This Tuesday, Counter-Strike fans will be tuning into BLAST’s circuit for the final stage of their Spring competition. Featuring the likes of Gambit, Natus Vincere and G2, this eight-team tournament is definitely one that you won’t want to miss.
In order to fully prepare for it, though, we prepared this handy preview containing everything you need to know regarding the BLAST Premier Spring Final. Alongside it, we also have a quick rundown of the teams taking part into it. Let’s dive in!
BLAST Premier Spring Final 2021 – Format, prize pool and where to watch
The BLAST Premier Spring Final will run the double-elimination bracket format that is shown in the image above. All matches being best-of-three maps. The event will be online and will run from June 15th to June 20th.
As for the prize pool, the eight teams competing are aiming for the lion’s share of $425,000, and circuit points are also going to be distributed to all teams. Moreover, the champions will immediately qualify for the World Finals, currently set to start in December.
The event will be streamed officially through BLAST’s channels on Twitch and YouTube. The first match, Gambit vs Evil Geniuses, is expected to kick off at 6:30 AM PT / 1:30 PM GMT.
With all event information in, let’s take a quick look at the eight teams taking part in the tournament.
Two squads from the CIS region, two favorites
BLAST Premier Spring Final will be featuring two teams from the Eastern Europe region, Gambit and Natus Vincere. Both teams are considered the two best teams in the world currently.
Undeniably, both Gambit and Na’Vi are heading to the Spring Final with plenty of excitement surround them. Gambit is coming hot from winning IEM Summer 2021, and Na’Vi aims to win their third trophy in 2021.
That’s not the only thing fueling these teams, as there’s a rivalry growing between them. To win DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, Natus Vincere convincingly beat Gambit in the grand-finals. This victory broke Gambit’s winning streak over Na’Vi, as the latter had failed to win against Gambit in all of their three encounters during 2021 until then.
Besides this rivalry, both teams are being targeted by the other six squads in the competition. Gambit and Na’Vi are both on top of the world rankings, which means that the other teams are constantly watching and studying them. G2, particularly, should be rewatching their games against Gambit and trying to figure why they seemingly can’t defeat nafany’s team.
Everything considered, expect great things from both teams. These two will go above and beyond to bring the victory to their side, and winning such a match would give them a massive momentum boost going forward. Winning here for Gambit, would further solidify their position as the best team in the world. If Na’Vi wins, though, then they would keep the competition alive and heated. For both teams, winning here also means bringing another trophy to their regional scene.
G2 and NiP are coming as the top European teams
While not the only European teams coming to the Spring Finals, G2 and Ninjas in Pyjamas are definitely the best teams from the old continent in the competition.
G2 is heading to the Spring Final after a season of solid performances. The squad has no apparent weak links as they work very well together, and each player is delivering great performances individually. At times, making G2 look unstoppable.
The Ninjas aren’t quite on the same level as G2, but they have the grounds to get to it. With the legendary star “device” in their ranks, expectations for NiP are off the roof. Still, the team needs to iron out their fifth player as just recently they removed “ztr” in favor of “LNZ”. It’s too early to comment about this move, but it’s clear that the Ninjas want to be competing for trophies, and they are on the right track.
In the Spring Final, G2 is one of the favorites but if IEM Summer is anything to go by, they aren’t ready to face their nemesis, Gambit, yet. They can still reach the grand-finals, but they have seemingly hit a road-block when it comes to the CIS team. NiP, in the other hand, should use this event to further settle device and LNZ in. Again, expectations are high, but the Ninjas just aren’t quite ready to compete for the trophy against the likes of Gambit and Na’Vi.
Evil Geniuses and FaZe come to the Spring Final with unfinished rosters
After IEM Summer 2021, Evil Geniuses saw a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. The NA team surprised and managed to reach the playoffs of that event after a series of bad performances over the past few weeks. On the FaZe side of things, the situation coming to BLAST Spring Finals isn’t as bright, as the team just benched ‘coldzera’. This change came after FaZe finished in last place during both Flashpoint 3 and DH Masters Spring.
With that in mind, Evil Geniuses and FaZe don’t quite have a concrete position in the world rankings. Evil Geniuses finally had a good result after weeks of disappointment, right after removing “zews” from the coaching position. This, however, isn’t enough to prove that ‘stanislaw’ team is back to compete against the best. As for FaZe, ‘Karrigan’ is still trying to figure the right pieces the team needs to finally work. But then, doubts about his leadership are surfacing among fans.
So, where does this takes Evil Geniuses and FaZe in BLAST Spring Final? It’s hard to say. Both teams are incomplete as of now, and even if they announce new names to complete their rosters, it will be too early to judge.
Still, while FaZe’s situation is still too clouded, EG needs to give fans another solid performance. IEM Summer put them back in the map, and they need to keep building momentum from there onwards. If they fail to perform well during the Spring Final, discussions about roster changes and how the organization should start a process to rebuild their CSGO will inevitably return.
BIG and Complexity head to the Spring Final after recent mixed results
BIG and Complexity, the remaining two teams we have yet to mention, are two squads that have seen better days. Just around Summer last year, BIG was competing for the place of best team in the world in the HLTV Rankings. Around Summer and Fall of that year, Complexity was also competing for a place among the best five teams in Counter-Strike.
Now, things are different. Since February, after BIG finished at the top of BLAST Premier Spring Groups, we haven’t seen the German accomplish much. Most recently, the team finished 5th in Flashpoint 3, and 9th – 12th in DH Masters Spring 2021.
Complexity’s situation isn’t any better. The team finished in 7th – 8th in IEM Summer 2021, 10th in Flashpoint 3, and 9th – 12th in DH Masters Spring 2021. These results, just like BIG’s, are nothing to write home about.
Coming to BLAST Spring Final, it’s hard to expect much from either team. BIG still faces a massive issue with consistency between players as they overly rely in “XANTARES”. Complexity, in the other hand, has great pieces to work with, but at this point it seems that “blameF” simply can’t use them in a way that will consistently bring wins. Criticisms to “JKS” and “poizon” individual performances are valid, but they aren’t the core of Complexity’s issues.
Still, just as these teams have failed to impress lately, don’t count them out just yet. Both BIG and Complexity have talent and experience to cause upsets, and underestimating them is a dangerous mistake to make.
$420,000, 8 teams, one week – The BLAST Spring Final is here!
Starting this Tuesday, the BLAST Premier Spring Final is an event you won’t want to miss. Every team will be giving it all to get the $225,000 reward, and an invite to BLAST Premier World Finals.
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