Opinion: I can fix her (BLAST Premier)

Early Friday morning, BLAST posted on Reddit asking for feedback on the BLAST Premier Groups and Showdown formats. It's no secret I've been a critic of BLAST's previous formats, writing an article on the very topic pleading for changes to most of BLAST's circuit. However, that article was a load of complaints with few actionable improvements included. I've made my point that BLAST needs to change and BLAST has signaled that they are open to it. Now it's time to actually improve the formats.

In BLAST's post, they specifically ask for the following items:

• Thoughts on our current Fall and Spring Groups events

• Thoughts on our current Fall and Spring Showdown events

• Do you like our current tournament format or prefer our older formats?

• Moving into next year and into 2025, is there any specific tournament format you would like to see?

• Anything that comes to mind when you think of BLAST

For the final point, I personally have always thought of top-tier production value from BLAST's tournaments. Specifically, I fondly remember the funny and engaging skits during half-times and between matches that keep me watching the stream. In fact, BLAST's success in that area has spread to ESL as well. Instead of watching drone shots of cityscapes during breaks, they now make their own skits to show. I would like to applaud BLAST on that, but nonetheless, the point of this article is how to fix the BLAST circuit format, so we'll stick to that for the rest of the article.

Seasonal Groups

I've made my thoughts clear on the issues with the Seasonal Groups in my previous article, but for a quick rundown, here are my biggest complaints. Having only partnered teams ruins the integrity of the competition, excluding top teams like ENCE and Cloud9 from the opportunity of competition. For that reason, the walled garden must open up. In addition, the format is incredibly confusing, changing multiple times in the past few years. On top of that, the current format has endless meaningless matches, requiring 57 maps to whittle down 12 teams to 6.

To make it worse, triple elimination just increases the amount of unnecessary matches. ESL Pro League can get away with triple elimination because it introduces underpowered teams from regions we would likely never see otherwise. I'm fine with enduring triple elimination if it means Rooster, 5YCLONE, and M80 play three high-quality officials in Europe. I'm less fine with it when (no offense) it's EG getting pounded series after series who qualified for no good reason other than paying a franchise fee years ago.

Seasonal Showdowns

I don't have too many problems with the format of the showdown itself. The only issue is that dead-last teams from the Seasonal Groups get a free slot here while incredibly strong teams like ENCE and Cloud9 have to play a closed qualifier after an open qualifier just to earn a spot that richer organizations obtained by what, losing? The problem with the Showdown isn't a format issue. The issue lies within how spots are distributed to franchise teams, like a last-chance qualifier after the last-chance qualifier, while non-partnered teams suffer through brutal qualification sessions with more on the line.

Seasonal Finals

The Seasonal Finals themselves are fairly decent events due to the tried-and-tested GSL format. As with the Showdowns, problems arise with how teams qualify for the event.

So then, how do I fix her? To conjure a new format for the seasons, we need to have certain goals in mind, a checklist, if you will.

• Remove triple elimination from Groups

• Add qualifiers to Groups

• Crown one winner instead of three in Groups (if possible)

• Remove the open qualifier slog in Showdown

• Don't allow partnered teams free access to Showdown

• Ensure the best teams qualify for Finals

• Bring the Groups closer to Finals

I can fix her

My not-so-humble solution rocks the boat of what BLAST has established as their seasonal formats, restructuring the entirety of their schedule. Namely, I propose the elimination of Showdown completely. Before everybody goes up in arms about this, think about what service Showdown offered before. Prior, it was just an elaborate and contrived method to imbue some sense of the open system to BLAST's tournaments. However, not only did it do a poor job of that, requiring qualifier upon qualifier to actually enter the event, but it also favored partnered teams who did nothing but lose in the Groups.

Instead, what I propose is to remove Showdown entirely and integrate the open qualifiers into Groups. So, Groups will have the normal 12 partnered teams, but in addition, will have 12 more teams through open and closed qualifiers. Yes, this doesn't remove the open qualifier slog completely, but at least winning said slog will guarantee a spot in a meaningful tournament instead of a glorified last-chance qualifier. These 24 teams will be split into 3 8-team double-elimination groups. In each group, the top two teams will qualify for the Season Finals. If BLAST want, they can keep the Showdown moniker and rename the final closed qualifiers to qualify for the Groups the Showdown.

Through this method, open qualifiers actually mean something, there is no more triple elimination, and it removes the safety net of the Showdown for partnered teams. In addition, with no later Showdown to accommodate for, perhaps the Groups can be brought closer to the Seasonal Finals, a common complaint.

With six teams qualifying from Groups, the final two spots can be reserved for teams invited through BLAST's World Ranking, Valve's World Ranking, or even invited by winning third-party tournaments such as ESL Pro League, IEM Katowice, or IEM Cologne. BLAST has had no problem with this in the past, saving two spots in the World Final for the two EPL season winners.

I believe the eight-team finals should be an eight-team, single-elimination bracket. This format clearly resonated with viewers at Gamers8, bringing a sense of excitement that a format hasn't brought to Counter-Strike in quite a while. In addition, it turns the previous thirteen-match playoffs into just seven which can be easily played over four days on-stage. With just two more days of renting a venue, BLAST would bring the arena experience to every single match instead of just the semi-finals and finals, depriving half the teams of the electric atmosphere.

Conclusion

In short, I'm extremely glad that BLAST have seen the error of their ways and are committed to looking at options for improving their circuit. Of course, most of my suggestions will be rendered moot by the elimination of partnered teams in 2025. It's unlikely BLAST will completely overhaul their system like I'm asking just to change it again one year later in 2025. Nonetheless, hopefully, some sort of changes happen for the coming season and we'll see a better, if not perfect, BLAST ecosystem come 2024.