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The Good, Bad, and Ugly: BLAST Rivals Spring 2025

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Victorious Vitality, fighting Falcons, and a fizzling FaZe.

At the BLAST Rivals Spring tournament held in Copenhagen, Denmark, a total of eight teams competed fiercely for dominance within the BLAST Studio – and once again this season, the skill level displayed in CS:GO was simply extraordinary.

In this competitive landscape of CS2, all leading teams are fiercely competing for a chance to challenge the titans who have risen to almost divine levels. Team Vitality is now among these elite groups, considered one of the finest teams to ever play this esport.

Here’s our Good, Bad, and Ugly moments from BLAST Rivals Spring 2025!

The Good: A new rivalry for the ages…

In the BLAST Rivals Spring event, fans were treated to a highly anticipated replay of the best-of-five final from IEM Melbourne, featuring a fierce battle between Vitality and Falcons. Not only did this rematch offer another five maps, but it demonstrated that Falcons consistently challenge Vitality to their full potential.

In the initial encounter of the series, the Falcons snapped their 14-game losing streak on Inferno by securing a win. Later, after being behind 2-1, they managed an overtime triumph on Mirage. Unfortunately, Nuke didn’t provide the thrilling triple-overtime excitement this time; instead, Vitality defeated Falcons in regular play. However, the difference between these two teams is becoming increasingly minimal!

This establishes a fierce competition between these two teams that hasn’t been witnessed in Counter-Strike for quite a while now. Unfortunately, neither team will participate in PGL Astana, so the next time they face off will be during IEM Dallas on May 19th.

After that, we move on to the Austin Major. If the final extends over three maps, Valve has the opportunity to stretch it into a best-of-five – such an intense rivalry deserves that extended conclusion!

The Bad: …played out in front of nobody

The issue with the grand finale was that it lacked the usual excitement and energy, which can’t be put any other way. Although we had seen how intense the Vitality and Falcons rivalry is in a packed stadium, moving the event to a dimly lit studio definitely took away from the overall experience.

Not only did BLAST exceed expectations, but they truly shone during the broadcast. An impressive number of over a million simultaneous viewers tuned in to watch the grand finale, as reported by Esports Charts – a remarkable achievement for a non-Major BLAST event and a new record at that.

On average, around 300,000 people tuned in for each game, while the entirety of the short eight-team tournament garnered an impressive 12.3 million watch hours. The relaxed broadcasting style adopted by BLAST seemed to pay off, with its talented team of commentators successfully maintaining viewer engagement throughout.

The last event seemed to miss the vibrant energy that filled Rod Laver Arena the previous week. I’m crossing my fingers that BLAST considers incorporating a live audience for future Rivals events, especially if the top four manage to reach the semifinals. A crowd as small as 2,000 people, similar to an EPL stadium, would significantly enhance the experience!

The Ugly: Pull the plug, FaZe

Let’s echo some key observations from our IEM Melbourne summary last week regarding FaZe Clan. Will this team likely advance far in the Austin Major, given their current form? It appears unlikely, which leads us to ponder if adjustments to their roster might be necessary, don’t you think?

In the structure of the BLAST Rivals tournament held in Copenhagen, FaZe Clan managed to qualify for the playoffs. However, finishing in 6th place among eight teams, including several wildcard invitations, doesn’t exactly reflect well on their performance.

In addition, it would have been beneficial if their losses to the leading teams were more close-fought, but the heavy defeat against MOUZ on Mirage is particularly painful. It seems like the third-place finish at PGL Bucharest for FaZe might have been an exception rather than the norm, as they failed to beat any of the current top 10 teams there as well.

It seems inevitable that adjustments are needed for FaZe. Will they make these changes prior to Dallas, or instead bask in their past successes during Austin, only to overhaul the team entirely come July?

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2025-05-05 05:46

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