Will BLAST Spring Finals be the last ever Tier-1 CS:GO tournament?
Eight teams fight for glory in Washington in what could be a historic tournament.
Tonight, the last Tier-1 tournament before the summer break begins. BLAST Spring Finals in Washington will round off the first half of the 2023 season with a $425.000 prize pool.
With the expected release of Counter-Strike 2 during the summer, the question remains if this tournament will be the last ever played in CS:GO? The first tournament after the summer break is IEM Cologne. In April ESL said this about the possibility of playing the tournament in CS2.
- We're excited about the prospect of IEM Cologne 2023 potentially being the first global tier 1 tournament in Counter-Strike 2. We'll remain cautiously optimistic because we want the game to maintain the proper level of competition for the pro scene at that point in time. This is important for us at such a prestigious event, at which we title the best team worldwide.
Can Vitality repeat their Major run?
The BLAST.tv Paris Major champions from Team Vitality are the big favorite going into the tournament, while Heroic, G2, FaZe, and Cloud9 are the biggest contenders according to bookmakers.
Group A: (CET)
16.00: Vitality vs Imperial
19.00: G2 vs Cloud9
Team Vitality will face the biggest underdogs in the tournament in the opening round. Imperial has not defeated a European roster since the 4th of September 2022. The Spring Finals will only consist of best-of-three matches which will likely minimize the upset potential.
In the other match, G2 and Cloud9 will go head-to-head. G2 are considered fairly big favorites, but with five defeats in their last eight matches, G2 should probably not feel too comfortable before going into the match.
The winners of the two matches qualify for the playoffs. They will face each other in the upper final of the group to determine who will book a spot in the semi-finals directly from the group phase. The losers of the opening round get another chance in the lower final, where the winner advance to the quarter-finals.
Group B: (CET)
22.00: Heroic vs Complexity
01.00: FaZe vs Astralis
The second group of the tournament features the two Danish lineups in Heroic and Astralis. They do not face each other in the first round though. Complexity has replaced NAVI in the tournament due to visa issues.
You can watch all the matches in the live stream below.