Everyone’s minds might be focused on the BLAST.tv Paris Major, but before then, we need to find out the last remaining teams who will be playing at BLAST Premier Spring Finals.

With the event due to be held in Washington D.C. in June, only two slots remain for participants.

Those slots will be decided at our last chance qualifier, Spring Showdown, so here’s our lowdown on Spring Showdown.

Battle of EU

OG, Fnatic, Cloud9, BIG, NIP, 9INE, Rare Atom, and Copenhagen Flames will be Battling it out in the European showdown.

For NIP, OG, and BIG, the event will serve as a chance for redemption, as each team failed to make Spring Finals at the group stage earlier in the year.

As for 9INE, Cloud9, Rare Atom, and Copenhagen Flames, each team earned its chance at contesting in Spring Finals by winning qualifier tournaments. Fnatic, on the other hand, is our sole invite team, with their impressive form since forming as a roster being key to that invitation.

Cloud9 is undoubtedly the highest-rated team in the European Showdown. Their run so far at ESL Pro League Season 17 is a stark improvement on their initial outing with newest addition Timur “buster” Telepov, and star AWPer Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov has had an absolute barn burner of a start to his 2023.

NIP and OG also cause room for excitement, as both will be looking to redeem themselves from a difficult time spent in Malta at EPL. With both currently playing with stand-ins, the teams are somewhat of an enigmatic force right now.

Fortunately for the two teams, however, both of those stand-ins come with an incredible amount of top-tier CS experience.

The most exciting team in the group, however, could be 9INE. Although many wouldn’t expect the team to advance to Spring Finals, they could very well be the surprise package of the EU Showdown. The team has been on the up since picking up AWPer Olek “hades” Miskiewicz; they could cap that rise off with qualification from the Showdown.

The North/South divide

Over in the Americas Showdown, the event will be contested by Liquid, FURIA, Complexity, MIBR, nouns, paiN, Evil Geniuses, and Imperial. With many of the region's top teams in attendance, the Americas Showdown could result in an absolute bloodbath.

Liquid will undoubtedly be the favorite here. As the third-best team in the world, many would expect them to have already booked their place at Spring Finals. Only failing due to a map pool experiment at Spring Groups, NA’s finest will be keen to ensure they don’t miss out on the big event.

Their closest rivals, Complexity, will be sure to provide them with fierce competition. Rising rapidly up the rankings after gaining the ability to close out games against teams deemed their superiors, Complexity looks like an entirely new team in 2023.

South America’s biggest hope lies in FURIA, a team that has suffered from inconsistent placings since their IEM Rio Major semi-final appearance. With star rifler Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato still in a purple patch that places him amongst the world’s best, if anyone can bounce back from a dry spell FURIA can.

Attempting to steal their national glory will be fellow invitees, paiN and MIBR. With Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt recently taking over the reigns as paiN’s IGL, the team is one of the most interesting in the region right now, while the bursting onto the scene of MIBR’s Felipe “insani” Yuji makes them by far one of the most exciting.

That’s also not to forget elder statesmen Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and his Imperial squadron, who any team in attendance would be foolish to underestimate.

When are the BLAST Spring Showdowns?

Both Showdowns will take place between March 29th and April 2nd. Make sure to watch all the games here on blast.tv and keep up to date with all the action here on the site.