The ultimate guide to BLAST Pro Series Miami

BLAST Pro Series Miami, April 12-13, is right around the corner.

Here is a compiled guide for the event answering any question you might have about:

• The teams and their players
• Warowl and fl0m, who are they?
• The full program for BLAST Pro Series Miami
• Tournament format, BLAST Stand-Off, and prize distribution

The first two rounds of group stage matches will be played on April 12.

You can follow all the action from Day 1 on our Twitch channel.

On April 13, Watsco Center open up for fans to enjoy a full day of world-class Counter-Strike and exciting entertainment pieces tailored exclusively for the first US BLAST Pro Series ever. Watsco Center will be bathed in a mesmerizing light show and huge LED screens will make sure you never miss a second of the action no matter where in the arena you are.

Teams and players

Team Liquid (US)

Team Liquid had their debut at BLAST Pro Series in São Paulo in March. Here, they made it all the way to the grand final. An impressive start to their BLAST Pro Series record, but also expected from the world-class team consistently placing themselves as the second-best team in the world. Team Liquid were the runner-up in most of the big tournaments in 2018 and is eliminating the world’s best teams, sometimes making it look easy. Their name might be Liquid, but make no mistake – they are rock solid.

Roster:

Eric “adreN” Hoag: Coach

Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski: Rifler / Entry Fragger

Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella: In-Game Leader / AWP

Jacky “Stewie2k” Yip: Rifler / Entry Fragger / AWP

Russel “Twistzz” David Van Dulken: Rifler

Keith “NAF” Markovic: Rifler / AWP / Lurker

Read detailed descriptions of the players here.

Cloud9 (US)

Cloud9 is one of the biggest esports organizations in the world. The formerly all-American team had an amazing start to 2018 winning the ELEAGUE Boston Major. This was the first time a North American team won the prestigious Major. The great result in Boston was followed by some poor results, which resulted in a rebuilding phase that is still ongoing. Cloud9 are coming to Miami with René “cajunb” Borg and stand-in Daniel “vice” Kim to test out their new recipe for success.

Roster:

Ronald “Rambo” Kim: Coach

Timothy “automatic” Ta: AWP / Rifler / Lurker

Maikil “Golden” Selim: In-Game Leader

Will “RUSH” Wierzba: Rifler

René “cajunb” Borg: Rifler

Daniel “vice” Kim: Rifler / Support

Read detailed descriptions of the players here.

Astralis (Denmark)

Astralis is the undisputed best team in the world at the moment. Back to back Major champions and now back to back BLAST champions, after lifting the trophy at BLAST Pro Series São Paulo. The Danish team won 12 premier tournaments in the past year and is the ultimate team to beat at BLAST Pro Series Miami. Tactical finesse, discipline and five players all on the top 20 best players in the world, the other teams in Miami will have to do their homework if they want to be the first BLAST Pro Series champions on US soil.

Roster:

Danny “zonic” Sørensen: Coach

Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz: AWP

Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen: Rifler / Entry Fragger / AWP

Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth: Rifler / Support

Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander: In-Game Leader / Rifler

Emil “Magisk” Reif: Rifler / Lurker

Read detailed descriptions of the players here.

MIBR (Brazil)

MIBR fell short on home soil at BLAST Pro Series São Paulo, but one bad tournament is not enough to count this legendary line-up of Brazilian superstars out. The core of this roster won the first ever BLAST Pro Series tournament which took place in Copenhagen in 2017 and were extremely dominant during 2016 where they won the majority of premier events including both Majors. The team revived the legendary MiBR brand that had been lying dormant since its dissolution in 2012 alongside two American players. The team decided to switch back to an all Brazilian roster later on and the team is now a purely concentrated matter of South American firepower.

Roster:

Wilton “zews” Prado: Coach

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo: In-Game Leader / AWP

Fernando “fer” Alvarenga: Rifler / Entry Fragger

Marcelo “coldzera” David: Rifler / AWP

João “felps” Cabral Vasconcellos: Rifler / Lurker

Epitácio “TACO” de Melo Pessoa Filho: Rifler / Entry Fragger / Support

Read detailed descriptions of the players here.

NAVI (Ukraine)

This CIS powerhouse might not have all the best players but they have one of the best players of all time, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. Underperformance from s1mple is about as rare as snow in the Sahara Desert, and since his debut in 2013 s1mple has been on everyone's radar. Should he fall short in any round he has an almost equally dangerous duo behind him: Egor “flamie” Vasilyev and Denis “electronic” Sharipov. With the wisdom of Major champion Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko and 1.6 veteran Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev on the roster, Na’Vi should never be counted out of a tournament.

Roster:

Mykhailo “kane” Blagin: Coach

Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev: Rifler / Entry Fragger

Egor “flamie” Vasilyev: Rifler / AWP

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev: AWP / Rifler / Entry Fragger

Denis “electronic” Sharipov: Rifler

Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko: In-Game Leader / Rifler / Support

Read detailed descriptions of the players here.

FaZe Clan (EU)

The original CS:GO super team, FaZe Clan. FaZe started as an experiment: put together a team of exceptionally skilled mercenaries from different regions of the world. A team consisting of five players from five different countries, who also happen to be among the very best players in the world, makes FaZe Clan a true contender to the #1 spot in the world. Wins include undefeated runs in multiple premier tournaments, and there is no denying that FaZe is always one of the top favorites to win at a BLAST Pro Series tournament.

Roster:

Janko “YNk” Paunović: Coach

Håvard “rain” Nygaard: Rifler / Entry Fragger

Nikola “NiKo” Kovač: In-Game Leader / Rifler / Lurker

Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács: AWP

Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson: Rifler / Lurker / AWP

Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev: Rifler / Entry Fragger / AWP

Read detailed descriptions of the players here.

Who are WarOwl and fl0m?

WarOwl is one of the most beloved content creators in Counter-Strike. His YouTube channel has more than 1 million subscribers and has helped new Counter-Strike players learn the basics of the game for years.

WarOwl will cast the matches on a seperate stream at BLAST Pro Series Miami and longtime fans have the chance to thank him at a meet and greet in the arena.

Alongside WarOwl we find popular streamer and professional Counter-Strike player Erik “fl0m” Flom. fl0m is currently playing for Mythic, has a Twitch channel with more than 450,000 followers, and soon, he will be at BLAST Pro Series Miami as a co-caster with the aforementioned WarOwl. Just like his partner, he will be doing a meet and greet for fans in the arena.

Erik “fl0m” Flom is loved by many for his entertaining live streams on Twitch.

The full program for BLAST Pro Series Miami

The tournament opens Friday, April 12, where the two rounds of initial Group Stage matches will be played for viewers to see on TV and on our online stream channel at Twitch TV.

Watsco Center will open its doors for the live audience on Saturday, April 13, where all the decisive Group Stage matches, the BLAST Stand-Off, and the Grand Final will be played, culminating in a spectacular show and unforgettable experience for both the live audience and those watching from home.

Friday, April 12

Round 1

05.00 PM - 06:00 PM local time (11:00 PM - 12:00 AM CET)

NAVI vs. MIBR

Cloud9 vs. Astralis

FaZe Clan vs. Team Liquid

Round 2

06:30 PM - 07:30 PM local time (12:30 AM - 01:30 AM CET)

Team Liquid vs. Cloud9

FaZe Clan vs. MIBR

NAVI vs. Astralis

Saturday, April 13 (Watsco Center)

Round 3

12:00 PM - 01:00 PM local time (06:00 PM - 07:00 PM CET)

FaZe Clan vs. Cloud9

MIBR vs. Astralis

NAVI vs. Team Liquid

Round 4

01:20 PM - 02:20 PM local time (07:20 PM - 08:20 PM CET)

Team Liquid vs. Astralis

Cloud9 vs. MIBR

FaZe Clan vs. NAVI

Round 5

02:40 PM - 03:40 PM local time (08:40 PM - 09:40 PM)

MIBR vs. Team Liquid

Cloud9 vs. NAVI

Astralis vs. FaZe Clan

BLAST Stand-Off

04:00 PM - 04:30 PM local time (10:00 PM - 10:30 PM CET)

Grand Final

05:00 PM - 08:20 local time ( 11:00 PM - 02:20 AM CET)*

TBC vs. TBC

*The Grand Final is a best-of-three match, and the timings are subject to change, depending on previous tournament results and whether the third map will be necessary.

Tournament format, BLAST Stand-Off, and prize distribution

In the initial group phase, all 6 participating teams face each other in a best of one map format. All teams will play at the same time, resulting in 3 matches running at the same time on stage, and 5 rounds of matches played in total. The first 2 rounds are played the day before the main arena event day.

The top 2 teams from the group stage qualify instantly for the Grand Final, which is played in a best of 3 map format. 3rd place in the rankings will challenge one of the remaining teams, in a showmatch format called BLAST Stand-Off.

BLAST Stand-Off

The BLAST Stand-Off map offers a wide range of fun, casual elements for lighthearted competition.

3rd place in the rankings will face off against one of the remaining 4th to 6th placed teams, in the $20,000 BLAST Stand-Off showmatch.

The BLAST Stand-Off will be played in a 1vs1 duel format on the BLAST Stand-Off Map, a map created specifically for BLAST Stand-Off, currently sitting at more than 100.000 subscribers on the Steam Workshop. Each duel is played first to 7 kills, of which the kills per duel are added to the team total.

After 5 duels the team with the most kills win the match.

The teams provide the tournament referees with their players numbered 1 to 5, corresponding to the matchup they are set to play. A player can only participate in one weapon discipline.

Each player will spawn with a HE grenade, Molotov, Flashbang and Smoke Grenade for each dual round. These will be replenished when a new round starts.

Each duel will use a different weapon.

Distribution of prize money

The prize pool of 250,000 dollars is distributed as follows:

1st place: 125,000 dollars

2nd place: 50,000 dollars

3rd place: 25,000 dollars

4th place: 15,000 dollars

5th place: 10,000 dollars

6th place: 5,000 dollars

BLAST Stand-Off winner: 20,000 dollars

Previous BLAST Pro Series tournaments

BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen

November 24-25, 2017

Winner: SK Gaming

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul

September 28-29, 2018

Winner: Astralis

BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen

November 2-3, 2018

Winner: NAVI

BLAST Pro Series Lisbon

December 14-15, 2018

Winner: Astralis

BLAST Pro Series São Paulo

March 22-23, 2019

Winner: Astralis

See you soon, Miami!

Remember, the action starts on Friday, April 12 and lasts until Saturday, April 12 with a spectacular grand final show in Watsco Center. Seeing as this is the first ever US BLAST event, it's bound to be a historic one. Tune in through our Twitch channel to see what the future of live esports entertainment looks like.