How to watch BLAST Premier Spring Final

Eight of the best CS:GO teams in the world will compete at the BLAST Premier Spring Final starting on Tuesday, June 15 at 8:30am CT.

The tournament will be played entirely online from Europe because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Evil Geniuses will be there to represent North America. BLAST Premier is offering a $425,000 prize pool and the winner will also punch a ticket to the $1 million World Final in December.

The team list includes Gambit, the current best CS:GO team in the world, who just won IEM Summer 2021 over OG in the first tier-one tournament that featured Ancient, the newest map that replaced Train in the Active Duty map pool.

Here’s everything you need to know about the BLAST Premier Spring Final.

Stream

You can watch all of the BLAST Premier Spring Final action on BLAST Premier’s Twitch channel. There won’t be any simultaneous matches, so you just need to know when your favorite teams are playing.

Format

The eight teams have been split into a double-elimination bracket that will feature only best-of-three matches. The tournament will kick off on Tuesday, June 15 and will end on Sunday, June 20 with the consolation final and grand finals.

This event features a $425,000 prize pool. The winner will take home the large portion ($250,000) of it and a spot at the BLAST Premier World Final in December, whereas the runners-up and the third-place team will earn $85,000 and $40,000, respectively.

Teams

Gambit

• Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov
• Abay “Hobbit” Khassenov
• Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov
• Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov
• Timofey “interz” Yakushin
• Coach: Konstantin “groove” Pikiner

Natus Vincere

• Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
• Denis “electronic” Sharipov
• Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov
• Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
• Valerii “B1T” Vakhovskyi
• Egor “flamie” Vasilev (sixth player)
• Coach: Andrii “B1ad3” Gorodenskyi

G2

• Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
• Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač
• Nemanja “nexa” Isaković
• Audric “JaCkz” Jug
• François “AmaNEk” Delaunay
• Coach: Damien “maLeK” Marcel

BIG

• Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz
• İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş
• Florian “syrsoN” Rische
• Nils “k1to” Gruhne
• Tizian Feldbusch
• Coach: Dustin “DuDe” Großmann

Ninjas in Pyjamas

• Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
• Nicolas “Plopski” Zamora
• Hampus Poser
• Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
• Linus “LNZ” Holtäng
• Coach: Björn “THREAT” Pers

Complexity

• Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
• Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke
• Valentin “poizon” Vasilev
• Justin “jks” Savage
• William “RUSH” Wierzba
• Coach: Jamie “keita” Hall

Evil Geniuses

• Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte
• Tsvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov
• Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz
• Owen “oBo” Schlatter
• Michał “MICHU” Müller

FaZe Clan

• Håvard “rain” Nygaard
• Helvijs “broky” Saukants
• Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
• Finn “karrigan” Andersen
• Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer
• Coach: Robert “RobbaN” Dahlström

Schedule

Tuesday, June 15

• 8:30am CT: Gambit vs. EG
• 11:30am CT: NiP vs. Complexity

Wednesday, June 16

• 5:30am CT: G2 vs. BIG
• 8:30am CT: Na`Vi vs. FaZe
• 11:30am CT: Lower bracket round one first match

Thursday, June 17

• 5:30am CT: Lower bracket round one second match
• 8:30am CT: Upper bracket first semifinal
• 11:30am CT: Upper bracket second semifinal

Friday, June 18

• 8:30am CT: Lower bracket first semifinal
• 11:30am CT: Lower bracket second semifinal

Saturday, June 19

• 8:30am CT: Upper bracket final
• 10:30am CT: Lower bracket final

Sunday, June 20

• 8:30am CT: Consolation final
• 12:30pm CT: Grand finals

Key storylines

FaZe are going through a rough patch right now. The days where they were labeled as a superteam are definitely behind them and the return of the Danish skipper karrigan hasn’t solved their problems so far. Marcelo “coldzera” David surprised just about everybody when he benched himself earlier this month and FaZe have turned to a familiar face once again. They’ll be playing with olofmeister again, and this time, it seems like a permanent deal, at least according to Twistzz. Is olofmeister motivated enough, though? Will his experience help FaZe get out of their slump? They’ll have a tough debut against Na’Vi, but if they beat someone like s1mple, it’ll definitely improve the morale of the squad.

Is there any team capable of dethroning Gambit right now? The Russian powerhouse won IEM Summer last weekend even though they made it into the playoffs through the lower bracket after they were upset by Vitality in the second round of the tournament. No one other than prime Astralis has shown the consistency Gambit are displaying at the moment, especially in matches that matter the most, like the playoffs of IEM Summer. They beat EG, G2, and OG (best-of-five grand final) without losing a single map, including a win on Ancient against G2, which is a new map for everybody.

Perhaps Na’Vi, Gambit’s main rival in the CIS region, are the only team capable of beating them at the moment. They did it not too long ago at the DreamHack Masters Spring grand finals in May, where they swept Gambit 3-0. But for this to happen again, s1mple and electronic will have to put up great numbers like they usually do and a third player will have to contribute as well in the fragging department. B1T did it at DreamHack Masters Spring, but will he be able to replicate that now that Gambit knows how Na’Vi are playing with him on more maps instead of flamie? CS:GO fans will be curious to see what kind of Na’Vi will show up at the BLAST Premier Spring Final: the squad that can be a top contender or the team that fails to win matches even when s1mple is in god-mode.

Will G2 ever become a real threat? The Balkan-international team struggled in the first few months with superstar player NiKo on board with his cousin huNter-. The team got significantly better when JaCkz was brought back to play a supportive role, with AmaNEk taking the AWPing duties from NiKo later on, surprisingly showing traits of a top 10-level sniper. But all of that didn’t make G2 a winning team since they’re yet to play in a grand final with NiKo and finished at top-four in the last three events they attended. The BLAST Premier Spring Final seems like an easier tournament to achieve that since you have to win fewer matches than usual to reach the grand finals. Are they prepared or will we just see more of the same?

After a promising start with dev1ce at Flashpoint Three, where NiP finished as runners-up to mousesports, the Swedes didn’t show their best form in IEM Summer. They eliminated Heroic, a top contender for championships, but fell to Virtus Pro and dropped out before the playoffs. It was just their first tournament with LNZ, though, the new player recruited from the organization’s academy project called Young Ninjas. The 18-year-old averaged a 0.90 rating after nine maps, which isn’t that much of an improvement over Erik “ztr” Gustafsson, the player he replaced. Is LNZ going to step up at BLAST Premier Spring Final and show that Sweden has got a new talent to watch out for or will NiP have to go shopping for an established player?

We’ll find out the answers to these questions and many more when the BLAST Premier Spring Final starts tomorrow.