Things have taken a turn ahead of BLAST Open London, with HEROIC forced to pull out of the tournament after visa troubles left them unable to field a full squad. Their spot will now go to fnatic, who’ve been handed a second chance after falling short in the qualifiers.
The issue came down to HEROIC not being able to secure a UK visa in time for Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç. He was only recently brought back into the line-up after the team sold Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich to Spirit. With BLAST’s roster confirmation deadline set for August 20, HEROIC simply didn’t have enough time to get everything sorted.
That left the team unable to meet the requirement of having three players from the original roster that earned their invite through Valve’s Regional Standings. With xfl0ud sidelined, and other roster shifts already happening, HEROIC no longer had a valid core.
For clarification, xfl0ud was unable to secure a visa in time for the event, meaning HEROIC were only able to field 2 out of the 5 players from their VRS invite. #BLASTPremier
— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 16, 2025
Fnatic were next in line on the Global VRS and, since they hadn’t turned down any invites previously, BLAST gave them the call-up. It’s a bit of redemption for Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and his squad, who had narrowly missed out in the European Rising qualifiers earlier this year.
BLAST Open London kicks off online from 27 August to 1 September, with the playoffs running 5–7 September live at London’s OVO Arena Wembley. Sixteen teams from across the world will be battling for a $330,000 prize pool, including heavy hitters like Vitality, MOUZ, Spirit, NAVI, FaZe, and G2.
Fnatic now get their shot on the big stage, and with HEROIC out of the picture, the tournament just got a little more unpredictable.
Updated Team List for BLAST Open London:
- Vitality
- MOUZ
- Spirit
- Natus Vincere
- FURIA
- FaZe
- G2
- GamerLegion
- Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- Legacy
- FlyQuest
- M80
- fnatic
- ECSTATIC
- Imperial