BLAST Announces Five New Tournaments as it Sets Sights on Dota 2
Published: May 8, 2024 - Last Updated: Jul 22, 2024
Tournament organizer BLAST has waded into the arena of Dota 2 esports announcing five tournaments set to take place in 2024-2025. The announcement was unveiled alongside the launch of a new Twitter/X account, new Dota 2 section on BLAST’s website, and a teaser video on BLAST’s YouTube.
In a post on their website and across social media, BLAST revealed that fans wouldn’t have to wait too long for BLAST Dota 2 action, with the first event kicking off on Nov. 26, 2024. Then throughout 2025, four more tournaments would fill the calendar making for a packed series of events.
The dates of the announced BLAST Dota 2 tournaments are as follows:
- Nov. 26 – Dec. 1, 2024
- Feb. 4 – Feb. 9, 2025
- May 6 – May 11, 2025
- Oct. 14 – Oct. 19, 2025
- Nov. 25 – Nov. 30, 2025
At present, more details, such as number of teams, format, prize pool, and location, are unknown. BLAST named their new Dota 2 social media account “BLAST Slam” and that may well be the title of BLAST’s Dota tournament series.
Keen-eyed fans may have noticed hints of BLAST’s entry into Dota 2 earlier this month, as the organization started posting news and guides featuring Dota on their website. The earliest piece was dated May 1, and was the forerunner for half a dozen SEO-type pieces detailing the game. A post on the BLAST Slam account on May 7 showed a screenshot of Dota 2 being downloaded on Steam.
BLAST has entered Dota 2 esports at a time of massive changes in the ecosystem. Valve, the developers of Dota 2, formally disbanded its Dota Pro Circuit at the end of the 2023 season. In its wake, tournament organizers such as ESL FACEIT Group, PGL, Perfect World, and others have all attempted to position themselves as leaders in the space.
Valve still operates The International, an annual multi-million dollar season-ending tournament. However, it faces competition from the nascent but well-funded, Saudi Arabian-backed Esports World Cup, whose Dota 2 event is known as Riyadh Masters.
BLAST finds itself attempting to fit into a busy schedule for Dota 2, and already with its announcements finds itself jostling for position with other tournament organizers. Competitor PGL announced a dozen tournaments to run in 2025 and 2026, while ESL will likely continue to run two to three Majors and three editions of DreamLeague each year.
BLAST has operated esports events since 2017, with the BLAST Pro Series and BLAST Premier series of Counter-Strike tournaments being its flagship operation. The Denmark-based organizer has also hosted tournaments in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Rainbow Six Siege. This will be their first foray into Dota 2. The company operated under the RFRSH Entertainment banner until 2019, when it split from its esports team management business to focus on BLAST tournaments.
