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Six of the world’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams are coming together in Copenhagen’s Royal Arena for the BLAST Pro Series, with the teams playing on the main stage in front of a packed arena.
The event is the biggest ever international esports event to take place in Denmark, and 10,000 tickets will go on sale on August 31, with the event taking place on November 24-25. The six teams will compete for a $250,000 prize pool, which means each of the six teams should come away with a decent chunk for two days of competition.
So far, Astralis and North are announced to take part, and Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen of Astralis seems excited, commenting in a press release: “I can’t wait to play this tournament. One because of the format, where all teams are guaranteed to play on stage in front of a packed arena, and two because it’s going to take place in my own back yard. Playing some of the best teams in the world in front of thousands of Danish fans is a dream come true, but I hope we’ll see a lot of international fans too.”
“I love the idea that fans know for sure, their team will be playing live in the arena, and it’s going to be interesting to experience the group stage in front of a full house. Normally we don’t have a live audience for the group stage, so this will certainly be a different experience, but personally I look very much forward to playing. Also because we know, we will play North in the arena; that’s going to be so intense!”
The BLAST Pro Series is being run by esports agency RFRSH. Astralis is owned by the same agency. No wonder he’s so chuffed.
It wouldn’t be the first time RFRSH has been up close and personal with a conflict of interest, but there’s something that makes me a little queasy about an agency running a tournament with a team they own taking part in it.
