Nordic and CIS LAN qualifiers for BLAST Spring Series Showdown announced

Details about the qualification process for the BLAST Spring Series Showdown have been announced, with BLAST-partnered tournament organizers set to hold regional LAN qualifier events.

The two events are being held by BLAST's Finnish media partner Elisa and CIS partner Winstrike, with a combination of open qualifier teams and invited ones set to compete on LAN for slots at the BLAST Spring Series Showdown.

ENCE and North have been invited to the Nordic qualifier

Elisa will handle the qualifier for the Nordic region, creating "Elisa Invitational", a LAN event that will take place on May 1-3 in Tampere, Finland.

Two teams from each Nordic country (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland) will compete at the eight-team LAN for one spot at the BLAST Spring Series Showdown, with ENCE and North being unveiled as the two invited squads. Full details about the qualification process for all countries, and potential invites, are yet to be announced.

The Elisa Invitational team list will look as follows:

ENCE
Qualifier
Invite
Qualifier North
Qualifier
Invite
Qualifier

On the CIS side of things, Winstrike will run "CIS Cup" on 28-31 may in Moscow, Russia. Teams will play through April and May in a range of tournaments to get their spot at the CIS Cup, from where the best team will qualify for the Showdown.

BLAST Premier Spring Series Showdown will feature the teams listed below, with only the two best squads qualifying for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Moscow. The final two spots at the Showdown will be given to "winners of other qualifiers", which are yet to be announced.

Astralis
Vitality
MIBR
Elisa Invitational
TBA Evil Geniuses
100 Thieves
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Unknown flag cis CIS Cup
TBA

The BLAST Premier Spring Finals will take place on June 16-21, and feature a $750,000 prize pool. Six out of eigth teams have already been decided:

Natus Vincere
Liquid
Complexity
Showdown G2
FaZe
OG
Showdown MIBR #22 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoVito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeFernando 'fer' AlvarengaEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloIgnacio 'meyern' Meyer ENCE #20 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo Evil Geniuses #7 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov 100 Thieves #10 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Complexity #15 William 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevOwen 'oBo' SchlatterBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Ninjas in Pyjamas #12 Simon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerTim 'nawwk' JonassonNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Natus Vincere #2 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Vitality #9 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut FaZe #8 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants North #26 René 'cajunb' BorgMathias 'MSL' LauridsenPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeNicklas 'gade' Gade Liquid #6 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken G2 #5 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković OG #16 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIssa 'ISSAA' MuradMateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski