Tournament organizer BLAST has confirmed that the BLAST Bounty Season 1 2027 Counter-Strike 2 event will take place in Malta.
BLAST Bounty Season 1 2027, which is set to be the first Tier-1 event of the year, will kick off on January 11 and will feature two weeks of competitive CS before a winner is crowned on January 27.
This iteration of the BLAST Bounty event will adopt an entirely new format, ditching the online phase and taking place entirely on LAN. The number of participating teams has also been cut in half, dropping from 32 to 16.
BLAST Bounty Season 1 2027 Format
Featuring a $1,250,000 USD prize pool, the event will see a brand-new three-stage Bounty format, including a play-in stage, a Last Chance Qualifier, and the playoffs.
The play-in stage will split the 16 participating teams into four groups of four teams each. The teams will then duke it out in a double-elimination bracket, with the group winners advancing to the quarter-finals. Teams that end up in the second and third places will need to go through the last chance qualifiers, while the last-place teams are eliminated from the tournament.
The last chance qualifiers will see eight teams fighting for one of the top four spots. Winners will secure playoffs, while the losers will be eliminated.
The BLAST Bounty Season 1 2027 playoffs will feature a single-elimination bracket, with the grand final being a best-of-five.
Drafting
BLAST has confirmed that drafting will remain in Bounty Season 1 2027, but with a couple of interesting twists.
For the play-in stage, the top four seeds are automatically placed into separate groups, while the remaining teams draft which group they want to join, starting with the lowest seeds.
- Seeds 13–16 pick first, starting with seed 13
- Seeds 9–12 pick next, starting with seed 9
- Seeds 5–8 pick last, starting with seed 5
Drafting will also affect the playoffs: group winners get to choose how LCQ matches are placed in the bracket. The highest-seeded group winner will pick the RO16 match that precedes their Quarter Final, moving across the group winners one by one. The lowest-seeded group winner can then choose which side of the bracket they play on.
Be sure to check out the official blog post by BLAST for further details on the event.
