All top 12 teams from HLTV’s world rankings are competing after receiving direct invitations, while FURIA and regional underdogs M80, Imperial, and The Huns secured their spots through the BLAST Rising qualifiers. Astralis also made it through the same route. Due to seeding based on an older version of Valve’s rankings, Spirit and back-to-back champions Vitality find themselves in a particularly tough Group A.
The format of the tournament mirrors IEM Katowice and Cologne, featuring two groups of eight teams in a double-elimination bracket. Three teams from each group will move on to the playoffs, with upper bracket winners going straight to the semi-finals, while two more from each group will qualify through the lower bracket. All matches will be best-of-three, except for the grand final, which will be a best-of-five.
The group stage follows a rolling schedule with four matches per day, starting at 16:00 CET. Playoffs will take place from March 28-30, with the grand final set for Sunday at 20:30 CET. Here are the opening matches:
The tournament offers a total prize pool of $400,000, with the winner taking home $150,000 and three Frequent Flyer tokens, while the runner-up secures $60,000 and one token. Prize money decreases from there, with 13th-16th place earning $5,000 each. Unlike ESL and PGL, which use a club-share model to boost their prize pools to $1 million, BLAST sticks to a traditional distribution method. However, teams will still receive participation fees and benefit from the $2.5 million annual Frequent Flyers program.
The broadcast lineup features top-tier talent, including Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt as the desk’s ex-pro alongside Jacob "Pimp" Winneche, Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg, and returning YouTuber Donald "voo" Parkhurst. Commentators Alex "Machine" Richardson and Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill will also be on board, bringing their signature energy.
Good CS2 gameplay is influenced by various aspects, including your experience as a player, your gear, your teammates, and your crosshair. If you want to aim correctly and annihilate your opponents, you’ll need a crosshair that does the trick. However, if you’re new to CS2 and still learning about the game, perhaps you don’t know the best CS:GO crosshair codes. The best way to find a suitable option is by choosing a code used by pro players. In this post, we will take a look at some of these choices and explain how you can import these codes to CS2.
Every CS2 player has their own quirks and unique settings, from custom key binds to unconventional video configurations. Manually adjusting these every time can be tedious. However, using config files, you can automate the process effortlessly. Here’s how to create a CFG file and set up an autoexec function in CS2.
![Complete List of CS2 Viewmodel Commands – Optimize Your Setup in [year]](/imgs/news_8166/20250317/cache/1742228858_01423ecd06a0b619da09___308_174.jpg "Complete List of CS2 Viewmodel Commands – Optimize Your Setup in [year]")
