After a thrilling closing of the competitive 2022 of CS:GO with the BLAST Premier: World Final conquered by G2 Esports, the shooter professional scene is shaping up to return on the stage and impress fans around the world with incredible moments of 2023. From Jan. 19 to 29, the BLAST Premier global circuit is ready to kick off with the Spring Groups in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The tournament will feature twelve of the best CS:GO teams on the international scene that compete with each other for the prize of $177,500 and additional BLAST Premier points. At the moment of writing, the two groups are still unknown or even if there are any new changes in the format. Nevertheless, below is an in-depth view of the upcoming event for those who are wondering how the next few weeks will shape up and what teams will be competing.
Most Notable Roster Changes for the Event
The calendar of current CS:GO matches at the https://cover.gg/matches/current begins to tighten after two-week winter tournament break. During these weeks, the only news from Valve’s shooter has been related to rumors and transfers in some main teams of the scene.
At the moment, Natus Vincere and Ninjas in Pyjamas seem to be two antagonists in terms of their line-ups for the first tournament of this year. NiP has officially secured Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov (from NaVi), Linus “nilo” Bergman, and Max “maxster” Jansson (from NiP’s academy team). As for NaVi’s side, Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi will take over Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev’s place in the upcoming event.
With all this still in the corner of the eye, more changes might yet come before the Spring Groups kick off. So, other squads still have enough time to prepare some bombshells in their ranks. Speaking of which, let’s see all the attendees for the BLAST Premier’s first event of the year.
What Teams Show up on the Stage
As mentioned above, the twelve BLAST partner teams will meet from Jan. 19 to 29 in Copenhagen, Denmark. These include Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Heroic, Astralis, Natus Vincere, Team Vitality, Complexity Gaming, Evil Geniuses, OG, BIG, and the last World Final’s champions G2 Esports will participate in this first stop.
The twelve BLAST participants will battle out for a total prize pool of $177,500. Each of them will have a chance to finish in the top half and secure an early spot at the Spring Finals. The remaining bottom-placed six teams, however, will have to go through Spring Showdown before making it to the Spring Finals.
How the Spring Groups 2023 Format Works
All the teams qualified for the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups have been split into three groups of four. At the time of writing this article, the format of the groups is unknown, but no big surprises are expected within two weeks before the competition begins.
Group Stage
The event will begin with the Groups, which will only last one week through a best-of-one, double-elimination GSL-format bracket between all twelve teams. This will define seeding for the Play-In stage based on the start points rankings.
Play-In Stage
At this phase of the tournament, these twelve teams will collide in a best-of-three single-elimination format brackets that will last for two days. After the top remaining teams of each bracket are decided, those powerhouses will move directly to the Spring Finals and secure 1,600 BLAST Premier points. The second and third-placed squads from the Play-In will be moved into Last Chance stage.
Last Chance Stage
Last chance matches will feature a single best-of-three format, with the winner moving on to the Spring Finals with 800 BLAST Premier points. The losers of the LCQ matches and the fourth-placed squads from the previous Play-In stage will advance to the Spring Showdown with 600 and 400 Premier points, respectively.
Conclusion
The return to the professional competition is always tough and the first tournaments have surprises due to the lack of preparation or recent signings. But at the moment, the latter does not seem to be one of the factors that will greatly affect the first half of 2023.
Nevertheless, it is still early to make any assumptions as some teams can prepare for some surprises in their ranks. One thing is for sure – this year’s Spring Group stage will be an exciting one to watch and should serve as a great start to another landmark year for competitive Valve’s shooter in 2023.