BLAST reveals 2027 Bounty tournament will remain in Malta with new format

Roughly one week after BLAST announced their schedule for 2027, they have provided more information on the first tournament of the year: BLAST Bounty Winter. While previous iterations of the event had the early portion online, the 2027 version will be entirely on LAN. Played at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta, the event will run from January 13th to 24th and feature 16 teams, down from the former 32-team format.

Twelve teams will be invited from the November 2026 global VRS. The last four spots will go to the victors of European, North American, South American, and Asian qualifiers, with each region receiving one spot.

With so many fewer teams, the format will be changing significantly from previous seasons. Instead of a single-elimination bracket re-seeded every round, the tournament will start with four double-elimination, all-bo3 groups of four created through the signature Bounty draft.

The winner of each group will earn a $30k bonus, a $40k bounty, and advance directly to the quarterfinals. Second and third place in each group will advance to the Last Chance Qualifier, receiving $25k and $15k bounties, respectively. Fourth place will be eliminated and receive $5k in prize money.

The Last Chance Qualifier will play before the official playoffs, with the eight second/third-place teams battling for the final four spots. The four losing teams receive $10k in prize money, while the remaining four join the group winners in the quarterfinals.

The playoffs will be a single-elimination bracket where all matches are bo3, except for the bo5 final. The total $1.25M prize pool will be split between three categories: $180k for group/LCQ result, $320k in bounties, and $750k to teams based on final placement.