BLAST Premier Open heads to Ulaanbaatar for historic first event in Mongolia

BLAST Premier will bring world-class Counter-Strike to Ulaanbaatar in 2027, with the

Mongolian capital confirmed as the destination for the second BLAST Premier Open

event of the year.

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.

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.