New tournament series and major from BLAST. When and what tournaments will be held in 2025?
In 2025, the Counter-Strike 2 competitive scene will see dramatic changes. Valve will completely ban franchise leagues and the organizers have to come up with something new. BLAST went further and solved the problem with inviting teams to tournaments, but also introduced a completely new series of championships, which has never been seen in the history of Counter-Strike. In this material we will talk about the BLAST tournaments that will be held in 2025 and their format.
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
Rumors have long been circulating around the new major from BLAST. And finally, the tournament operator shared the official announcement. The championship will actually take place in Austin, Texas. The first major in 2025 is scheduled for June 9-22. The prize fund will be the traditional $1,250,000. It is still unknown whether RMR tournaments will remain for selecting participants; they were not presented along with the announcement of the major, so perhaps Valve will actually cancel them.
BLAST Bounty
The most interesting tournament among those presented was BLAST Bounty. This is a truly unique format for Counter-Strike championships. The tournament will be held in Single Elimination format, but each of the 32 teams will have a price per head. When winning a match, the winning team will receive 50% of the available reward as a guaranteed payout at the end of the tournament, with the remaining 50% carried over to the next match to raise the stakes.
30 teams will receive a direct invitation, and two outsiders will be selected by BLAST. They will be able to determine their opponents from the teams that took the highest places. In future rounds, the team positions will be adjusted so that the lowest placed teams can again choose their opponent.
In 2025, two BLAST Bounty tournaments will be held: from January 14th to 26th and from August 5th to 17th.
BLAST Open
BLAST Open will provide an opportunity for all little-known teams from different regions to get onto the shooting range-1 stage. 16 teams will play at the tournaments, 12 of which will be determined by the Valve rating, and the remaining 4 – based on the results of regional qualifications. BLAST Open will take place over two weeks: the first in the BLAST studio, and the second on the big stage. First, the teams will have to play in two groups of eight teams in the BO3 Double Elimination format. Only the top six teams will advance to the playoffs. In the arena, all matches will also be held in BO3, and the grand final in BO5.
BLAST Open in 2025 will be held from March 18 to 30 and from August 26 to September 7. The venues for the playoffs will be Altice Arena in Lisbon and Wembley Arena in London, respectively.
BLAST Rivals
BLAST Rivals will become the most important tournament in the series and a kind of analogue of the World Final. Only the top eight teams from Valve’s ranking will play there. The group stage will be held in the GSL Single elimination format. All matches will be played in BO3 and the playoffs will end with the grand final in BO5. The locations of the two BLAST Rivals tournaments in 2025 have not yet been announced, but the dates are known: April 29 to May 4 and November 11 to 16.
BLAST really surprised the entire community with its announcement. Interesting tournaments with unique formats await us, which will bring something new to the professional Counter-Strike 2 scene. And BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 promises to be one of the highest quality in terms of organization, BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 turned out to be much better than the championships, conducted by PGL. We just have to wait until next year to see for ourselves what BLAST Bounty, BLAST Open and BLAST Rivals will turn out to be. We are also waiting for a decent response from ESL and other tournament organizers.
BLAST tournament schedule for 2025:
Season 1 – Spring 2025
- BLAST BOUNTY: 14 – 26 January
- BLAST OPEN: 18 – 30 March – Altice Arena, Lisbon
- BLAST RIVALS: 29 April – 4 May
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025: June 9-22
Season 2 – Fall 2025
- BLAST BOUNTY: 5 – 17 August
- BLAST OPEN: 26 August – 7 September – Wembley Arena, London
- BLAST RIVALS: 11 – 16 November
