BLAST Premier is one of the most important Counter-Strike tournament series. The seven BLAST Premier tournaments held throughout the year gather up to 32 of the top teams, with a total prize fund of $2,475,000 on the line.
The year finishes with the BLAST Global Final, which crowns the world champions. Although non-member teams are welcome to compete in the BLAST circuit, they must do so through a series of restricted open qualifiers.
On Wednesday, the last stage of the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 qualifications will begin. There will only be one qualifier from the European and its American counterpart that can attend the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022, the winner of which will have their place at the Global Final in December 2022.
Let’s have a look at the European division’s teams, matches, schedule, tournament format and betting odds.
Format
Playoffs:
- Single-Elimination bracket
- All matches are Bo3
- $67,500 USD will be spread among the teams.
Schedule & Betting odds
Below are the current predictions for the upcoming matches. Teams that are highlighted in bold have the odds in their favour. You can click on the dates to take yourself directly to the detailed match page, and watch the matches as they play out live.
- ENCE vs. Copenhagen Flames (April 27, 2022 - 16:30 CEST) 1.70 vs. 2.05
- Heroic vs. Team NKT (April 27, 2022 - 19:30 CEST) 1.01 vs. 11.00
- Astralis vs. Movistar Riders (April 28, 2022 - 16:30 CEST) 1.38 vs. 2.80
- NIP Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Bad News Eagles (April 28, 2022 - 19:30 CEST) 1.25 vs. 3.60
What to watch?
The legendary NiP and Astralis are all here, they obviously have the advantage in skill against their opponents in the upcoming matches, but who else is there?
Welcome newcomers to the BLAST Premier, Heroic:
BLAST announced on Thursday that Heroic has become a BLAST Premier member team, taking up the place previously held by MIBR. MIBR is owned by Immortals Gaming Club, who have opted to sell their stake. Several teams competed for the position, but Heroic came out on top.
Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, G2 Esports, OG, Vitality, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, Complexity, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, BIG, and Heroic are currently BLAST member teams.
Squad Heroic just bought a place at the BLAST Premier. They have continuously been a strong CS:GO squad and a trophy challenger at big competitions over the last two years.
The squad, which was created in 2016, recently won the ESL Cologne Europe 2020 and the ESL Pro League Season 13.
Movistar Riders, Copenhagen Flames, Bad News Eagles and ENCE join the fray
The RTP Arena Cup, TWR Eastern European Masters, and Pelaajat.com Nordic Masters competitions have all ended, with Movistar Riders, Bad News Eagles, and Copenhagen Flames securing first place and earning berths in the European bracket of the BLAST Spring Showdown, respectively.
The group stage of the Iberian RTP Arena Cup went roughly as predicted, with all the favourites advancing to the playoffs. Movistar Riders had a little setback when they were defeated by OFFSET in the winners match, however they quickly recovered against Rhyno to set up a playoff series versus SAW.
Movistar Riders won in double overtime on the third map in the semifinal between the two Iberian titans. In the final, the all-Spanish side met 00NATION, who had qualified through the closed qualification. However, the bulk of the Brazilian roster was unable to win the event, and the favourites finally prevailed, with coach Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia and his team earning a ticket to the BLAST Showdown.
The TWR Eastern European Masters had a high degree of team parity, thus while SKADE came in as the best rated team, most teams were on the same level, and the eventual champion was difficult to predict. The group round was particularly stressful for Bad News Eagles, as they fell to SKADE in overtime and barely managed to beat Nexus in the group final 16-14.
While Bad News Eagles easily defeated SINNERS in the playoffs, SKADE had to battle Eternal Fire for a long time to win their semifinal match. The final itself was a tight struggle between the two Balkan powerhouses, with the Bad News Eagles coming victorious despite SKADE’s best efforts.
Copenhagen Flames finished top in their Nordic Masters group after two tight wins over DREAM and KOVA. Both the Copenhagen Flames and the new emerging stars Hellslayers dominated their semifinal matches, setting up an intriguing final between the heavy favourites and the underdogs.
The Swedes took an early lead in map one and then staged a nine-round comeback to force overtime in game two. However, Hellslayers were unable to maintain their initiative and, after losing in overtime, were unable to take back the initiative of the game on map three. Thus the Swedes entered the European Showdown.
"Snappi" Marco Pfeiffer's team ENCE is last to to qualify for the event preceding the Spring Finals.
ENCE won the FantasyExpo Champions Spring competition and the final spot on offer at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in Europe.
The European team, led by Snappi, breezed through the qualifier without dropping a map, defeating fnatic and PACT in best-of-one game.
ENCE, now placed ninth, will be the third highest-ranked team in attendance at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown at the end of next month trailing only Heroic and NIP.
With their qualifying, ENCE has positioned itself for a potentially hectic few weeks beginning in late April. The tournament is set to take place immediately after they compete in the PGL Major Antwerp Europe RMR B competition and little over a week before the Belgium Major. Let's hope that their fire doesn't burn out anytime soon.
