BLAST Rising 2021 teams and groups announced

The European tournament will run concurrent to Flashpoint 3 and consist entirely of teams ranked below the top 20.

BLAST and Fantasyexpo have announced the teams that will play in BLAST Rising 2021, a $30,000 tournament that intends to help the development of teams outside of the top 20 in the world rankings.

The event, which will run from May 3-23, will kick off with six GSL-style groups where the top two teams will advance directly to the playoffs. The third-place teams from each group will then face off in last-chance match-ups on May 17 for four final spots in the single-elimination playoffs. All matches will be played in a best-of-three format.

BLAST Rising will kick off on May 3

Notable names included among the attending teams are Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist's GORILLAZ, who are in Group F alongside Nordavind and Finest, as well as DBL PONEY in Group D with Copenhagen Flames and Nexus.

SKADE are the highest-ranked team in attendance at No. 23, followed by AGO (No.28) and Sprout (No.30), both of whom reside in Group B. The tournament also features a number of academy and junior rosters split among the groups, including NAVI Junior, Young Ninjas, and Astralis Talent.

Below you can find the group draw in full, as well as the dates for each group:

Group A | May 3-4
EC Brugge
LDLC
Sangal
UMX

Group B | May 5-6
AGO
Sprout
Galaxy Racer
Astralis Talent

Group C | May 7-8
SKADE
Anonymo
ALTERNATE aTTaX
Spirit Academy

Group D | May 10-11
Copenhagen Flames
DBL PONEY
OFFSET
Nexus

Group E | May 12-13
SINNERS
Apeks
NAVI Junior
Budapest Five

Group F | May 14-15
Nordavind
Young Ninjas
Finest
GORILLAZ