring Final 2024June 12–16, 2024 Wembley Arena, London Team Spirit Natus Vincere US$425,000Danil "donk" Kryshkovets [47]
Fall Groups 2024July 29–August 4, 2024 Copenhagen Team Liquid
G2 Esports
Team Vitality
Team Spirit 		Astralis
Natus Vincere 		US$190,000Not awarded [48]
Fall Showdown 2024August 21–25, 2024Online FaZe Clan
Team Falcons 		OG Esports
Virtus.pro 		US$135,000 [49]
Fall Final 2024September 25–29, 2024 Forum Copenhagen G2 Esports Natus Vincere US$425,000Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov [50]
World Final 2024October 30–November 3, 2024 Singapore Team Spirit US$1,000,000 [51]

Open circuit

In August 2023, Counter-Strike 2 developers Valve banned tournament organizers from having "unique business relationships" with teams. [52] As a result, Blast revamped their tournament format starting in 2025. [53]

The new "Bounty" tournament assigns the 16 highest-rated teams of 32 bounties in addition to the regular prize money earned, where victorious teams claim half their opponent's bounty, with the other half added to their own bounty. The tournament will feature bests-of-three in a single-elimination format. The new "Open" tournament features 12 teams invited from the Valve Regional Standings, in addition to four teams qualified through new regional "Rising" tournaments, which feature invited teams as well as teams from open qualfiers. Open tournaments feature two groups of eight playing a double-elimination best-of-three bracket. "Rivals" tournaments involve eight directly invited teams competing in four-team double-elimination brackets, before a best-of-five grand final. [54]

EditionDateVenue, Host cityChampionsRunners-upPrize poolMVPRef.
Bounty 2025 Season 1January 13–26, 2025Online
Copenhagen (Finals)		 Team Spirit Eternal Fire US$500,000 Danil "donk" Kryshkovets [55]
Open Lisbon 2025March 17–30, 2025 Copenhagen (Groups)
Lisbon (Finals)		TBDTBDUS$400,000TBD
Rivals 2025 Season 1April 28–May 4, 2025Auditorio Pabellon, Monterrey TBDTBDUS$350,000TBD
Bounty 2025 Season 2August 4–17, 2025Online
Copenhagen (Finals)		TBDTBDUS$500,000TBD
Open London 2025August 25–September 7, 2025 Copenhagen (Groups)
London (Finals)		TBDTBDUS$400,000TBD
Rivals 2025 Season 2November 10–16, 2025TBDTBDTBDUS$350,000TBD

World Team Of The Year

YearRoleIDNameTeam
2021 [56] IGLapEXDan Madesclaire Team Vitality
AWP s1mple Oleksandr Kostyliev Natus Vincere
Entry NiKo Nikola Kovač G2 Esports
SupportPerfectoIlya Zalutskiy Natus Vincere
LurkerHobbitAbai Hasenov Gambit Esports
CoachB1ad3Andrii Horodenskyi Natus Vincere
YearRoleIDNameTeam
2022IGL karrigan Finn Andersen FaZe Clan
AWP s1mple Oleksandr Kostyliev Natus Vincere
EntryYEKINDARMareks Gaļinskis Team Liquid
SupportPerfectoIlya Zalutskiy Natus Vincere
Lurker ropz Robin Kool Faze Clan
CoachB1ad3Andrii Horodenskyi Natus Vincere

References

  1. ↑ "BLAST PREMIER announced with format changes and $4,250,000 prize pool for 2020". HLTV.org. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  2. ↑ Fitch, Adam (2020-09-16). "BLAST Premier revises prize pool distribution to greater benefit organisations". Esportsinsider. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  3. ↑ Pete, Alex (2020-01-30). "Formats, schedule and information on Blast Premier Series". EsportsJunkie.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  4. ↑ Fitch, Adam (2019-09-15). "BLAST Premier announced with $4.25M prize pool for 2020". Esportsinsider. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  5. 1 2 LucasAM (3 August 2023). "Valve to end team and tournament organizer partnerships starting in 2025". HLTV.org. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  6. ↑ Professeur (27 January 2021). "BIG announced as BLAST Premier Member Team". HLTV.org. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  7. ↑ Striker (21 April 2022). "Heroic acquire partner slot in BLAST Premier circuit". HLTV.org. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  8. ↑ king_dempz (12 December 2023). "Cloud9 acquire EG's BLAST Premier slot". HLTV.org. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  9. ↑ Sumljiv_Model (5 January 2024). "BLAST expand partner list with Virtus.pro, Falcons, Spirit, GamerLegion". HLTV.org. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Draik (14 June 2024). "BLAST announces 2025 circuit changes". HLTV.org . Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  11. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Series 2020". HLTV . January 16 – February 16, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring 2020 Europe Showdown". HLTV . June 1–15, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring 2020 Americas Showdown". HLTV . June 1–7, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring 2020 Europe Finals". HLTV . June 15–21, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring 2020 Americas Finals". HLTV . June 16–21, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Blast Premier Fall Series 2020". HLTV . October 15–31, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Blast Premier Fall Showdown 2020". HLTV . November 24–29, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring 2020 Europe Finals". HLTV . June 15–21, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Blast Premier Global Final 2020". HLTV . January 19–24, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Groups 2021". HLTV . February 4–14, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  21. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Showdown 2021". HLTV . April 13–18, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Finals 2021". HLTV . June 15–20, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Blast Premier Fall Groups 2021". HLTV . September 16–26, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Blast Premier Fall Showdown 2021". HLTV . October 12–17, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Blast Premier Fall Final 2021". HLTV . November 24–28, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  26. ↑ "Blast Premier World Final 2021". HLTV . December 15–19, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  27. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Groups 2022". HLTV . February 4–14, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Showdown 2022 Europe". HLTV . April 27 – May 1, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  29. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Showdown North America 2022". HLTV . April 27 – May 1, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  30. ↑ "Blast Premier Spring Final 2022". HLTV . June 15–19, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Blast Premier Fall Groups 2022". HLTV . August 19–28, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  32. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022 Europe". HLTV . October 19–23, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  33. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022 North America". HLTV . October 19–23, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  34. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Final 2022". HLTV . November 23–27, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  35. ↑ "BLAST Premier World Final 2022". HLTV . December 14–18, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  36. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023". HLTV . Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  37. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Europe". HLTV . Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  38. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Americas". HLTV . Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  39. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Final 2023". HLTV . June 7–11, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  40. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023". HLTV . July 13–23, 2023. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  41. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Europe". HLTV . Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  42. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Americas". HLTV . Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  43. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023". HLTV . November 22–26, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  44. ↑ "BLAST Premier World Final 2023". HLTV . December 13–17, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  45. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024". HLTV . January 22–28, 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  46. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2024". HLTV . March 6–10, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  47. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024". HLTV . June 12–16, 2024. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  48. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024". HLTV . July 29, 2024. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  49. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024". HLTV . August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  50. ↑ "BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024". HLTV . September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  51. ↑ "BLAST Premier World Final 2024". HLTV . Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  52. ↑ Nordland, Jake (3 August 2023). "Valve set to overhaul Counter-Strike esports ecosystem with major tournament rule changes". Esports Insider. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  53. ↑ Nicholson, Jonno (17 June 2024). "BLAST Premier Counter-Strike 2 circuit revamped for 2025". Esports Insider. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  54. ↑ "Everything you need to know about BLAST Premier in 2025". BLAST.tv. 2024-11-03. Retrieved 2025-01-16.
  55. ↑ "Blast Bounty 2025 Season 1 Finals". HLTV . January 26, 2025. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  56. ↑ "World Team Of The Year". BLAST Premier. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
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