Cloud9 and SK heading to Istanbul for BLAST Pro Series
The second edition of the BLAST Pro Series will be taking place at the Ülker Sports Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. The tournament boasts a $250,000 prize pool and will run from June 22-23.
The unique event has now confirmed Cloud9, SK, FaZe, NiP and Astralis as the remaining five contenders that will join Turkey's own Space Soldiers in the fight for the golden trophy.
This will be the first BLAST event that hosts a North American team, an invitation well-earned after Cloud9's recent Major Championship victory. For the teams Turkish-born player Tarik "tarik" Celik, this event is especially meaningful, as he has long desired to highlight his home nations esports scene.
BLAST released a video of tarik announcing Cloud9's partaking in the event, as well as his sentiments to fans about why he believes this will be a truly special tournament:
SK stand as the current BLAST Pro Series Champions from last years event in Copenhagen. This time around they will be down a member from their winning line-up and have yet to fill the void left by the departure of Epitacio "TACO" de Melo, though rumors of Jake "Stewie2k" Yip joining the roster have been circulating for some time now. The possibility of Ricardo "boltz" Prass leaving the roster has also been speculated, but nothing is confirmed as of yet.
The full team list for the BLAST Pro Series Istanbul can be found below:
 SK |
 Cloud9 |
 Astralis |
 NiP |
 Space Soldiers |
 FaZe |
