BLAST Premier Open heads to Ulaanbaatar for historic first event in Mongolia
Taking place from 10th to 23rd May 2027, BLAST Premier Open Ulaanbaatar will see 16 teams compete for a total $1,250,000 USD prize pool. This LAN competition will bring the best teams from across Counter-Strike to Mongolia for two weeks of competition.
The tournament will mark BLAST’s first-ever event in Mongolia, bringing the world’s leading Counter-Strike teams and players to one of the game’s most passionate and fast-growing fan communities.
The event continues BLAST Premier’s ambition in 2027 to bring more of its biggest tournaments directly to fans in new cities and regions around the world. Ulaanbaatar will become the latest destination to host a Premier event, giving Mongolia’s Counter-Strike community the opportunity to experience BLAST’s arena production, elite competition and fan-first entertainment in person.
How teams will be invited
Invitations to BLAST Premier Open Ulaanbaatar will be determined through the Global VRS rankings as well as BLAST Premier regional qualifiers. 11 teams receive direct invitation via the VRS Rankings and Five teams come from qualifiers hosted in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Two teams will qualify via the Asia Qualifier.
The first round of team invitations will be issued on 2nd March 2027, using the VRS rankings from the 1st March. The same VRS and invite date will be used for Regional Qualifiers.
The roster lock for all participating teams will fall on 30th April for the main event and 12th April for the online qualifiers.
Regional Qualifiers
Four teams qualify for the BLAST Premier Open Ulaanbaatar via online Regional qualifiers hosted by tournament partners. These will take place from 16th-18th April. Each regional closed qualifier invites four teams via the Global VRS.
More information for the qualifiers can be found in the BLAST Handbook.
One slot in the main tournament is allocated to each region, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. An extra slot is allocated to the region the main event is hosted within, so for this event, two teams qualify from the Asia Qualifier.
Each Qualifier features an open qualifier event for teams across the world to register and compete in. Successful teams reach the regional closed qualifiers which also receive four teams via VRS invites.
The closed qualifiers are 8-team single elimination tournaments, with the Asia Closed qualifier featuring an 8-team GSL format.
An added incentive for invited teams
Alongside the opportunity to compete for the 1,250,000 Prize Pool (Split into $500,000 Prize money, $750,000 Team payments) teams also receive money from the new Acceptance fee model. A breakdown is shown below.
A new destination for BLAST Premier
Mongolia has developed an increasingly visible place within the global Counter-Strike landscape, powered by a dedicated fanbase and a highly competitive professional scene. The passion fans show for Counter-Strike is some of most dedicated in the world, filling arenas to watch tournaments thousands of miles away at the early hours of the morning.
By taking BLAST Premier to Ulaanbaatar for the first time, BLAST will give local supporters the chance to see the world’s best compete on home soil while showcasing Mongolia and its Counter-Strike culture to a global broadcast audience.
Mongolia’s presence in global Counter-Strike continues to grow, with key highlights such as the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, with TheMongolz making the Major final, narrowly missing out to Team Vitality.
The announcement also reflects a wider direction for BLAST Premier in 2027: taking major events beyond familiar destinations and creating more opportunities for fans to experience top-level Counter-Strike live. 2027 already has Rio De Janeiro, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malta all locked in.
Further information on the venue, ticket sales and participating teams will be announced in due course on BLAST.tv and BLAST Premier Socials.
