A tiny number of BLAST Major pick’ems resulted in Diamond coins—but somehow still more than IEM Rio

Will CS2 be this tough to predict, too?

Photo by Michal Konkol via BLAST

The results of the BLAST Paris Major pick’em challenge have arrived, revealing the distribution of challenge coins for all those who tried to predict the results of the last CS:GO Major. The BLAST Paris Major produced one of the lowest numbers of Diamond coins ever, yet it still produced more than the infamous Major that preceded it.

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Only 0.3 percent of pick’em submissions earned the coveted Diamond status, according to CS:GO stat tracker site Leetify, meaning they got five correct picks in both the Challengers and Legends Stage while also correctly picking at least two quarterfinals results, one semifinal result, and Vitality winning the grand final.

Roughly 78 percent of players ended up with a Gold coin, while roughly 22 percent ended up with Silver, according to Leetify. But players could earn Silver simply by submitting all their picks before each stage, regardless if they got any right.

The Champions Stage, or playoffs, was arguably the most common source of success for players. Many predicted Heroic to at least make the semifinals and for Vitality to go all the way, which would secure three-out-of-three picks for the playoffs. Still, Apeks’ upset win over Liquid and GamerLegion’s unlikely path to the grand final likely demolished numerous potential Diamond coins.

Related: Biggest winners and losers of Paris CS:GO Major

The biggest source of upsets and dashed dreams of Diamond coins, though, was certainly the Challengers and Legends Stages. In Challengers, favorites to advance like MOUZ and OG didn’t even reach 2-3, and popular 0-3 picks like Grayhound and MongolZ were able to secure at least one win, with the Aussies even picking up two. The Legends Stage was even more hectic: Two titans of CS:GO in G2 and NAVI both failed to advance, as did Fnatic, NiP, ENCE, and FURIA, while popular 0-3 choices like Into The Breach and GamerLegion even reached the playoffs.

Yet somehow, someway, more people won Diamond coins this Major than in IEM Rio. Rio was unbelievable from a predictions standpoint: Teams with Brazilian legends going 0-3 in Challengers, Cloud9 recovering from a 0-2 start in Challengers to going 3-0 in Legends, the reigning champions in FaZe collapsing and going 0-3 in Legends, and of course, Outsiders winning the whole thing.

What a way to go out, CS:GO.

Author
Image of Scott Robertson
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.