Esports tournament organiser BLAST has unveiled the eight-team line-up for its BLAST Rivals CS2 event in Hong Kong this November.
Commencing on November 12th, just 12 days before the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, the competition will feature the top four teams in October’s VRS as well as ‘wildcard’ teams.
The Mongolz, Team Vitality, FURIA and Team Spirit have all accepted BLAST’s VRS invite, meaning that the event will feature the current top four best teams in the world.
Team Vitality is coming into the event as the reigning BLAST Rivals champion after securing the trophy in Copenhagen this May.
Joining these teams are BLAST’s wildcard picks — Team Falcons (Europe), Passion UA (North America), paiN Gaming (South America) and TYLOO (Asia).
According to the tournament organiser, BLAST’s wildcard invites are given to teams that have ‘managed to win big throughout the year’.
All of BLAST’s wildcard teams place high in Valve’s regional standings. paiN is currently ranked second in the Americas, behind FURIA. Whilst Passion UA, which acquired Complexity’s core roster earlier this year, is ranked 4th.
Both TYLOO and Team Falcons are the highest non-VRS invited teams in their regional standings.
BLAST Rivals Hong Kong Approaches
With BLAST Rivals Hong Kong being the final tier one event before the Major, this will be the last chance for top teams to get some competitive LAN practice. Lasting from November 12th to 16th, the competition will also feature a $350,000 (~$263,000) prize pool.
Over the course of five days, teams will be split into two double-elimination groups. Placement in the groups will determine placement in the playoffs, with the fourth-placed team in each group being eliminated from the event. The competition will be held at AsiaWorld-Expo.
Before BLAST Rivals Hong Kong, there is still one more tier one stop to reach, with IEM Chengdu 2025 taking place between November 3rd and 9th.
