BLAST published the Fall Groups 2026 schedule July 6 evening. The event runs September 8-13 at the Royal Arena Copenhagen with 16 teams competing in the traditional Groups format. The Fall Groups sit between the RMR qualifiers (August 21 - September 6) and the Rio Major (October 15-27), providing the final Tier-1 tournament tune-up before the Major cycle.
The Fall Groups format
- Dates: September 8-13, 2026 (6 days)
- Venue: Royal Arena, Copenhagen (12,000 session capacity)
- Teams: 16 (4 groups of 4)
- Format: Group stage (double-elimination) → Playoff bracket (single-elimination Bo3)
- Prize pool: $850,000
- Top-4 finish leads to: Direct qualification for BLAST Fall Finals 2026 (December 8-14, Milan) — the year's last BLAST Tier-1 event.
The 16-team field
Direct invites (12 teams — top-12 BLAST ranking)
- The MongolZ
- Vitality
- Spirit
- NAVI
- MOUZ
- Falcons
- FaZe
- GamerLegion
- Astralis (returning after Aleksib-adjacent management resolution)
- Aurora
- Complexity
- Liquid
Regional slots (4 teams via BLAST regional qualifiers August 30 - Sept 3)
- 1× EU regional slot
- 1× Americas regional slot
- 1× Asia regional slot
- 1× MEA regional slot
Ticket sales
- Ticket open date: July 21, 2026 (09:00 CEST)
- Pre-registration list open: July 6-20 (Fall Groups newsletter subscribers get 6-hour early access)
- Session pricing: €65-140 per session (day pass); €280-580 for 5-day pass (playoff sessions premium)
- Expected demand: Nordic home-crowd for Astralis + potential return of Aleksib-adjacent Nordic-diaspora is expected to drive 3-4 day sell-out
The strategic calendar interaction
The BLAST Fall Groups sit at a critical calendar position:
- Post-RMR qualifier gap: Fall Groups open September 8, 2 days after the last RMR qualifier session (September 6, Shanghai + Middle East). Teams that qualify for the Rio Major get a fresh Tier-1 event as immediate follow-up. Teams that fail RMR qualification get a shot at redemption before the Rio Major closes them out.
- Pre-Rio Major spacing: Fall Groups close September 13, giving teams 33 days before the Rio Major opens October 15. Standard bootcamp spacing.
- Nordic geographical convenience: Copenhagen venue is geographically convenient for the 5 Nordic Tier-1 rosters (Astralis, Heroic, Sinners, NAVI's Nordic partners, MOUZ's Danish contingent).
The bracket dynamics preview
Group draw seeds published:
- Group A: The MongolZ (seed 1), FaZe (seed 2), Aurora (seed 3), Regional EU (seed 4)
- Group B: Vitality (seed 1), MOUZ (seed 2), Complexity (seed 3), Regional Americas (seed 4)
- Group C: Spirit (seed 1), Astralis (seed 2), Liquid (seed 3), Regional Asia (seed 4)
- Group D: NAVI (seed 1), Falcons (seed 2), GamerLegion (seed 3), Regional MEA (seed 4)
Group C is the projected "group of death" — Spirit + Astralis (returning post-management-resolution) + Liquid represents three Tier-1 teams competing for 2 playoff slots, with the Asia regional slot as the fourth-place elimination.
The FURIA-adjacent absence
FURIA is not in the Fall Groups field. FURIA's calendar priority is the Rio Major home preparation (43-day Porto Alegre bootcamp July 20 - September 2), and the team's public statement (arT via FURIA official) confirmed: "BLAST Fall Groups runs during the closing phase of our Porto Alegre bootcamp. We prioritise the Rio Major preparation over the Fall Groups tune-up. We appreciate the BLAST invite and will attend the Fall Finals in December if we qualify at that event."
