BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023: Full results as top six teams punch tickets to Spring Finals

Luís Mira
BLAST Premier World Final 2021

The BLAST Premier Spring Groups has ended, with the top six teams qualifying for The Spring Finals. Here’s our full recap of the event if you missed any of the action.

The BLAST Premier Spring Groups marked the beginning of the CS:GO season (at the highest level, at least), picking up where the 2022 World Final left off. BLAST’s 12 partner teams gathered in a studio setting for a ten-day event, with almost $180,000 and six spots at the Spring Final on the line.

The tournament featured a brand-new format, including only best-of-three matches, two stages, and served as an appetizer before the first major event with a crowd of 2023, IEM Katowice.

dev1ce just played his first LAN since returning to Astralis.

A handful of rosters made their first appearance at this event after the off-season. A lot of eyes were on the new Astralis lineup in particular as Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz makes his first LAN appearance in over a year. The event also marked Danyyl ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov’s debut for NIP, and Jerric ‘⁠wiz’ Jiang’s debut for Evil Geniuses.

Here are all the details you need to catch up on BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023, including the schedule, lineups, results, and prize money.

Contents

BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023: Final standings

Below you can find the prize pool distribution and the final standings.

The top six teams have qualified for the Spring Finals, and the bottom six will play in the Spring Showdown to play for additional spots at the Spring Finals. 

Placement Team Prize Money (USD)
1-3 G2 Esports $27,500 + Spring Final spot 
FaZe Clan
Vitality
4-6 NAVI $17,500 + Spring Final spot
Heroic
Astralis
7-9 OG $8,500
BIG
Complexity
10-12 NIP $5,666
Team Liquid
Evil Geniuses

BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023: Schedule & results

The BLAST Premier Spring Groups began with a double-elimination group stage, with the 12 teams split into three groups of four teams. The group winners advanced to the Spring Final, while the remaining teams are seeded into the next stage.

The Play-In stage consisted of three single-elimination gauntlets, each featuring a group runner-up, a third-placed side, and a bottom-placed side. The gauntlet winners booked spots in the Spring Final, while the other two teams qualify for the Showdown tournament.

Play-In Stage (January 27-29)

These are the match results for the Play-In Stage.

Day 1: January 27

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Round 1 Complexity 2-1 Evil Geniuses 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Round 1 BIG 0-2 Liquid 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 2: January 28

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Round 1 Astralis 2-1 NIP 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Round 2 NAVI 2-1 Complexity 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 3: January 29

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Round 2 Heroic 2-1 BIG 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Round 2 OG 1-2 Astralis 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Group Stage (January 19-26)

These are the match results for the Group Stage matches.

Day 8: January 26

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group B Final FaZe 2-0 OG 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group C Final G2 2-0 NAVI 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 1: January 19

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group A Heroic 1-2 EG 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group A Vitality 2-0 Astralis 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 2: January 20

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group B FaZe 2-0 Complexity 3 AM 6 AM 11 AM
Group B Liquid 0-2 OG 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group C G2 2-0 BIG 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 3: January 21

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group C NAVI 2-1 NIP 3 AM 6 AM 11 AM
Group A U. Final EG 0-2 Vitality 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group A L. Final Heroic 2-1 Astralis 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 4: January 22

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group B U. Final FaZe 2-1 OG 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group B L. Final Complexity 0-2 Liquid 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 5: January 23

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group C U. Final G2 2-0 NAVI 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group C L. Final BIG 0-2 NIP 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 6: January 24

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group A Cons. EG 1-2 Heroic 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group B Cons. OG 2-1 Liquid 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

Day 7: January 25

Stage Match PT ET GMT
Group C Cons. NAVI 2-1 NIP 6 AM 9 AM 2 PM
Group A Final Vitality 2-1 Heroic 9:30 AM 12:30 PM 5:30 PM

BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023: Teams & players

The BLAST Premier Spring Groups featured the 12 teams with which BLAST has partnered for its event circuit. Three of the participating teams had undergone roster changes since their last appearance at a LAN event, with Astralis being the only one to swap more than one player as they picked up superstar Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz (who has already featured for the team in online tournaments) and rookie Christian ‘Buzz’ Andersen.

headtr1ck just made his NIP debut.

Danyyl ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov made his first appearance for NIP after leaving NAVI. The Swedish team hopes that the Ukrainian will help solve their chronic problems in the AWP role despite his lack of experience at the highest level. And Jerric ‘wiz’ Jiang will made his debut for Evil Geniuses’ main team, stepping into Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov’ shoes on the North American side.

On January 18, FaZe announced that Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard missed the tournament due to the birth of his child. He was replaced by NIP benched player Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen.

On January 25, NIP revealed that Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser missed the rest of the tournament because of “unforeseen personal circumstances”.  Academy player Max ‘maxster⁠’ Jansson played for the team in hampus’ stead.

Team Region Players
NAVI Europe s1mple, b1t, electroNic, Perfecto, nipl
FaZe Europe karrigan, ropz, broky, Twistzz, es3tag
Team Liquid Americas EliGE, NAF, oSee, nitr0, YEKINDAR
Heroic Europe cadiaN, sjuush, TeSes, stavn, jabbi
OG Europe nexa, F1KU, degster, NEOFRAG, flameZ
G2 Esports Europe NiKo, m0NESY, huNter-, jks, HooXi
Vitality Europe ZywOo, apEX, dupreeh, Magisk, Spinx
Astralis Europe blameF, gla1ve, Xyp9x, dev1ce, Buzz
Complexity Americas floppy, JT, Grim, hallzerk, FaNg
Evil Geniuses Americas Brehze, autimatic, HexT, neaLaN, wiz
NIP Europe REZ, Aleksib, headtr1ck, Brollan, maxster
BIG Europe tabseN, faveN, Krimbo, syrsoN, k1to

BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023: Stream

The tournament was streamed live on BLAST’s Twitch and YouTube channels, which we’ve embedded below for your convenience. 

If you’ve missed a match, you can catch up on the action with BLAST’s VOD section.

Fans were able to follow the tournament on BLAST.tv, a viewing platform launched last year. It was developed to improve the fans’ viewing experience through a range of “innovative features”, including live stats, interactive timelines, and polls.

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About The Author

Luís was formerly Dexerto's Esports editor. Luís Mira graduated from ESCS in 2012 with a degree in journalism. A former reporter for HLTV.org, Goal and SkySports, he brought more than a decade of experience covering esports and traditional sports to Dexerto's editorial team.