BLAST Premier grand finals to feature BO5 format

The change comes into effect before the Spring Final in London in less than two months.

BLAST has announced that the grand finals of its three LAN events scheduled for 2024 will all feature a best-of-five format.

The announcement has been met with widespread acclaim in the Counter-Strike community, where many have called for the biggest tournaments to culminate in best-of-five showdowns, especially since the release of Counter-Strike 2, which shortened match length with the change to MR12.

The first BLAST tournament to feature a best-of-five final will be the upcoming Spring Final in London, scheduled for June 12-16. The British event will feature three audience days as fans will also be able to watch the quarter-finals, which are normally played behind closed doors.

BLAST follows in the footsteps of ESL, which runs best-of-five finals for its two flagship events, IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne. Its smaller events, like the recent IEM Chengdu or the ESL Challenger stops, still feature best-of-three finals.

BLAST did not state whether best-of-five finals will be part of the circuit beyond 2024. BLAST has already announced six events for next year, which will take up 70 days of the calendar.