BLAST Spring Showdown opening matchups announced

27-2-2024 16:04

Spirit, Falcons, and Cloud9 will all compete for two spots at the Spring Final.

s1mple will return to the server with Falcons

BLAST has revealed the schedule for the upcoming Spring Showdown, set to be played from March 6-10. The qualifier will feature 16 teams from all around the world, competing for two spots at the BLAST Premier Spring Final.

London to host BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024

The Showdown will be played out on a rolling schedule, with three best-of-three matches taking place each day. Cloud9 will face off against Rare Atom in the first RO16 match, with HEROIC vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas and Falcons vs. Metizport also set to be played on the first day.

The final match is especially intriguing, as it will mark Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's return to the server for the first time since ESL Pro League Season 18 in October. The Ukrainian superstar recently ended his hiatus by signing for Falcons on loan to enable the Saudi organization to field a full roster at the Showdown.

s1mple joins Falcons on loan; BOROS benched

The new Liquid will face off against Major attendees SAW on the second day of action, with the match followed by Complexity vs. OG. A Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev-less Monte will face off against Imperial in the final day two clash.

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets' Spirit will play against Elevate in what will be a trial by fire for the North American squad, while the new-look BIG, who have recently added Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro and Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische, have been matched up against GamerLegion.

You can see the opening matchups for the event below:

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2024
06/03/2024	Cloud9 15:30 Rare Atom	Match
06/03/2024	HEROIC 17:50 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match
06/03/2024	Falcons 20:15 Metizport	Match
07/03/2024	Liquid 15:30 SAW	Match
07/03/2024	Complexity 19:10 OG	Match
07/03/2024	Monte 22:40 Imperial	Match
08/03/2024	Spirit 15:30 Elevate	Match
08/03/2024	GamerLegion 17:20 BIG	Match

2024-02-27 16:05

10 replies

Liquid and Spirit will go through

2024-02-27 16:24

9 replies

It's impossible

2024-02-27 16:40

3 replies

how?

2024-02-27 16:41

2 replies

sry, I thought you wrote Clown9

2024-02-27 17:12

1 reply

cloud9 easy bracket

2024-02-27 19:46

I don’t know if there is much point in Spirit going through. They are already at the Blast World Final after winning Kato, but it’s good practice I guess

2024-02-27 16:42

4 replies

Why would they not want to win Blast spring final if they paid for the blast spot

2024-02-27 16:45

This would be for Sping Final, a competition with a good amount of prize money and...another trophy.

2024-02-27 17:41

+1 Blast Spring and Fall Finals are easiest T1 trophies out there.

2024-02-27 21:07

BLAST are still big trophies to win. Of course Spirit will want to qualifying for their BLAST spot.

2024-02-27 18:52

Everyone will be sandbagging for the major….

At least half of the teams here aren't going to the major, maybe even more after the Americas RMR is complete.

2024-02-27 16:16

s1mple debut

EZ farm for s0mple

2024-02-27 16:06

s0mple is shaking as we speak, so EZ for the bois

lul

2024-02-27 16:11

+1 ezpz för mez

2024-02-27 16:22

+1 NiLo clears

2024-02-27 19:32

blast should do it on lan tbh

2024-02-27 16:07

this is online?

2024-02-27 20:46

yes

2024-02-27 21:00

oh no :(

2024-02-27 21:03

Metizport got this in the bag

2024-02-27 16:12

goat about to drop 40 kills in 13 rounds and silence the xi wu fans

5 replies

not hard vs Elevate

2024-02-27 16:23

lol he will go negative even vs this tier 3 team lol, also they are playing metizport not Elevate

2024-02-27 18:49

Team Spirit is playing vs Elevate.

2024-02-27 18:55

Ye but this delusional fanboy is talking about s1mple not donk lol check his profile and which players he is fan of..... also reference to silencing xi wu = zywoo fans.

2024-02-27 18:57

You are right zywoo fans will be silently and patiently waiting to see him play at the major, while tox1mple will be playing vs tier 3 teams to boost his stats and try to hide fact he is washed. tox1mple fans absolutely scared like 12yo girls that Zywoo would somehow win 2nd major and surpass s1mple.

2024-02-27 18:47

NIP bout to play 2v5

2024-02-27 16:13

Nah the academy core will fill in ,so more like yn is playing.

2024-02-27 16:33

In my bday c9 must win the final, i hope

2024-02-27 16:19

Donk vs Dare matchup of the century

2024-02-27 16:21

rip Elevate... They found the most random sub to it's so weird.

2024-02-27 16:27

Could spirit vs elevate be the first 26-0?

2024-02-27 16:30

yea, it will be a spank for sure. at least one 13-0 imo

2024-02-27 17:39

Imagine flying 10 hours across half of planet just to get matched vs Spirit to get absolutely spanked and fly back home lmao, I would be so motivated to get up that morning and catch my flight xDDD

2024-02-27 18:59

I would def still want that tbh, to be at a semi big event is a dream for everyone

2024-02-27 20:04

Come on this is basically Last Chance Qualifier for meh format LULlast event. If this was Spring Final itself, I would agree with you, but this showdown? Nah. 5k$ for last place won't even cover travel expenses lol

2024-02-27 23:28

Ez4nip 2v5

2024-02-27 16:31

Big vs C9/NiP finals .

2024-02-27 16:34

copium

2024-02-27 19:45

They really should make this double elim, so brutal for players to travel to eu for 1 bo3

2024-02-27 16:38

They will have to travel to Europe anyway if they qualify for the Major.

2024-02-27 17:27

okay?

2024-02-27 18:03

Beginning of historic BIG 2024 redemption arc or else - gob b pls

2024-02-27 16:52

7 replies

Even if they fail vs a Spirit on steroids?

2024-02-27 17:09

donk going 64-18 on 2 maps is the only failure-case i accept

2024-02-27 18:01

Wallahi Alter, we're finished. GamerLegion is beatable but unless we somehow drop the most complete game of our lives, we're getting 10 rounds combined against Spirit. Not to mention the fact that even if we upset Spirit, we'll still have S1mple and Falcons most likely to contend with.

BIG has beaten s1mple a few times before so i think this is a possibility, BIG has also beaten donk's spirit before online hltv.org/matches/2367006/spirit-vs-big-c.. so its not completely out of question i guess, however i think spirit will most likely win and that might be okay for me, donk is out of this world i just wanna see a convincing win against gamerlegion please

2024-02-27 18:10

Keep in mind that we've got 2 wins in the last 5 years against S1mple and NaVi in every iteration (those being in Pro League Season 11 Europe and Pro League Season 14, the latter our most impressive effort considering it came during NaVi's dominance) while we lost 10 more matches, most of those being BO3. As for Spirit, while ArtFrost is not a serious downgrade from Sh1ro, we also haven't played them since then with him and Cloud9 were our absolute nemesis until he stepped down, having won all 4 of their series in 2023 against us and beating us 3 out of 4 times in 2022 when they were with Gambit and once as Players. Sh1ro has our number, Donk is a monster. We cannot beat Spirit unless things go ballistic. S1mple has had our number for years even during both of our peaks in 2018 and 2020. Do not underestimate GamerLegion, there's a reason I call them "International BIG" or "Diet Virtus.pro" in that they're pretty solid and can grind out any game but fumble in qualification matches

2024-02-27 18:18

Was about to say its gonna be different with sh1ro in the mix, he brings balance to the roster while also being an insane clutcher Would def be super hard If BIG faced them, still excited to see JDC and Syrson back

2024-02-27 20:06

I'm very muted on my celebrations and expectations, SyrsoN was very inconsistent and the definition of an Onliner with his LAN rating drop off. JDC always felt weirdly out of place on MOUZ but that could also have been because of Dexter's passive, slightly restrictive system that kept a guy like Torzsi from reaching his potential too so I don't know.

2024-02-27 20:11

Lmao Blast giving Falcons the easiest opponent so s1mple wins his first game so he doesn't tilt and leave the scene for good hahahahaha

2024-02-27 18:51

Simple may be the first of the goats to face donk. Looking forward to it

Poor Elevate... rough match for them indeed.

2024-02-27 18:53

Poor Rare Atom too, such a long travel to get trashed in an hour

2024-02-27 19:12

its online, okay nvm they need to travel to europe anyways

2024-02-27 19:44

Fantasy?

2024-02-27 19:13

Why is it not split like before?

2024-02-27 19:17

spirit and liquid maybe

2024-02-27 19:41

liquid so overrated lol, heroic or cloud9 will smash them in bracket final

2024-02-27 19:43

maybe, liquid need more time

2024-02-27 20:50

S1mple debut.

2024-02-27 20:37

Teams from outside Europe have to travel to Europe to play a single elimination tournament... hopefully they use this chance to play a few more tournaments in Europe

2024-02-27 20:45