BLAST Rivals will be the first tier-one CS2 tourney in Mexico since 2017.
BLAST has chosen Monterrey, Mexico to host the inaugural edition of BLAST Rivals, a CS2 tournament with a $350,000 prize pool. The tournament organizer unveiled Monterrey as the location of BLAST Rivals on Jan. 23 during the first day of the BLAST Bounty LAN Finals in Copenhagen, Denmark.
This is great news for Counter-Strike fans in Mexico as BLAST Rivals will be the first tier-one tournament in the country since the ECS Season 4 Finals took place in Cancun in 2017.
"Bringing the inaugural BLAST Premier Rivals to Monterrey marks a historical moment for Mexico and Latin America," BLAST’s vice president of ecosystems Andrew Haworth said in an official statement. "The event will be the most significant event to take place in the country to date."
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BLAST Rivals Season 1 in Monterrey: Format and details
BLAST Rivals will run from April 30 to May 4 in Monterrey, featuring eight of some of the best CS2 teams in the world. Besides the $350,000 prize pool, there's an additional $650,000 up for grabs in participation fees.
Four spots will be decided via the Global Valve Ranking System (VRS), with the remaining four spots being filled by one team from Europe, North America, South America, and Asia apiece. While this means we'll get at least one team from each region, it also means that no Mexican team can qualify for the event due to a lack of open and closed qualifiers.
BLAST Rivals will start with a double-elimination group stage, in which six teams will advance to the playoffs. As for the playoff portion of the event, BLAST will use the classic single-elimination format. All matches, minus the best-of-five (Bo5) grand finals, will be best-of-three (Bo3) series.
The first two days of BLAST Rivals will not have a crowd. However, fans will be able to watch the final three days of the tournament at the Escenario GNP Seguros, which is a multi-purpose arena in Monterrey.
That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.
