BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 - assessing teams' chances of reaching the final round

The main favourite for the championship is the Cloud9 team. Just the other day, Cloud9 made it to the ESL Pro League Season 17 finals, but lost to FaZe Clan. Perhaps if they had won in Malta, they could have skipped the tournament. However, in the current realities, participation in the spring finals does not seem to be a secondary objective. That said, if you look at all the other competitors in the championship, it's hard to say who could have beaten Cloud9. Obviously, there are some strong teams here, but objectively, the Russian team stands out against all their opponents.

Among those who could compete with Cloud9, we can mention four teams at once. However, it should be taken into account that all of them are equally challenged, which makes the Cloud9s look like clear contenders to win.

First and foremost, fnatic should be mentioned, which, out of all the other teams presented next, at least made it to the ESL Pro League Season 17 playoffs. However, keita's team still can't find their balance, and they have lost their zest along the way. So it turns out that now fnatic can not compete even with FURIA and only six months ago the team reached the quarterfinals of the IEM Rio Major 2022.

Also, do not write off BIG. Yes, the Germans underwent a long rebuild, but even in this form the team poses some threat. At the very least, the team has always been famous for its ideas and preparations, but there were always problems with implementation. Now BIG is trying to climb out of a deep hole, but for the past merits still deserve to be called a contender.

OG are in a similar situation, having been left without a captain back in February, after which they ran into difficulties. Perhaps the whole point of what is happening is described by the failure at the last ESL Pro League Season 17. However, the experience that the team as a whole has gives the lads some advancement over such a short distance.

Ninjas in Pyjamas could be considered another troublesome favourite. With the arrival of Aleksib things have only gotten worse, and now we can say that with complete certainty. And the latest results show a serious crisis within the team. Nevertheless, Brollan and REZ clearly deserve to be reckoned with. Therefore, in this case, the Ninjas deserve at least some right to be mentioned.

BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 for America

In America it's a lot easier to pick favourites, as there are only two teams to choose from. The first of them is Team Liquid. The North American team failed in the last ESL Pro League Season 17, but now the team is systematically preparing for the home competition, where the level is noticeably lower. And history tells us that Liquid are quite comfortable fighting in such conditions when their opponents allow them to show their game.