BLAST Premier will run seven CS:GO events in 2023 featuring some of the best teams in the world, opening the year with BLAST Premier Spring Groups (Jan. 19 to 29) and closing it with BLAST Premier World Final (Dec. 11 to 17).
BLAST has also changed the format for both the Spring and Fall Groups, in comparison to what was done in 2022. This year, all the matches in these two tournaments will exclusively feature best-of-threes, which will allow the fans to watch more CS:GO than ever in BLAST tournaments. The tournament organizer is aiming to broadcast 345 hours of Counter-Strike across the seven events of 2023.
On top of BLAST Premier Spring and Fall Groups, which feature only the partnered teams (Astralis, BIG, Complexity, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, G2, Heroic, Liquid, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG, and Vitality), the tournament organizer will run once again the Showdown event for both the Spring and Fall editions.
Partnered teams who don’t book their spot in the BLAST Premier Spring and Fall Final, will get to compete in BLAST Premier Spring and Fall Showdown with teams from all over the world as BLAST will host regional qualifiers for these events.
All BLAST Premier events will 2023 will have a combined prize pool of $2,475 million and most of the tournaments will be held on LAN setup. The Spring and Fall Groups will be played in Copenhagen at BLAST’s studios without a crowd, while the Spring, Fall, and World Final will be played in front of a live audience at locations that will be announced at a later date. Only the Showdown events will be played online.
The World Final event has the biggest prize pool ($1 million) and will feature the winners of BLAST Premier Spring Final, BLAST.tv Paris Major, BLAST Premier Fall Final, Valve’s Fall CS:GO Major, ESL Pro League season 17, and ESL Pro League season 18, in addition to two teams from the BLAST leaderboard. If a team win more than one of these events, BLAST will add one more spot via the leaderboard.
“We’re excited for what the BLAST Premier 2023 season has in store in its fourth year,” BLAST Premier’s managing director Charlotte Kenny said in a press release. “2023 will be the second year running where we have all of our finals in packed-out arenas in leading locations around the world. We’re excited to deliver another 12 months of next-level entertainment and follow up on the success of last year’s arena events in Lisbon, Copenhagen, and Abu Dhabi.”
In addition to the Premier events, BLAST will also host its first CS:GO Major ever in May 2023. The BLAST.tv Paris Major will be the first Valve-sponsored event of the year and will feature a total of 24 teams from all over the world fighting for their share of the $1,250 million prize pool.
Published: Jan 10, 2023 07:50 am