BLAST Premier Expands To 16 Teams For 2024 With GamerLegion, Falcons, Team Spirit and Virtus.pro All Joining

BLAST Premier is expanding ahead of the 2024 season with the addition of four new BLAST Premier Affiliate Member Teams. Falcons, GamerLegion, Team Spirit and Virtus.pro will all join the BLAST Premier circuit in time for Spring Groups, kicking off later this month in the BLAST Copenhagen studios.

Following Evil Geniuses' decision to sell their Member Team slot at the close of 2023, BLAST received high interest from across the Counter-Strike ecosystem, with Cloud9 later being announced as the newest BLAST Premier Member Team. Following this interest, BLAST has decided to create an Affiliate Membership offering for BLAST Premier, giving fans more matches and broadcast hours in 2024 than in previous seasons.

BLAST Premier Affiliate Member Teams gain the same access to all BLAST Premier tournaments as the existing Member Teams. The expansion brings the following changes to the BLAST Premier format for the 2024 season:

• Both the Spring & Fall Groups will be expanded to 16 teams, six teams will advance to the Spring and Fall Finals and 10 teams will drop to the Spring and Fall Showdowns. 

• This will add 2 x Bo3 matches to each Group, removing all redundant matches in the process and increasing the prize pool to $190,000 for each Spring and Fall Groups. There won't be any changes to the dates for the Spring or Fall Groups. 

• There will be no changes to the Spring, Fall or World Finals.

• The new combined BLAST Premier Showdown, announced in November 2023 will feature 10 teams from the Spring and Fall Groups with six Regional Qualifiers building up the 16-team Showdown. 

Andrew Haworth, Programme Director for BLAST Premier, said: “We are excited to be expanding our pool of participating teams in the BLAST Premier circuit with four new Affiliate Member Teams. During the bidding process for Evil Geniuses’ Member slot, it became apparent there was a strong appetite to be a part of BLAST from teams across the Counter-Strike ecosystem.

“BLAST is always looking to innovate and enhance the BLAST Premier product for fans across the Counter-Strike space and the expansion will add four new hungry competitors, each with the chance to play on the biggest stages in esports in exciting locations across the world. 

“Virtus.pro are an organisation with a deep history in Counter-Strike and GamerLegion experienced great success at the Paris Major last year. Both Falcons and Team Spirit have made statement signings as well and we cannot wait to see all four teams debut later this month and compete across the year.”    

Grant Rousseau, Global Director of Esports and EU Operations of Falcons says: “Falcons are extremely excited to be joining the BLAST Premier circuit. Competing at the best tournaments in Counter-Strike means needing to be a part of the best setups available globally, which BLAST very much provides. We look forward to working with them in the time ahead to help grow their CS ecosystem, and aim to bring home some of their trophies alongside!”

Nicolas Reber, CEO of GamerLegion says: "We are delighted to have secured a position in one of the best Counter-Strike 2 leagues worldwide. The monumental triumph at the BLAST Major in Paris 2023 has served as a driving force for our team to give our best to consistently demonstrate our ability to compete and emerge victorious against the world's top-tier teams. Our participation in BLAST Premier is a testament to our commitment to excellence, and we eagerly anticipate engaging in more high-stakes matches throughout the year.

Ruslana Berest, COO of Team Spirit says: “Partnering with BLAST is very exciting for Team Spirit. We have always strived to play the best teams at the best tournaments, and the BLAST circuit gives us this opportunity. We are looking forward to showing our best Counter-Strike, see you at the events soon!”

Nikolai Petrossian, CEO of Virtus.pro says: “We are honoured to join BLAST Premier as we see it as an additional opportunity to cement Virtus.pro’s status on the global CS2 scene. This investment will allow our players to compete with the strongest opponents more frequently contributing to our team’s professional growth.”

BLAST Premier Spring Groups gets underway later this January at the BLAST Studios in Copenhagen, where six teams will qualify for our Spring Final event happening at London’s OVO Arena Wembley in June. 

BLAST Premier Member & Affiliate Teams for 2024: Astralis, BIG, Cloud9, Complexity, FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, Heroic, NAVI, NIP, OG, Team Liquid, Team Vitality, Falcons (A), GamerLegion (A) Team Spirit (A), Virtus.pro (A). 

About BLAST

We’re on a mission to take esports to the next level of global entertainment. We excite and invite billions of fans to join the esports revolution. We create live and digital experiences - from tournaments that pack out major arenas around the world to great content that’s guaranteed to blow your socks off.

We work with some of the world’s best game publishers and brands to elevate their properties into amazing esports experiences - having delivered tournaments, content and shows in a variety of games, including: Counter-Strike, Rainbow Six Siege, DOTA 2, VALORANT, Apex Legends, FIFA 2022 and Fortnite.

BLAST Premier is a worldwide Counter-Strike tournament series where the best teams and biggest superstars fight it out for glory and a multi-million dollar prize pool. Famous for its unparalleled production quality and game changing fan-first moments. Attracting tens-of-thousands of fans to our crazy-big-adrenaline-pumped live events in big arenas from London and Copenhagen to Miami and Sao Paulo, with millions more watching at home on our broadcast tuning in from more than 154 territories and in 25 different languages.