Springtime is here for CS2 esports – what to expect from BLAST Open Spring 2025

The 2025 Counter-Strike tournament scene is now well and truly in full swing, and the action continues just a few days after ESL Pro League has wrapped up with BLAST’s Open Spring event.

Here’s everything you need to know about the BLAST Open Spring 2025 CS2 esports tournament.

What is the BLAST circuit in 2025?

With the end of the partnered league system in 2024, BLAST and all the other tournament organizers had to adjust their Counter-Strike events to be in line with Valve’s new competitive protocols. In the case of BLAST, they set up a three-pronged system: BLAST Bounty, BLAST Open, and BLAST Rivals events, with qualifiers called BLAST Rising feeding into them where appropriate.

They explain the circuit structure on their website as such, with more details about the events available here:

“BLAST Bounty: A truly innovative, gameshow-like structure in which 32 teams will compete to raise the bounty on their heads in order to take home a larger percentage of the prize pool.

BLAST Open: Big arena events with an epic large scale providing a truly global route for teams from all CS regions and [an] opportunity to shine against the world’s best teams.

BLAST Rivals: A battle of the elite where the best of the best will come toe-to-toe to see who reigns supreme.”

This means there is no World Final scheduled or any significant cross-pollination between the specific tournaments, as they don’t serve as qualifiers for each other.

BLAST will also host the first Major of 2025 in Austin, but that does not factor into this new circuit directly, apart from the fact that the VRS points earned by teams will count towards the Major qualification race itself when appropriate.

BLAST Open Spring 2025 tournament schedule and format

The BLAST Open events will feature sixteen teams – twelve of the top global squads as determined by Valve’s VRS protocols and four regional qualifiers. The tournament format is as thorough as it gets, with two double-elimination groups and best-of-three matches throughout.

From each group, both upper bracket finalists will advance to the playoffs, with the winner of the lower bracket joining them for the ride. The upper bracket winners will get a bye in the playoffs, starting straight in the semis, with Group A’s runner-up facing Group B’s lower bracket winner in the quarterfinals, and vice versa.

For dedicated CS2 esports followers, this structure should be familiar from previous ESL events, but the best part is that all matches are best-of-three, with a best-of-five grand final to wrap things up.

The group stage will run from March 19 to March 24, taking place in BLAST’s Copenhagen studios. Then, the playoffs will be held in Lisbon, from March 28 to 30, in the Portuguese capital’s MEO Arena.

Next stop... the BLAST Open Lisbon

Come and join us as CS2 comes to the Portuguese Capital for the first time!

Lisbon
MEO Arena
28th - 30th March

https://t.co/nAAUk2gR0r#BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/AZ1NYi5biF

— BLAST Premier (@BLASTPremier) January 29, 2025

The nominal prize pool for the tournament is $400,000, but the participation fees and the “Frequent Flyers Programme,” rewarding organizations for deep runs and consistent appearances, make up a larger part of the reward structure. For the whole year’s circuit, BLAST has budgeted $8.5 million in financial incentives for the teams and players – only $2.5 of which is earmarked as prize money for the events.

Basically, what the napkin math shows is that you can triple this prize pool figure to get a good idea of the amount of money actually changing hands here – and suddenly, it’s an entirely different proposition.

Opening matchups for BLAST Open Spring 2025

Group A:

Team Spirit vs. The Huns Esports

Team Falcons vs. MOUZ

FaZe Clan vs. Virtus.pro

Astralis vs. Team Vitality

Group B:

G2 vs. Imperial

Team Liquid vs. Eternal Fire

NAVI vs. FURIA

M80 vs. The MongolZ

Which Counter-Strike teams are not playing BLAST Open Spring?

Some of the high-ranking teams in the current VRS standings won’t be at this BLAST event, be it due to preferring other tournament organizers or looking to manage their workload on the calendar. They may have also missed out on an invitation due to their VRS standing back in early February, with their recent form not yet being accounted for in the system. While the biggest names are all here to party, there are some interesting omissions:

ATOX Esports: While you may not have heard of this squad, they have actually qualified for BLAST Open Spring directly via the Asian regional qualifier, but they were disqualified due to a provisional ESIC suspension – hence, The Huns Esports stepping in as their replacement.

3DMAX: Ranked #11 on the current VRS rankings, the French side has barely missed the cut to the ESL One Pro League Season 21 playoffs, and the Djoko-body move is looking like a good one so far. Their next scheduled tournament at the time of writing is PGL Bucharest 2025.

GamerLegion: The 13th-placed team in the Valve global rankings will also be missing in action at the BLAST event, having also finished with a 2-3 record in the second stage of the Pro League. Like 3DMAX, they will also be back in action at PGL Bucharest 2025.

paiN Gaming: The Brazilian side has made it to the playoffs at PGL Cluj-Napoca but went out quite early in the Pro League. The 14th-ranked squad will also be back at PGL Bucharest 2025.

All teams and players at BLAST Open Spring 2025 (and what you can expect from them

Team Spirit

(chopper, sh1ro, magixx, zont1x, donk)
#1 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

While Counter-Strike is a team game, it certainly helps when you have a generational talent on your team. Team Spirit headed into 2025 as freshly anointed Major winners, with young superstar donk posting numbers beyond comprehension. Unlike many other top-heavy squads in the past – think of the hypercarry efforts of s1mple, ZywOo and NiKo of yesteryear – Spirit have found consistency and a high floor, and they are to be seen as perennial favorites in any tournament they enter at this time.

G2 Esports

(huNter-, NiKo, m0NESY, malbsMd, Snax)
#2 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

Much hay was made about the fact that G2 have been coasting off VRS ranking points they earned while NiKo was still on the squad, and the delayed nature of these invitations shows exactly why this matters: fast-forward a month ahead, and the international squad is not down to ninth in the latest Valve rankings at the time of writing. Snax and TaZ remain huge concerns for this team, especially as it seems like it wasn’t just NiKo’s firepower they are sorely missing, but his secondary leadership talent as well. With siuhy now on the market, who knows how long this roster will continue in its current form? The only thing for sure is that you should not put faith in this outdated ranking designation.

The MongolZ

(bLitz, Techno, Senzu, mzinho, 910)
#3 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

The MongolZ keep going from strength to strength, and while they are still somewhat of a streaky team and have trouble with playoff environments in front of a live crowd, they are deservedly ranked among the elite of CS2 esports right now. To this date, bLitz’s leadership has been nothing short of stellar, even if their 5-8th finish in Cluj-Napoca was far below what was expected from them in an event that lacked many of the top dogs and where they could have reasonably seen themselves as co-favorites.

Team Vitality

(apEX, ropz, ZyOo, flameZ, mezii)
#4 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

Having ZywOo and ropz on the same team is just unfair. On form, Vitality look like one of the scariest teams in the world right now, with a tenured leader in the form of apEX and a stable core on the squad. The only arguable weak point is their coach, XQTZZZ, but as long as the good times keep rolling, there is nothing to argue about with the recent roster moves they made.

FaZe Clan

(karrigan, rain, broky, frozen, EliGE)
#5 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

At this point, would it be blasphemous to say that this squad is clearly a step behind the elite? FaZe has floundered through most of 2024 after romping to greatness in the early CS2 era, almost turning back the clock at the Shanghai Major but ultimately falling short of Spirit in the grand final. That turned out to be ropz’s last hurrah wearing a FaZe jersey, and while EliGE was a logical replacement, if a minor downgrade, the results have not been forthcoming. Normally, you could give a lot of credence to the notion that role changes take time – and frozen has definitely been unleashed by the swaps – but karrigan’s famous for his teams’ “honeymoons,” the super-strong early starts, which we have not seen at all with this version of the squad. Based on form, a deep playoff run would be a surprise. Based on all the accumulated class? Everything is possible, of course.

Natus Vincere

(Aleksib, iM, b1t, jl, w0nderful)
#6 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

NAVI had a fantastic 2024 but clearly ran out of gas by the end of the year, and it is beginning to feel like they are about to become one of those elite squads who could never quite hit the same high notes again after they returned from a player break.

Primarily, it’s their repeated and one-sided losses to Team Spirit that make a poor reading – and donk’s team is not the sort of roadblock you can just ignore and run around if you want to consistently make deep runs – but also the individual and team displays earlier on in the tournaments, which also lack a bit of last year’s sheen. More and more questions are beginning to be asked about w0nderful’s place on the squad and his AWPing prowess, but what is still certain is that a big-brain combo like that of Aleksib and B1ad3 will remain a strong foundation no matter the downturn in form.

Eternal Fire

(jottA, MAJ3R, Wicadia, woxic, XANTARES)
#7 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

Eternal Fire’s rapid rise in the Valve Rankings is a testament to the great progress this team has been making over the years, as well as the benefits they are reaping from the Calyx-jottA swap. While the tilt factor is still there, this is just simply a superior version of the team that made it all the way to the grand finals of ESL Pro League Season 20 last year, and they can genuinely beat anyone on their day.

MOUZ

(Brollan, Spinx, torzsi, Jimpphat, xertioN)
#8 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

Not bad so far. It’s safe to say that when MOUZ benched siuhy and moved Brollan into the in-game leader role, the entire Counter-Strike community was shocked. Why would you move on from one of the greatest overperformers in recent years, a young player in a coveted and rare role, only to promote a player with no leadership experience? In fact, one of MOUZ’s biggest assets heading into 2025 was their stability – despite many Falcons-related rumors, they ended up as one of the only elite teams with no roster adjustments.

Historically, roster moves like this – where the squad dethrones the in-game leader with no clear plan – have never worked out, but MOUZ have been off to a strong start with this iteration, winning PGL Cluj-Napoca in an upset-ridden bracket and making a deep run at Pro League as well. Picking up a quality player and a significant firepower upgrade in the form of Spinx also didn’t hurt, of course.

Still, buyer beware: there are still many long-term questions to answer. Device also had a fruitful early IGL stint on Astralis, and we’ve seen how that ultimately worked out. Nevertheless, it’s worth bumping them up to semifinals contention rather than this nominal number eight rating – even with the squad’s long-standing arena jitters.

Team Falcons

(NiKo, Magisk, TeSeS, degster, kyxsan)
#9 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

Falcons’ latest Frankenstein team continues to disappoint. Or are they all that disappointing, really? Ignoring NiKo and his incredible talents for a second, where would you rank the rest of the squad in the current competitive landscape? No m0NESY, no Jimpphat, but rather some hodgepodge pickups of former OG and HEROIC journeymen, and a Magisk who continues to slow down? Perhaps we should shelf the whole Falcons Counter-Strike superteam conversation until they throw even more money at the problem. They did admittedly have an impressive run in Cluj-Napoca, but it is important to note that the best teams in the world were not participating in the event.

Team Liquid

(jks, NAF, NertZ, Twistzz, ultimate)
#9 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

Esports politics have clearly gotten in the way of Team Liquid’s campaign, and their floundering results may mean that they could regret skipping Cluj-Napoca as part of their VRS Major qualification campaign. On the servers, it’s a serviceable bunch, but Twistzz is doubly a poor choice for the in-game leadership role: not only has he failed to show either the tactical or personal input that would make it worth elevating him into the role so far, but he’s also such a good rifler that it’s criminal to see him utilized in this fashion. Since this invitation went out, they slipped down to twelfth in the Valve global rankings, and they are snapping up Asia wildcard spots on account of jks and NertZ, which is not a sign of elite competitors.

FURIA Esports

(FalleN, chelo, yuurih, KSCERATO, skullz)
#10 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

FURIA’s last two campaigns show that they likely made a wrong decision in sticking with their existing squad: lackluster showings in Cluj-Napoca and an early elimination at ESL Pro League – with no notable victories along the way – just reinforce the points seemingly everyone but the org can see: neither FalleN nor KSCERATO are the players they once were,  and that makes it very difficult to form a competitive squad around them.

Virtus.pro

(electroNic, FL1T, fame, FL4MUS, ICY)
#12 in the February 3 Valve global rankings

We haven’t seen too much of the electroNic-led VP so far this year. An early elimination from the BLAST Bounty Spring qualifiers, a playoff run in Katowice, and a lackluster showing in Cluj-Napoca are all we have to go on. Like Liquid, you can’t help but feel like this is another rifler-turning-IGL disasterclass waiting to happen, and they will be coming in cold compared to the top teams who have played this Pro League season. The Jame captaincy has run its course, but there has never really been an indication that electroNic is cut out to be an in-game leader himself. While we likely won’t be bored to tears the same way we were by the past iteration of VP, the team showed nothing at the BLAST Bounty qualifiers to suggest a deep run at Katowice.

Astralis

(device, cadiaN, stavn, jabbi, Staehr)
Qualified via BLAST Rising EU

Much has been made on these pages by yours truly about the many failures of Astralis since their glory days, and the past errors and the interpersonal failures that suggested this squad to be less than the sum of its parts. Now, we can also point to results and performances to underscore this point. Failing to qualify for the BLAST Bounty Spring event and going out in the group stage of Katowice, then not making the cut for IEM Dallas: it’s a resounding bleh, slightly masked by a B-tier event win and a third-place finish in Cluj against a diminished field.

Really, it’s the chaos on the server that bodes poorly: communication errors, odd and poor decisions, individual downturns in form, no evidence of gelling – while device continues to be excellent on the AWP, the team is so far from the elite in the tactical department that it’s not even funny. They are also one of the teams who have skipped this ESL Pro League season, so they will also be coming in cold.

M80

(Swisher, reck, slaxz-, s1n, Lake)
Qualified via BLAST Rising NA

M80 entered Counter-Strike esports in July 2023 and haven’t made a huge mark on the North American scene just yet, with little to no notable results to speak of heading into this year. However, there were signs of life in Malta, as they beat FlyQuest and paiN for a 2-0 start in the opening stage of the Pro League, but losses to SAW, 3DMAX, and FURIA sealed their fate. M80 defeated Nouns, NRG, and BOSS on their way through the regional qualifier where they punched their ticket to the BLAST Spring Open – it’s tough to see them threatening the VRS squads in any meaningful way.

Imperial

(VINI, noway, decenty, try, chayJESUS)
Qualified via BLAST Rising SA

Imperial finished joint-last at the Shanghai Major last year and made no appearance in any notable event so far in this calendar year, but they’ve made multiple roster changes and posted impressive results in tier-2 online events over the course of February. HEN1, felps, and boltz are all gone from the org now, and the new introduction to the existing roster is 23-year-old chayJESUS, formerly of Fluxo and Sharks.

The Huns Esports

(nin9, Bart4k, cobrazera Veccil, yAmi)
Qualified via BLAST Rising AS

The Huns are the ultimate dark horses of BLAST Open. This Mongolian outfit was a last-minute addition to the event after esports watchdog ESIC handed out a provisional suspension to ATOX Esports, who beat them out in the grand final of the BLAST Rising AS qualifying event. They are ranked at #63 on the Valve Rankings and #65 on the HLTV rankings, with no experience in elite-level competition.

Conclusion

There you have it, now you have consumed Bitsler’s comprehensive information juice about BLAST Open Spring 2025. Make sure to check out the Bitsler blog for more information about esports and create an account to explore everything Bitsler!