Results of BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024.
The first LAN tournament of the new season was BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024. BLAST tournaments always attract the attention because of top teams, impressive production and prize pools. And this time was no exception, as four teams joined the BLAST partnership program at the beginning of 2024: the new star team Falcons, Virtus.pro, and Team Spirit from the CIS region and GamerLegion.
The addition of these teams was unexpected for several reasons:
- In the middle of last year, Valve announced the cancellation of all partnership tournaments in 2025;
- Virtus.pro recently lifted the ban on participating in BLAST tournaments under their own tag. At the end of the summer, the organization’s CEO stated that the team failed to buy a slot in the leagues;
- Team Spirit still has issues with their title sponsor, and GamerLegion received similar criticisms after partnering with a Russian bookmaker;
- Falcons faced criticism for their Arab investors, despite BLAST itself being funded by Arab sheikhs.
To be truthful, the addition of these teams only evokes positive emotions, and fans eagerly await their performances on the tier-1 stage.
All 16 partner teams participated in BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, competing for 6 slots in the finals. In total, 8 teams will participate in the finals, battling for a prize pool of $425,000. Protecting these 6 slots and securing a spot at the LAN event in London was crucial right here and right now, as opposed to competing for the remaining 2 slots at BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown.
The teams were divided into 4 groups of 4 teams, where the group winners secured a spot in the United Kingdom, and the other 2 slots were determined in the Play-in stage among the teams that finished in second place.
Key Moments of the Group Stage:
Group A:
In Group A, we had Vitality, Astralis, Falcons, and OG. The latter immediately looked like clear outsiders and couldn’t show anything substantial. The team clearly experiences challenging times and has not been contenders for a while (though their slot in the league is valid until 2025).
The initial matches were without surprises. Vitality triumphed over OG, and Astralis defeated Falcons. The old core from ENCE still has to face Magisk and BOROS, while the Astralis guys are already displaying solid CS. In the upper bracket final, they managed to defeat the reigning Major champions, which few could have expected. Vitality approached the tournament as the best team of 2023 according to HLTV, and in this lineup, they had already won BLAST Premier: World Final 2023 in December.
In the end, the apEX-led team took revenge on the Danes, overcoming Falcons in the lower bracket and securing their slot in the finals in London. Magisk was eager to face his former team, but his teammates couldn’t support him. There is a feeling that in this lineup, Falcons won’t last long and will make replacements in the near future. The first one to exit is BOROS, who completely disappears in matches against tier-1 teams and can’t find his game.
Group B:
In Group B, everything was much simpler. Faze were clear favorites in a group with the recently formed Liquid and two new teams joining BLAST – Gamer Legion and Team Spirit. The latter even arrived without their main star, donk, who was replaced by coach hally, and instead of magixx, due to visa issues, an academy player, baz, performed.
All the surprises came in the initial matches, where Gamer Legion sent the monsters from Faze to the lower bracket, and Team Spirit, with two substitutions, gave a tough fight to Liquid. Later, Faze navigated through the lower bracket, won the second encounter against Gamer Legion, and secured the top spot in the group. Liquid remained in the second position, waiting for their opponents in the Play-in stage. There are many questions about their gameplay, and so far, this stack clearly doesn’t meet expectations.
Group C:
In Group C, the battle for the slot took place between NAVI and G2. Complexity and NIP couldn’t show anything. The future of these teams is also in question; NIP needs to refresh their contact lists and start inviting new faces instead of repeatedly bringing back the same players in a circle.
In the group final, we awaited the high-profile match NAVI vs G2, but NAVI twice defeated G2 in the group and prepared for the next tournaments. It must be admitted that all skepticism regarding the current “born to win” roster is dissipating. Blade and Aleksib’s wards finish their second consecutive tournament without losses and bring back interest to the tag.
Group D:
Group D was supposed to gift us two CIS derbies for the title of the best team in the region. But Cloud9, after losing in the upper bracket final to Virtus.pro, managed to lose to BIG, who couldn’t even qualify for RMR before. In the end, we witnessed the complete dominance of Jame’s team over the other opponents, earning a well-deserved first place. It seems the slot is already starting to pay off, and the team, criticized throughout the last year for the low number of tier-1 matches and a dull playing style, finds itself in its place. The criticism continues even now, but there are also those who express an alternative opinion about the Bears’ game.
Jame, FL1T, and fame are the most underrated trio of the last two years.
The statistics speak for themselves, as they became the best team by Rating 2.0 – 1.16 over 7 played maps.
The teams that finished in second place in their groups – Astralis, BIG, G2, and Liquid – competed for the remaining two slots in BLAST Premier: Spring Finals. In head-to-head clashes, Astralis defeated BIG in a fierce battle, and G2 proved stronger than Liquid.
$22,500 and slots in BLAST Premier: Spring Finals went to the teams that finished first in their groups – Vitality, Faze, NAVI, and Virtus.pro.
Two more slots, along with $12,500, were earned by G2 and Astralis.
The remaining 10 teams will battle for the remaining two slots in BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024, joined by 6 more teams from various qualifying rounds.