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The organizers of the 2022 BLAST Premier Spring Final have released the full schedule for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament.
“Set your alarms, back your bags, WE’RE COMING FOR YA LISBON. BLASTPremier Spring Final Schedule 15-19 June,” they announced via Twitter.
In April, BLAST revealed that the tournament will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, at the Altice Arena. This latest update includes for the new format to be used at the tournament, which kicks off on June 15.
The eight teams that will be participating in the 2022 edition have been decided through the Spring Groups and the Spring Showdown in both regions – Europe and America.
Six teams qualified via the Spring Groups, which ran from January 28 to February 6. By order of performance, they are:
- Team Vitality
- OG
- FaZe Clan
- G2 Esports
- Natus Vincere
- BIG
After losing the Group C grand final in the Spring Groups, Vitality was seeded to the semifinals of the play-in stage. While a 2-0 victory over MIBR guaranteed them a spot in the finals, a 2-1 victory over G2 made them the first team to clinch a spot in the 2022 Spring Final.
OG finished Group B with an impressive 16-8 win over Astralis, earning them a spot in the play-in finals. After a closely contested bout against Ninjas in Pyjamas, they also punched their ticket to Lisbon.
FaZe squared up against BIG in the third finals match of the play-in stage, and a 2-1 victory earned them the third spot in the top three. Each of the top three teams also earned 2,400 BLAST Premier points.
The losers in the Spring Groups finals filled up the remaining three slots for the Spring Final. The remaining six participants were relegated to one of the American or European Spring Showdown events.
PaiN Gaming, who sealed a spot in the Spring Showdown through the North American Masters, took the only available slot in the Spring Final. They had to overcome Team Liquid, MIBR, and FURIA Esports to achieve that.
In Europe, ENCE punched their ticket to the Spring Final after a series of closely contested best-of-three matches. They pulled off impressive wins against Copenhagen Flames, Heroic, and Astralis.
The event will run from June 15-19, with eight teams split into two groups of four. The opening matches in both groups will take place on June 15, while the elimination and winners’ matches in each group will be played the following day.
BLAST is following a different format this year, one that has not been used in any of its previous events. The best teams in each group will advance straight to the semifinals of the playoffs, while the second- and third-placed teams will play in the quarterfinals.
2022 BLAST Premier Spring Final fixture & format
Wednesday, June 15
FaZe vs paiN
G2 vs Vitality
NaVi vs OG
ENCE vs BIG
Thursday, June 16
Group A losers match
Group A winners match
Group B losers match
Group B winners match
Friday, June 17
First quarterfinal
Second quarterfinal
Saturday, June 18
First semifinal
Second semifinal
Sunday, June 19
Grand final
The Spring Final is one of the major tournaments in the BLAST Premier series of events that give points for the World Final. Whoever wins this event will get direct seeding to the World Final and $200,000 from the US$425,000 prize pool.
Every participant will have to make their way to Lisbon to feature in this event. Although it is an offline event, fans will not be allowed into Altice Arena for most matches.
A live audience will only be admitted for the semifinals and grand finals of the tournament, with tickets already on sale. Nonetheless, fans will be able to follow the action from the group stage via Twitch.
