Blast Premier

Not to be confused with Blast TV.

Blast Premier

Official logo
Formerly	BLAST Pro Series
Game	Counter-Strike 2
Founded	January 2020
Owner(s)	Blast ApS
No. of teams	32 (Bounty) 16 (Open) 8 (Rivals)
Headquarters	Copenhagen, Denmark
Continents	Worldwide
Most recent champion(s)	G2 Esports (World Final)
TV partner(s)	Twitch YouTube
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.

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

Team	Year joined	Year ended
100 Thieves	2020	2021
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 Clan	2021
Heroic	2022
Cloud9	2023
Team Falcons	2024[a]
GamerLegion
Team Spirit
Virtus.pro

1. Joined as affiliate partner.

Editions

Partner league

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

Edition	Date	Venue, Host city	Champions	Runners-up	Prize pool	MVP	Ref.
Bounty Season 1	January 13–26, 2025	Online Copenhagen (Finals)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Open Lisbon 2025	March 17–30, 2025	Copenhagen (Groups) Lisbon (Finals)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Rivals Season 1	April 28–May 4, 2025	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Bounty Season 2	August 4–17, 2025	Online Copenhagen (Finals)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Open London 2025	August 25–September 7, 2025	Copenhagen (Groups) London (Finals)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Rivals Season 2	November 10–16, 2025	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

World Team Of The Year

Year	Role	ID	Name	Team
2021[54]	IGL	apEX	Dan Madesclaire	Team Vitality
	AWP	s1mple	Oleksandr Kostyliev	Natus Vincere
	Entry	NiKo	Nikola Kovač	G2 Esports
	Support	Perfecto	Ilya Zalutskiy	Natus Vincere
	Lurker	Hobbit	Abai Hasenov	Gambit Esports
	Coach	B1ad3	Andrii Horodenskyi	Natus Vincere

Year	Role	ID	Name	Team
2022	IGL	karrigan	Finn Andersen	FaZe Clan
	AWP	s1mple	Oleksandr Kostyliev	Natus Vincere
	Entry	YEKINDAR	Mareks Gaļinskis	Team Liquid
	Support	Perfecto	Ilya Zalutskiy	Natus Vincere
	Lurker	ropz	Robin Kool	Faze Clan
	Coach	B1ad3	Andrii 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. 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. "World Team Of The Year". BLAST Premier. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.

External links

• Official website