The first half of 2025 has flown by, and crucial events are about to start in Malta, London and Hong Kong. But the guys from BLAST are not asleep and have cast a fishing rod for 2026 and 2027. Now I’ll tell you what’s out there on dates, rules, and money. The exact location of the final stage of the tournament will be announced later. The event will be held from August 24 to September 6 in 2026.
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BLAST Premier 2026: What’s interesting?
It’s going to be hot in 2026, with six tournaments divided into three types: Bounty, Open, and Rivals. We will ride according to the new rules, which we are currently testing.
Bounty: A reward awaits
The Bounty series will take place in two sets, both under the Maltese sun.:
- BLAST Bounty S1 – Malta
- BLAST Bounty S2 – Malta
32 feisty teams will gather. The top 28 are rated by Valve, and four more will receive a wildcard from the organizers themselves.
The rules are simple – Single Elimination (lost – eliminated), matches up to two wins (best-of-3). But the finale will be sweaty – we’ll play best-of5. We’ll finish the first two rounds online, and the quarterfinals will start to get really hot – we’ll move to LAN.
The prize pool of each Bounty tournament is $1,150,000. Of these, $500,000 is like a Bounty, which teams receive for each victory. The remaining $650,000 is the usual prize money for places.
Open: An open battle
Two Open tournaments will be held in Europe and elsewhere, but this is still a secret.:
- BLAST Open S1 — Europe (location to be specified)
- BLAST Open S2 — somewhere else!
16 teams will compete in each Open: 12 will be taken from the VRS rating, and 4 will make their way through the regional selections of The Rises.
First, there will be a group stage with relegation after two defeats (they play up to two wins). The top six teams will then compete in a playoff to determine the future champion in the final to three wins. First, everything will take place in the studio, and then it will move to a large arena where there will be crowds of fans.
The prize fund of each Open is $1,100,000. Of these, $400,000 are prize money, and $700,000 are guaranteed payments to teams.
Rivals: Clash of the Titans
The Rivals tournaments are the hottest of the season, with two separate fights:
- BLAST Rivals S1 — Fort Worth, Texas, USA
- BLAST Rivals S2 — we don’t know yet!
Eight of the coolest BLAST VRS rated teams in the world will meet there. Everything will be held in the GSL LAN arena (all matches up to two wins), and up to three wins will be played in the grand final. Rivals is a tournament for a select few, one of the main events in esports.
$1,000,000 per tournament will be played here: $350,000 for prize money, and $650,000 for stable payments to teams.
BLAST tournament dates in 2026
First and second season:
What about finance in BLAST Premier in 2026?
In 2026, BLAST is going to pour a lot of money into Counter-Strike – as much as 8,500,000 dollars! The money will be split into three parts:
- Prize money: 2,500,000 bucks
- Salary for teams: 4,000,000 bucks
- Frequent Flyers program: 2,000,000 bucks
With the prize money, everything is clear, but Frequent Flyers is interesting. A system designed to encourage those who constantly participate in BLAST tournaments. Like, the more often you play and the better the result, the more bonus you get.
What will happen in BLAST Premier 2027? Schedule
In 2027, everything is as usual: two Bounty tournaments, three Open stages and a cool Rivals final. It all looks like this:
- Bounty S1: January 11 – 24, 2027
- Open S1: March 15 – 28, 2027
- Open S2: May 10 – 23, 2027
- Bounty S2: August 30 – September 12, 2027
- Open S3: October 4 – 17th, 2027
- Rivals: November 8 – 14, 2027
We will find out the details (where they will take place, how to get in, and how to divide the money) in January 2026. By the way, Vitality won Blast.tv Austin Major 2025 and took 500,000 dollars. If you missed this grand finale, then you can read about it.
Main ambitions
BLAST has revealed the cards for 2026! In addition to the six Counter-Strike 2 tournaments that have already been announced, they are preparing something else.
Do you remember what they said in October? BLAST wasn’t just scratching their tongue, but they were really going to give the players cool conditions. What does this mean? Well, they will welcome you with great cordiality, life will become more convenient, and, most importantly, you will be able to take more people from the support team with you to tournaments. Now the teams will be able to travel with full minced meat.
In general, this is a common thing for BLAST. They’ve played great big tournaments before, not only in Europe, but further afield. Take 2025, for example – Lisbon and London were just fire! Team Vitality and G2 Esports celebrated the victory there.
But that’s not all! While Europe is recovering from the winter cold, BLAST Rivals will bring heat to North America in the spring of 2026. The action takes place at the legendary Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Get ready for the spectacle!
