BLAST Spring Showdown teams, format, schedule, prizes, talent

5-3-2024 15:00

The likes of Spirit, Falcons and Cloud9 are set to compete for two spots at the BLAST Premier Spring Final.

s1mple will return to the server with Falcons

The Major qualification cycle has just ended, but the Counter-Strike circus is already moving to the BLAST Spring Showdown, which is set to take place online from March 6-10.

The event will serve as a qualifier for the BLAST Premier Spring Final and will be contested between 16 teams, with three of them, namely Spirit, Falcons, and Cloud9, currently residing in the top 10.

Participating teams and format

The event will be played in a single-elimination best-of-three format, with the winner of each side of the bracket securing their spot at the Spring Final.

Spirit come into the tournament as the highest-ranked team and have been put on the same side of the bracket as Falcons, who will attend the event with Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev as the Ukrainian superstar returns to competitive play after a short break.

s1mple takes break from competition, considers role switch

Cloud9 are the highest-ranked team on the other side of the bracket that also features Liquid and Complexity, who just faced off for a Major spot with Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and company coming out on top.

HEROIC, GamerLegion, and Monte are the final top 20 teams in attendance, with the latter set to play without talisman Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev after the Ukrainian announced his departure from the roster at the end of February.

BIG and OG secured their spots due to their BLAST partnership, while SAW and Metizport made the event through their respective regional qualifiers to complete the European contingent at the event.

The Americas will be represented by Elevate and Major-bound Imperial, whilst Rare Atom will represent their region as the solitary Asian team.

Schedule

The BLAST Showdown will take place from March 6-10. You can see the opening matchups and full schedule 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
08/03/2024	Cloud9 20:15 SAW	Match
09/03/2024	HEROIC 15:30 OG	Match
09/03/2024	Metizport 17:20 Monte	Match
09/03/2024	Spirit 20:00 BIG	Match
10/03/2024	SAW 18:00 OG	Match
10/03/2024	Metizport 20:15 Spirit	Match

Prizes

The main prize at the event will be two spots at the BLAST Premier Spring Final, but the tournament will still award cash prizes.

The prize money distribution is as follows:

1-2. $20,000 + BLAST Premier Spring Final spot
3-4. $12,500
5-8. $7,500
9-16. $5,000

Talent lineup

The Showdown talent lineup features the return of Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell and Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron, with the Conner "⁠Scrawny⁠" Girvan and Mohan "⁠launders⁠" Govindasamy duo complementing the casting list. Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole, Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen, and James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks complete the lineup as the on-desk talent.

The full talent lineup is as follows:

James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole
Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen

Conner "⁠Scrawny⁠" Girvan
Mohan "⁠launders⁠" Govindasamy

Harry "⁠JustHarry⁠" Russell
Hugo "⁠Hugo⁠" Byron

Fantasy

The BLAST Showdown Fantasy game is live, and teams can be put together on the event page. The game is part of the Fantasy Spring season 2024 and will have season points on the line, as well as skin prizes for the top finishers.

Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov is currently leading the way as the most picked player. Over 60% of the players chose the Spirit IGL in their teams. s1mple comes in at number two, with the IGL trio of Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou, Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer, and Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov completing the top five.

The skin prizes are:

1. Hydra Gloves | Emerald (Field-Tested)
2. Hydra Gloves | Mangrove (Field-Tested)
3. Driver Gloves | Racing Green (Field-Tested)