On May 8-21, Paris hosted one of the most important e-sports events this year — Blast Major. 24 teams participated in the tournament, competing for the right to call themselves champions of the major and a prize fund of $1,250,000 (for those who don’t know: the amount is divided among all teams; the higher you are in the standings, the more you get). Later, we will tell you who won and how much money they took with them along with French croissants 😄
We are used to the fact that eSports is always about unexpected results, but this Major was able to surprise us even more: most of the favorites did not make it to the quarterfinals, and new little-known teams successfully got high places in the rating. For example, the British team Into The Breach (our product partner) unexpectedly shot up, leaving behind such legends as Natus Vincere, Fnatic, ENCE, etc. Even the way the young guys from Monte clearly beat our Ukrainian NAVIs with a crushing score of 16:2 is exactly the emotions you expect from an event of this scale.
What is another nice thing about it? This is how players who have dropped out of the stage continued to support their colleagues. The guys from ITB, for example, went to almost all matches until the last day, and our s1mple could be found at photo sessions with fans, Liquid did not go home, but (like everyone else) cheered for their opponents from the stands.
By the way, this year’s cup was taken by the French Vitality. It can’t be said that it’s only the support of the fans or the home scene – the boys have really proven that they are superior to all teams without losing a single match. They took home $500,000 for their phenomenal success (in fact, quite natural).
And here is the list of the rest of the prizes that the participants shared among themselves:
- GamerLegion — $170,000 (second place);
- Apeks & Heroic — $80,000 (third and fourth places);
- FaZe Clan, Monte, Team Liquid, Into The Breach — $45,000 (fifth to eighth places).
Other teams that did not make it to the quarterfinals received a “modest” amount by the standards of the tournament — from $10,000 to $20,000.
And the Major wouldn´t be full without new records. Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen, Vitality’s rifle specialist, has won his fifth major. Here’s what he thinks about it:
Of course, if I have the opportunity to win a few more majors, I’ll definitely take it. It doesn’t mean that I end up winning just because I took my fifth major and set a record. Most likely, I have achieved something that no one else has been able to do
Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen
Let’s tell a short story that made us laugh. Everyone probably knows that ex – esports player PashaBiceps decided to support 9ine and cycle 1,800 km from Warsaw to Paris for them. So, even when 9ine was eliminated, he didn’t stop pedaling hard to make it to the match of another team, Apeks.
And where would we be without jokes from the audience of Major: in the hall you could see several posters with the texts like: “Pasha, come back, you’re going in vain”, “How are you there, Pasha?”, “I believe in PashaBiceps”. In fact, the player made all this way not only to the match, but also to say goodbye to eSports. The coolest thing: he really succeeded, because Pavlo was in Paris on May 19 and took the winning photo against the background of the Eiffel Tower!
Congratulations, Papito! 💪
Even the VALVE representatives congratulated the Virtus.pro ex-champion on his successful bike race
Blast Paris Major 2023 gave us the main thing – cool memories of CS:GO. It also gave the players the opportunity to play good old fashioned “ke-es-ku” on the big stage for the last time. To the viewers – watch their favorite teams. The organizers managed to be a part of the final event in the Major world. Soon we will get acquainted with the new update of CS2, which will “erase” its predecessor. Yes, after the release of Counter-Strike: Source, players could return to the old version (CS 1.6), and CS2 will actually replace CS:GO. At the same time, all in-game items will remain with players.
In the end, we would like to say that we liked it. It was cool, bright, driving. With these emotions we can be charged for a long time, one day is not enough! We are delighted to be a part of the Major and will continue to follow the amazing world of eSports, its movement, new wins and losses. And even though we have our favorites for now, we believe that with the release of CS2, new young guys will come on the scene and will continue to do their job.
Soon we will publish an interview in which we will tell how our Employer Brand Manager Vika found herself at the center of the Major, as well as how this event affected the MOJAM brand. Do not switch!
