Since the launch of Counter-Strike 2 in September 2023, players and fans have been demanding changes to professional tournaments. Now, it looks like one much-demanded change will be implemented as soon as the BLAST Premier Spring Finals 2024.
On April 18, the CS2 tournament organizer announced that BLAST will add best-of-five finals to its events. The tweak comes after the latest tier one tournament finals were too short. Despite being a full best-of-three, the PGL Copenhagen CS2 Major final between Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan lasted around two and a half hours. The final of IEM Chengdu 2024, where FaZe defeated MOUZ, took less than two hours.
As a result, fans and pro players around the world have been asking tournament organizers to implement BO5 finals to extend the length of matches. In the eyes of many, having a grand final last less than two hours, which is often the case when series finish 2-0, is anticlimactic and dull.
This change makes a lot of sense given CS2 games are in an MR12 format, instead of MR15 like CS:GO. Additionally, with shorter matches, teams force buys more often, which makes the games more dynamic. Without any changes coming from Valve’s side, it makes perfect sense to make the finals BO5.
Fans are pleased with BLAST’s decision and are now waiting for other pivotal event organizers to follow suit. “This is what we wanted, now it’s your turn ESL,” one reply reads.
BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 is still almost two months away, however, as it’s scheduled to begin on June 12 in London. So, we’ll have to be patient before we finally get to see a BO5 CS2 final.
