Twelve CS:GO teams will participate in BLAST Premier Spring Series in BLAST’s first event of 2020.
The competition will be played over three weeks. The six best teams will qualify for BLAST Premier Spring finals in July 2020 and the six worst will have their chance in a minor tournament, the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.
Will the favorites Astralis, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, and Vitality qualify for the finals or will there be upsets in the first big CS:GO tournament of 2020? BLAST Premier Spring Series also offers a prize pool of $300,000.
Here’s everything you need to know about the BLAST Premier Spring Series.
Stream
BLAST Premier Spring Series will be fully broadcast on BLAST’s Twitch Channel. There won’t be any simultaneous matches, so it’ll be easier to watch your favorite team.
Format
The teams will be split into three double-elimination GSL groups, with all of the matches being played as best-of-three series. The top two teams from each group qualify for BLAST Premier Spring finals and the bottom two teams from each group advance to BLAST Premier Spring Showdown.
BLAST will also pay $300,000 in prize pool, but the breakdown of the prize money hasn’t been announced yet.
Teams
Group A
- Team Liquid:
- Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
- Keith “NAF” Markovic
- Jake “Stewie2K” Yip
- Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
- Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella
- FaZe:
- Marcelo “coldzera” David
- Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
- Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer
- Helvijs “broky” Saukants
- Håvard “rain” Nygaard
- Ninjas in Pyjamas:
- Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson
- Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
- Nicolas “Plopski” Zamora
- Simon “twist” Eliasson
- Tim “nawwk” Jonasson
- MIBR:
- Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo
- Fernando “fer” Alvarenga
- Vito “kNgV-” Giuseppe
- Epitácio “TACO” de Melo
- Ignacio “meyern” Meyer
Group B
- Astralis:
- Nicolai “device” Reedtz
- Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
- Emil “Magisk” Reif
- Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
- Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
- Vitality:
- Mathieu “ZywoO” Herbaut
- Richard “shox” Papillon
- Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
- Cédric “RpK” Guipouy
- Alex McMeekin
- Natus Vincere:
- Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
- Denis “electronic” Sharipov
- Egor “flamie” Vasilev
- Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov
- Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
- Complexity:
- Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
- Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke
- Valentin “poizon” Vasilev
- Owen “oBo” Schlatter
- William “RUSH” Wierzba
Group C
- Evil Geniuses:
- Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte
- Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov
- Ethan Arnold
- Tarik Celik
- Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz
- OG:
- Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt
- Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
- Valdemar “valde” Bjørn
- Issa “ISSAA” Murad
- Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski
- 100 Thieves:
- Justin “jks” Savage
- Aaron “AZR” Ward
- Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad
- Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai
- Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas
- G2:
- Kenny “kennyS” Schrub
- Nemanja “nexa” Isaković
- Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač
- François “AmaNEk” Delaunay
- Audric “JaCkz” Jug
Schedule
Friday, Jan. 31
- 9:30am CT: FaZe vs. NiP
- 1:30pm CT: Liquid vs. MIBR
Saturday, Feb. 1
- 9:30am CT: Group A lower bracket round one
- 1:30pm CT: Group A upper bracket final
Sunday, Feb. 2
- 9:30am CT: Group A lower bracket final
- 1:30pm CT: Group A final
Friday, Feb. 7
- 9:30am CT: Na’Vi vs. Vitality
- 1:30pm CT: Astralis vs. Complexity
Saturday, Feb. 8
- 9:30am CT: Group B lower bracket round one
- 1:30pm CT: Group B upper bracket final
Sunday, Feb. 9
- 9:30am CT: Group B lower bracket final
- 1:30pm CT: Group B final
Friday, Feb. 14
- 9:30am CT: 100 Thieves vs. G2
- 1:30pm CT: EG vs. OG
Saturday, Feb. 15
- 9:30am CT: Group C lower bracket round one
- 1:30pm CT: Group C upper bracket final
Sunday, Feb. 16
- 9:30am CT: Group C lower bracket final
- 1:30pm CT: Group C final
Key storylines
Liquid didn’t finish 2020 on a high note, despite being the best team in the world during the first part of 2019. The North Americans lost steam after the first player break and haven’t lifted a trophy since IEM Chicago in July. Although there won’t be a trophy for BLAST Premier Spring Series, this is a great opportunity to kick off the year with comfortable wins since FaZe, NiP, and MIBR aren’t near their level.
In Group B, though, there are some more exciting matchups. Astralis were the best team in the world in 2019. They won several tournaments, including two CS:GO Majors. But the Danish team will likely have tough matches against Vitality, Na’Vi, and even Complexity, who changed almost its whole roster at the end of 2019. Arguably the three best snipers in the world are in this group: device, s1mple, and ZywoO.
At some point, it looked like EG were capable of ending 2019 as the best CS:GO team in the world. The North Americans have lifted two major trophies since signing with EG in September. But they didn’t quite keep up with their performances, especially in their two tournaments played in China.
Their expectations must be higher for 2020 and EG will test themselves against 100 Thieves, OG, and G2. We’ll find out if EG and 100 Thieves, the two most stable rosters of Group C, can qualify for BLAST Premier Spring finals when the event kicks off.
