BLAST's $4.25M Premier 2020 Teams Announced
BLAST has come out and announced the 12 teams directly partnered with the tournament circuit who will be the major contenders within their 2020 Premier tournament series, alongside further details about the planned season - as well as the removal of particular teams who they were partnered with.
The BLAST series came under heavy fire throughout 2019, with allegations of attempts being made at soft exclusivity by tying down some of the best teams in the world to their own tournament series. This came alongside much criticism of the actual format used for their tournament - which revolved around best-of-ones and degraded the integrity of competition due to the fact.
Another major accusation was about how their tournament locked out teams from competing in their global finals unless partnered with the circuit - particularly noticeable when teams like ENCE weren’t at Bahrain for their finals in 2019, despite having consistently performed well at regular events.
Many of their announced format changes have come through in line with that - with clear attempts at removing criticized elements. They still have partnered teams, though they’ve expanded from seven to twelve, with the teams having been announced:
Click to enlargeThe team list has also seen the removal of Cloud9 - who had been in a downwards spiral consistently.
With six new teams - each having enormous brands of their own - BLAST is looking to shake up the world, particularly with the new format which they announced in September. So far, the only further information given from the September announcement is that the Spring season begins in January 2020, and will be hosted out of London initially. Exact dates, groups, and further details are still unknown, though BLAST has stated that it’ll be held out of a central studio location where fans will have the ability to gain access.
“The studio series is in a central London location, and the setup will bring fans the closest they have ever been to the players.” - BLAST Announcement
The twelve teams present in the event are:
- MIBR
- Natus Vincere
- NiP
- 100 Thieves
- Astralis
- OG
- Liquid
- G2
- FaZe
- Evil Geniuses
- Vitality
- Complexity
A total of $4,250,000 will be offered across the entire year in the Premier series, with $1,375,000 allotted for the Spring season - of which $300,000 will be up for grabs in the regular season which begins in London come January.
