Best of three semis and finals will debut in Los Angeles.
RFRSH Entertainment, the owners and organisers of the BLAST Pro Series CS:GO tournaments, has announced it will debut a brand new best-of-three semi-finals/finals format at the upcoming BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles.
The organisers are also opening up the entirety of the event to fans, instead of only allowing fans in during the second day – a nice touch.
Jordi Roig, executive producer of BLAST pro series states that a format change is “something we’ve been trying to get our heads around for a while”, and that “it’s a balance between maintaining a compact format..in a compact season while also securing the most competitive format possible”.
In LA, we’ll for the first time introduce semi-finals in a Best of 3 format between the 4 top teams from the group stage Read more on the format here: https://t.co/qYUVb1VBTS#BLASTProSeries #LosAngeles #FrontRow
BLAST Pro Series (@BLASTProSeries) June 5, 2019
It’s clear BLAST has implemented these changes in response to the particularly fierce fan feedback regarding its events, with many believing that its series of tournaments are having a detrimental effect on the CS:GO competitive circuit.
Top teams like Astralis and Team Liquid have opted to skip premier events this year in favour of BLAST tournaments, and this hasn’t sat well with the community, especially since the format has traditionally been viewed as inferior.
With this in mind, BLAST is keen to emphasise that it will “tweak the format” as it goes along and “continue to listen to the – sometimes very direct – feedback” it gets from fans.
Best of three semis and finals add greater weight to the BLAST Pro Series winner’s trophy, so it’s likely this format change will be received positively.
BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles takes place between July 13th to July 14 and will feature a handful of the top teams in the world, including Team Liquid, FaZe, NRG and MIBR.
