BLAST Pro Series 2019 lands in Madrid

The 3rd stop on the BLAST Pro Series circuit Is the Madrid Arena in Madrid, Spain. Six teams will clash once more for a nifty prize pool of $250,000. Five of the six teams have already been confirmed earlier: Astralis, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Cloud9 and ENCE. The sixth and final team will be decided during the Iberian Play-In between Movistar Riders and Giants Gaming.

The head-to-head record between the play-in teams is 4-3 in favor of the Movistar Riders, although the most recent matchup between the two squads went the way of Giants Gaming.

IEM Sydney was the last time we saw Cache in competitive play. The new seven map package contains the refurbished Vertigo as a replacement. We did see a bit of Vertigo back at Dreamhack Open Rio, where FURIA used the map as a pocket pick in the finals to absolutely dominate AVANGAR. The question now is: “How prepared and how good are teams on Vertigo?”

#BLASTBackstage will be back for #Madrid. See you this Thursday 💃🏼 pic.twitter.com/CAeWy20JY3 — BLAST Pro Series (@BLASTProSeries) May 6, 2019

We have not seen global #1 seed Astralis play for almost 2 weeks. Last time they played an official match was versus BIG in the ESL Pro League. They managed to win the duel but lost Inferno for the first time in a long while. Last time they played a BLAST Pro Series event was in Miami and that one also did not go too well. FaZe Clan dominated them in the match and went on to win the event. All of the recent “problems” for Astralis should bring a dose of optimism for the other 5 teams attending the event.

Will the gods bleed once more?

This event will also feature the usual BLAST Pro Standoff mini event. The 3rd placed team will choose an opponent from the teams placed below them for a chance at $20,000. The teams will play five 1v1 aim duels with M4A4/M4A1-S, Desert Eagle, AK47, CZ75, AWP. The team with most kills will get bragging rights and the nifty prize added to their share of the prize pool.

The party kicks off Friday, May 10th at 16:00 CEST. Day 1 matchups are listed below with our predicted winners bolded out.

16:15 – Movistar Riders vs. Giants | BO3

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20:45 – Cloud9 vs. TBD

20:45 – ENCE vs. Natus Vincere

20:45 – Astralis vs. NiP

22:15 – NiP vs. ENCE

22:15 – Cloud9 vs. Natus Vincere

22:15 – Astralis vs. TBD

Fun fact: Noah “Nifty” Francis will once more join the analyst desk after doing amazingly at BLAST Miami. Hopefully we will see more of Nifty in the future as well.