Fantasy games for BLAST Showdown EU & NA now open

The final stage of the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 qualifiers are set to begin on Wednesday, which means it is time to make your Fantasy teams.

With the BLAST Showdown beginning on Wednesday, the games for both regions have been opened! You now have a chance to construct the best possible team with the available $1,000,000 budget in both regions.

As the tournament is run in a single elimination format, looking at how the bracket will play out is essential to making a good team, as it is imperative your players make it as far as possible in the tournament and don't meet each other early on.

FURIA will be looking to continue dominating their region

In the European qualifier, the most popular picks come from Ninjas in Pyjamas and the two Danish teams of Astralis and HEROIC. It is curious to see that ENCE players are not popular picks given their recent form, but that is probably due to the fact they face Copenhagen Flames in the first round.

This means that the most popular player is Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner, which is no surprise given his upturn in form this year — he averages an 1.15 rating in the last three months. Other popular picks include the HEROIC trio of Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali and René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen, no doubt motivated by the fact that the Danes face the lowest rated team of the tournament, NKT, in the first round.

Some other less popular picks that could provide value for your team include Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković, who could provide star performances if his team does well in the tough bracket. A cheap option for the awper role is Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen, who with a price of $189,000 gives you some leftover money to play with.

On the North American side of things, two clear favorites have emerged. FURIA and Liquid have seven out of the eight most popular picks in the tournament, which is no surprise, considering they are the two highest ranked teams by far. Considering all of the players from the two favorites are viable picks, the key to victory will be getting the correct combination of stars and overperforming support players.

The most popular pick so far is André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu, closely followed by his teammate Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan. If you wish to pick some of the less popular names, Adriano "⁠WOOD7⁠" Cerato is available for the AWP role, but his team are dealt a very tough bracket. Another budget option is certainly the entire GODSENT roster, but it is worth keeping in mind that they will most likely be facing FURIA in the second round.

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Fantasy returns with $10,000 Spring season

The prizes for the two HLTV x BitSkins Leagues in Europe and North America are as follows:

Europe
1. Navaja Knife | Crimson Web (Field-Tested)
2. AWP | Wildfire (Field-Tested)
3. AK-47 | Bloodsport (Field-Tested)

North America
1. Navaja Knife | Ultraviolet (Field-Tested)
2. M4A1-S | Dark Water (Field-Tested)
3. AWP | Neo-Noir (Field-Tested)

Aside from the event prizes, Fantasy players compete for the $10,000 season reward, with the top five currently being separated by just a few points:

1. AlexDR19 – 172 points
2. Jibby – 168 points
3. Trainerherp - 166 points
4. UnfriendlyV - 165 points
5. JirioTree – 164 points

Please take note of the Fantasy rules before competing as they provide important information regarding the prizes, eligibility, and selection of winners. Fantasy is free of charge and can be played in official HLTV leagues, as well as independently organized private and public ones.

Start playing Fantasy by going to the Fantasy page here.