BLAST Pro Series to kick off with $250,000 event

MIRAA

July 13th, 2017 13:00

RFRSH Entertainment has announced the BLAST Pro Series, a new global world series, with the first event taking place later this year in Copenhagen.

The BLAST Pro Series will kick off on November 24 at the Royal Arena, a multi-use indoor arena which opened in February, with a two-day event featuring six top teams and a $250,000 prize pool.

By limiting the number of teams to just six, RFRSH Entertainment plans to give participating teams maximum exposure as most of the matches will be played in front of an audience.

BLAST Pro Series will kick off in Copenhagen, in November

During the group stage, three matches will be played simultaneously and will be shown on screen in the arena, with one main match per round being featured on the Red Zone Main Screen. Fans will be able to choose the sound of the match they want to follow using headsets.

Little more is known about the format at this point other than the fact that the tournament will culminate with a best-of-three final, which will be played in front a packed arena.

"We have worked on the development of a new, energetic and audience-friendly format for more than 6 months," says RFRSH Entertainment CCO and Event Responsible Jordi Roig.

"We work with the best of the best and some of the most experienced stakeholders in CS:GO, including both traditionalists and the creative minds.

"With deep roots in the esports traditions, BLAST Pro Series is new, inventive, fun, compact, top quality live entertainment, opening the scene to a non-core audience, who has been passively watching from the outside for way too long."

According to RFRSH Entertainment, renowned commentator Anders Blume "has been heavily involved in the development of the BLAST Pro Series concept" as an Executive Consultant. PGL, which will host the upcoming Counter-Strike Major, has been hired to handle the event's production.

"Esports is always changing and with it the needs of pro-players and fans alike," PGL CEO Silviu Stroie noted. "Tournaments need to highlight the beauty of competitive gaming in a professional setting and at the same time deliver premium entertainment.

"We believe the BLAST Pro Series will combine all these elements into a new kind of event and we are excited to show the results of our work with RFRSH this November."

More information about the first BLAST Pro Series event, including participating teams, ticket sale and schedule, will be announced in the coming weeks. This will be the very first live tournament hosted by RFRSH Entertaintment, which announced at the end of June a €7.2 million capital injection to "strengthen [its] position as a premier esports entertainment provider."

It’s official! See you in Copenhagen? #BLASTProSeries pic.twitter.com/wiiRRr9IGo
— BLAST Pro Series (@BLASTSeries) July 13, 2017

ez FAZE

2017-07-13 13:02

Ez heroic

2017-07-13 13:09

Missclick

2017-07-13 14:46

Nice that big events are finally comming to the CS-mecca that is Denmark. In 2018 we should also see events in PARKEN, which have the potential to be the biggest CS-event in the history (at least so far).

2017-07-13 16:58

INVITED Astralis North Cloud9 (for US viewership) NaVi (for CIS viewership) VP (for Polish viewershir) SK (for Brazillian viewership)

2017-07-13 21:30

C9 win

2017-07-13 13:02

Implying C9 will get invited LUL

2017-07-13 13:13

It seems so, since Stewie's name is dropped in the reveal.

2017-07-13 13:14

2017-07-13 13:17

Oh smh

2017-07-13 14:43

Why not? They are currently ranked 5th in hltv ranking... (not saying that hltv ranking is accurate and their 5th place is deserved but i wouldnt be surprised at all if they will use hltv ranking for invites)

2017-07-13 14:47

was just joking anyways.. its pretty obvious that they'll get invite for being best NA team so that muricans get someone to cheer for

2017-07-13 15:09

Exactly :)

2017-07-13 15:56

Nicee

2017-07-13 13:03

nuttttsss

2017-07-13 13:03

Ez for SS

2017-07-13 13:03

yikes

2017-07-13 13:03

ez godsent

2017-07-13 13:04

Astralis win in homeland?

2017-07-13 13:04

"audience-friendly" Ok.

2017-07-13 13:06

Nice. I really like the arena

2017-07-13 13:08

HYPE

2017-07-13 13:18

SK, Astralis, FaZe, G2 and which 2 teams? I hope VP won't get invited. Would be a totally undeserved.

2017-07-13 13:18

Only two teams having gotten an invite for now is Astralis and North according to danish media. Inviting North makes sense I guess, as it's on Danish home soil. Hoping to see SK, FaZe, G2 and possibly C9 (for the US fans) as well

2017-07-13 13:38

^ North and cloud9

2017-07-13 18:40

BO3 Final again. Yay. Why even bother. Make it a BO1, like in the good old times.

2017-07-13 13:19

2017-07-14 06:26

RFRSH is such a dodgy company.

2017-07-13 13:30

wat

2017-07-13 13:47

youtube.com/results?search_query=richard..

2017-07-13 13:58

i can see why, but what does that have to do with this post? why are they "dodgy" for putting together an event with a $250K prizepool.

2017-07-13 14:20

he didnt say bcs of this. he just said dodgy. and they are dodgy without a doubt.

2017-07-13 14:21

there are a lot of dodgy companies in esport, not just rfrsh ;> at least they are also actively trying to widen the popularity of the game and are actively helping it grow more popular, especially in denmark.

2017-07-13 14:24

for their own good.

2017-07-13 14:25

welcome to business

2017-07-13 14:45

thats great, pgl production as well

2017-07-13 13:34

>RFRSH Entertainment plans to give participating teams maximum exposure >During the group stage, three matches will be played simultaneously fucking LOLWUT?

2017-07-13 13:48

Finally an event in Denmark

2017-07-13 13:52

this video haHAA

2017-07-13 13:56

expected. richard lewis reported about this crap months ago.

2017-07-13 13:58

link?

2017-07-13 21:31

youtube.com/results?search_query=richard.. i think this specifically is in the first one that comes up. he just said again about this in the one that got published an hour ago that he reported about this shit in january, hence probably details in the oldest one.

2017-07-13 23:29

bullshit. some random company organize 250k tour. wp csgo went to hell

2017-07-13 14:05

Are you calling rfresh random lol? xD

2017-07-13 14:35

every company is strong now. good. CS came bussiness, nothing more

2017-07-14 12:43

Lol

2017-07-13 18:42

6 teams only? Bad

2017-07-13 14:06

Rigged for Astralis

2017-07-13 14:13

rigged4rfrsh

2017-07-13 15:18

Astralis Godsent Heroic guaranteed. Haha

2017-07-13 14:57

I'm ready!

2017-07-13 15:07

>Faze >Astralis >G2 >SK >? >?

2017-07-13 15:30

GODSENT and Heroic

2017-07-13 15:58

North no?

2017-07-13 16:14

RFRSH doesn't own North, F.C. Copenhagen does

2017-07-13 16:19

North and Cloud9

2017-07-13 20:32

Neat

2017-07-13 15:31

wow unexpected

2017-07-13 15:33

Izi for mTw (?)

2017-07-13 15:49

Glad to see a bigger prizepool in Danish events, Copenhagen Games used to be amazing back in 1.6 before it became a "beer and chill" event, looking forward to it! :)

2017-07-13 16:35

hyyyyyyyype

2017-07-13 16:36

Finally a 250k dollar event in Denmark

2017-07-13 17:20