BLAST Premier: Fall European Showdown 2023 - tournament format and prize pool

Before we get into the information about this tournament, let us explain what exactly BLAST Premier is. It is a CS:GO cybersport league that was founded by BLAST in 2020. It is mainly played in two regions: North America and Europe. The BLAST Premier tournament series is divided into two seasons: spring and autumn. Each season lasts approximately four months. Twelve teams take part in the group phase of the season, six of which advance from the group phase to the season play-offs. Fans of the sport can place live bets in real time with high odds and win great prizes.

Entry to the season play-offs can also be gained through the Showdown, which is open to more organisations, including non-professionals. The winner of each season is invited to compete in the World Final, as are the winners of other prestigious events (not including BLAST Premier) and teams ranked high in the global BLAST Premier rankings.

Tournament format

The BLAST Premier tournament: Fall European Showdown 2023 is a single elimination ladder format competition. All matches are played in a best-of-three (Bo3) system, meaning that teams must claim victory on at least two maps. The event brings together the best teams from the European region to compete for prestige, financial rewards and points towards the BLAST Premier rank. The winning team earns the right to participate in the next stage of BLAST Premier (Fall Final 2023), making this a key event in the global eSports scene.

Prize fund

The total prize fund for this tournament is USD 67,500. It will be divided among the 8 teams as follows:

• 1st place - USD 20,000 and 1,000 points;
• 2nd place - USD 12,500 and 600 points;
• 3rd-4th places - USD 6,500 and 375 points;
• 5th-8th places - USD 5,000 and 112.5 points.

We already know the participants in the tournament. The following 8 teams will participate in the tournament: Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, Complexity Gaming, FURIA Esports, Imperial Esports, Forsaken, Fake Natty, The MongolZ.

Who are the tournament favourites

The winner of the tournament will be announced in October. The competition will take place from 4 to 8 October. The current favourite is considered to be Team Liquid. This is a cybersport organisation founded in 2000 in the Netherlands. The team has had a very successful year. On 30 July 2023, Team Liquid finished second at the Riyadh Masters 2023, losing in the final to Team Spirit 1-3. The team earns $2.5 million at the end of the tournament.

The winner will be qualified for the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023, a tournament that will take place between 22 and 26 November. The prize pool is USD 425,000. Winning first place in this competition can win as much as USD 200,000, 3,000 points and qualification for BLAST Premier: World Final 2023.

Trend of playing league seasons online

Cybersport tournaments are now increasingly being played online. This is because the 2020 BLAST Premier and the eSports world as a whole have experienced some restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. So all tournaments in the series have been moved to an online format. In 2021 and 2022, the trend of holding cybersport tournaments in the online format continued. In the spring of 2023, the final, 19th tournament in the Major CS:GO series took place. It took place between 8 May and 21 May 2023 in Paris. The tournament's prize fund was $1,250,000.

Although the eSports world is returning to offline mode, however, the BLAST Premier tournament: Fall European Showdown 2023 will be played in an online format. In contrast, BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023 is being hosted at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.