BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Preview

BLAST returns for another year on the CS stage. In 2019 the tournament received a lot of criticism due to the format in 2019. In 2020, the format has changed from matches played in best of ones to more traditional best of threes. This is a huge relief to players and viewers alike because the tournament will be considered more prestigious. Two seasons will be played over the course of the year and the format is set for 12 teams to compete for 6 places in the playoffs, which is called the Spring Finals. The remaining six teams go to an aptly named, Showdown.

BLAST Premier: Spring Qualified Teams

• 100 Thieves
• Astralis
• Complexity Gaming
• Evil Geniuses
• FaZe Clan
• G2 Esports
• mibr
• Natus Vincere
• Ninjas in Pajamas
• OG
• Team Liquid
• Team Vitality

Format

• Three groups of four teams each.
• Plays with GSL format.
• All matches are best of three.
• The top two teams advance to the Spring Finals.
• The two worst teams move on to Spring Showdown.

Prize Pool

$300,000

Blast Premier: Spring Expectations

Favorites

Astralis

There is hardly any doubt that Astralis will start 2020 as favorites for all the tournaments they participate in. Two major wins and a dominant finish last year means that nobody can even be named in the same category. It should nevertheless be mentioned that CS's best teams ever occasionally have a form less than beautiful. After a long break a lot can happen, but the favoritism it clearly falls on the Danes.

Challengers

Evil Geniuses

This team got its proper outbreak when the players went from NRG to the legendary organization Evil Geniuses. The team took home the trophy in ESL One New York and StarSeries Season 8, which led them to a first place on the world rankings. However, it did not last long as the game at the end of the year was not as successful. That being said, there has nevertheless been a stability that has taken EC to at least semi-finals most often. The chances of BLAST are thus good and the team should at least be able to advance to the playoffs. Well there is probably the most important factor which teams are dealing with.

Team Liquid

After a very dominant period in the spring and summer of 2019, Liquid encountered problems during most of the year. The closing tournaments of the year showed the teams class again, but got to see themselves defeated by Astralis time after time. The revenue, clout, and motivation to take the team back to the top should be great and a good start to the year would help the team tremendously. That they would go all the way in this BLAST tournament still feels tough, but reaching the playoffs should be a guarantee.

Under Dogs

Team Vitality

Last year's major breakthrough on the CS stage came from Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut. The young superstar is the difference between failure and success for Vitality. Since the addition of Richard "shox" Papillon, the results have been up and down, but one thing is certain - if ZywOo has a good tournament, this team can go as far as any other team.

Natus Vincere

A team that has the same strength and weakness as Vitality. If Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has a good tournament they can go all the way, but in 2019, that usually did not happen. There is also a lot of skill in the rest of the team, but so far they have not been able to click. The results after Ladislav “Guardian” Kovács joined the team have been under all kinds of criticism and now it will be needed if 2020 is to be a successful year. It is unlikely that NaVi will go all the way, but with the incredible individual skill that exists in the team, they can never be completely ruled out.