BLAST Premier World Final viewer's guide

HLTV.org has prepared a comprehensive viewer's guide ahead of the million-dollar tournament which kicks off on Wednesday.

The final Big Event of 2022, BLAST Premier World Final, is set to begin on December 14. The competition features eight teams all competing for the lion's share of the $1,000,000 prize pool, and will run for a total of four days until its conclusion on December 18.

Eight teams have been evenly divided into two groups and will take part in a double-elimination bracket, with all matches being best-of-threes. From there, the top three teams of each group will progress through to a single-elimination playoff stage, with the first-place finishers of each receiving a direct semi-finals berth.

Outsiders enter the tournament as one of the heavy favorites to take the title hot off their win at the IEM Rio Major, but will face stiff competition in their efforts. Rio Major runners-up and BLAST Fall Final champions, HEROIC, should also be in contention for the title, but have the unknown of coming into the tournament with Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke as a stand-in for their star rifler Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund.

Other Big Event mainstays competing in Abu Dhabi include international powerhouse FaZe and BLAST World Final 2021 winners Natus Vincere, who sit as the third and fourth-best teams in the world respectively. Vitality sealed their place in the event after taking home the ESL Pro League Season 16 trophy, while Liquid, G2, and OG all earned spots through the BLAST ranking.

The last team's qualification, however, has been a hot topic recently due to the BLAST circuit's format which heavily favors partnered teams and performances at events they organized. OG have shined at BLAST-sanctioned events such as both Spring and Fall Groups where they placed 1-3rd and at the Spring Final where they bagged 3-4th, but Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković's men haven't found the same success outside of those three competitions.

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The two groups for BLAST Premier World Final is as follows:

The group stage will span two days starting on December 14, and the knockout stage will begin on December 16. The best-of-three grand final will be played on December 18 in front of a live audience at the Etihad Arena.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, December 14

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2022
14/12/2022	Outsiders 07:00 Liquid	Match
14/12/2022	FaZe 11:20 G2	Match
14/12/2022	HEROIC 15:15 OG	Match
14/12/2022	Natus Vincere 19:25 Vitality	Match

Thursday, December 15

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2022
15/12/2022	Outsiders 07:00 G2	Match
15/12/2022	Liquid 09:15 FaZe	Match
15/12/2022	HEROIC 12:50 Natus Vincere	Match
15/12/2022	OG 16:55 Vitality	Match

Friday, December 16

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2022
16/12/2022	Liquid 12:30 Natus Vincere	Match
16/12/2022	G2 16:45 Vitality	Match

Saturday, December 17

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2022
17/12/2022	OG 12:30 Liquid	Match
17/12/2022	FaZe 17:05 G2	Match

Sunday, December 18

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2022
18/12/2022	Liquid 11:00 G2	Match

The broadcast talent list is yet to be revealed, and the article will be updated once it is available.

$1,000,000 in prize money will be spread out across all eight teams, with the eventual champions taking home half the total amount. The prize breakdown is as follows:

1. $500,000
2. $250,000
3-4. $85,000
5-6. $25,000
7-8. $15,000