BLAST announces new tournament circuit for 2025

BLAST has revealed the Counter-Strike 2 tournament circuit for 2025 – it has undergone significant changes compared to the current competition format. It was announced during the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 broadcast.

Next year, BLAST tournaments will be divided into three categories – BLAST Bounty, BLAST Open and BLAST Rivals – and into two seasons. One BLAST Open event will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, while the other – in London, UK.

32 teams will participate in the BLAST Bounty series tournament. 30 of them will receive invites based on the Valve rating, while the remaining two slots will be filled by the organizers themselves. The rosters will face off in a Single Elimination BO3 format. Moreover, the first week of the tournament will be held online, while all the matches, starting with the quarter-finals, will take place at the BLAST studio in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The "highlight" of BLAST Bounty will be the "bounty" for each team, assigned by the organizers according to the seeding in the bracket. The winner will secure half of the defeated opponent's reward; the remaining 50% will be carried over to the next match as a "bounty" for the winner.

Weaker BLAST Bounty participants will be able to choose their opponents from among the stronger squad. In this case, the seeding will be reset after each round – the teams will have the right to choose an opponent again.

The next event – BLAST Open – will be held with the participation of 16 teams, 12 of which will be selected through the Valve rating. The remaining four rosters will go through regional qualifiers.

BLAST Open participants will be divided into two groups, the competition in which will be held in a Double Elimination BO3 format; Three squads from each group will advance to the playoffs. The group stage will play out at the BLAST studio in Denmark, while the final stage will take place at an arena in another city.

The culmination of the season will be an event from the BLAST Rivals series, which will feature eight best teams in the world. They will face off in a GSL BO3 format, the strongest of them will advance to the playoffs (Single Elimination BO3, final – BO5).

BLAST will also pay teams for participating in their events. The more tournaments played, the greater the payout.

BLAST's tournament schedule for 2025 looks as follows:

BLAST Bounty – from January 13 to 26
BLAST Open Lisbon – from 17 to 30 March
BLAST Rivals – from April 28 to May 4
BLAST Bounty – from August 4 to August 17
BLAST Open London – from August 25 to September 7
BLAST Rivals – from November 10 to 16

Note that tournament operator BLAST will also host the first Counter-Strike 2 Major in 2025 – it will take place in Austin, Texas, in June of next year.