Thorin Criticizes Austin Major Format

Renowned analyst Duncan "Thorin" Shields shared his opinion on X regarding the format of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. According to Thorin, the tournament format is filled with questionable decisions that diminish the spectacle and overall experience of the event.

Stages without breaks, pointless matches, no double-elimination — this major is full of nonsense.
shared Thorin

In his tweet, he highlighted several key issues. Instead of an additional week for double elimination and a BO5 final, viewers got a week of terrible CS Chinggis Warriors vs. Fluxo level matches. He also pointed out the lack of rest days between stages and inconvenient timing for making predictions in the Pick’Em challenge.

Community Reaction
The community largely supported Thorin's opinion, especially criticizing the poor level of matches in the tournament's early stage.

Honestly, it was so boring — impossible to watch the last couple of days.
sl0p1

Some users are puzzled as to why such a stage exists where top teams hardly play.

Who even watches this? What a ridiculous waste of time.
AndyChatsFPL

Some fans compared the tournament to past majors, noting how far Valve is from understanding viewer expectations.

They could have done a Swiss with BO3 like at PGL, and we're watching BO1 between public-level teams. Valve is totally out of touch.
evolved_cs

The BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 takes place from June 3 to 22 in Austin, USA, with a prize pool of $1,250,000.