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Counter-Strike event organiser and production company BLAST have announced the opening of the 2023 BLAST circuit, with the BLAST Premier Spring Groups kicking off in the middle of January.
The dates have been confirmed for the Spring Groups, with the event set to begin on January 19 with the grand final to be held on January 29 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
First tournament of 2023
🏅 Spring Groups
💥 12 teams
📅 19th – 29th January pic.twitter.com/VYff6vzy76— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) January 3, 2023
The 12 BLAST partnered teams will participate in the event, with five of the 12 teams currently ranked in the top 10 in the CS:GO ESL World Rankings.
Those 12 teams featuring in Copenhagen are;
- FaZe Clan
- Team Liquid
- Team Vitality
- Natus Vincere
- Heroic
- G2 Esports
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Complexity
- Astralis
- Evil Geniuses
- OG
- BIG
The specific groups and the tournament structure were not announced, but we do know that six BLAST Premier Spring Final spots will be up for grabs, along with the prize pool of $177,500.
The BLAST Premier Spring Groups will also feature the debut for some of the off-season moves for Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis.
The Ninjas are reported to sign Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov as their fifth player on their roster after benching Patrick “es3tag” Hansen at the back end of 2022.
Astralis’ new rifler Christian “Buzz” Anderson will make his debut for the Danish juggernaut and Nicolai “device” Reedtz will play his first series at an S-Tier event, since returning to the team that he won four Majors with.
