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The BLAST Premier series, one of the online CS: GO tournaments, titled BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021, just finished, with the last matches of the group C.
The concluding four matches of the BLAST event were played in the last two days. Here is a quick recap of the CS: GO matches that happened in the final tournament’s group.
Natus Vincere vs Complexity
On the first day, the CIS giants, team Na’Vi from Ukraine were playing it out against the EU squad of Complexity from United States.
The matchup between the two top CS: GO teams was played as a Bo3 series in the group’s upper bracket.
The winning team moved on to the future BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021 event, a prestigious $425,000 tournament for top 8 teams, starting on November 24.
In this match, the spectators witnessed the full Bo3 series. The first map was Overpass, picked by the NA squad. The first half was kind of equal, until in the final rifle round all the Terrorists team was spectacularly aced by the Russian Na’Vi recruit — Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy.
Seems like this was a little bit of a tilting hit to the enemy team. Anyway, in the second period Na’Vi team played their attacking side really well, and COL could not score enough rounds in their favor. 8:3 in the second half of the map, and Natus Vincere took the lead in the series, with the 16:10 score in their favor.
The map Ancient, picked by the Ukrainian organization, turned to be a complete disaster for the somewhat unfocused CIS squad. Only three rounds in the first half as the T side for Na’Vi, against the twelve of the opponent’s defense. After the switch, Complexity managed to finish the game, 16:4. The map score in a Bo3 series was equalized.
Nuke was left as the third map to be played. The CIS team started on the attacking side, and it was an equal half for both teams. The score was 8:7 before the switch. Na’Vi’s defense was much stronger this time, as they managed to close the game and the match in their favor — 16:9.
Even though Complexity team lost the match, it was an obviously solid performance in the series from the Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, who managed to score 57 kills on the server, and became the top fragger, beating the opposing Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev by 1 kill.
The final 2:1 score meant that Na’Vi moved on in the upper bracket to the next stage of the event — the grand finals of the BLAST tournament’s last group.
OG vs FaZe Clan
The next game day featured all three concluding matches of group C in the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021 tournament.
The first match, which was aired live, was when Denmark‘s team OG faced the EU roster of FaZe Clan‘s US team in the group’s lower bracket knockout series.
Inferno was picked first by the OG team, and they took it over the America’s originating esports team with the 16:13 score in their favor. Both team’s defenses were solid.
Even though the Norwegian star fragger Havard “rain” Nygaard’s solo performance was outstanding with 24 kills, and he even managed to ace the opposing team, the OG squad’s teamwork with 6 rounds on the attacking side was enough against the opponent’s only 4 wins.
They also had their own hero, in the form of Israeli‘s Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, who brought the map point for his team with the returning ace and clutch play of his own.
Ancient was a really close map, which finished 16:14 in favor of the FaZe’s lineup. The winning team’s members, such as Helvijs “broky” Saukants from Latvia and Canadian representative Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, had their own star appearances on this map, with the clutch play and the pistol ace show at the start of the second half, respectively.
The third map of the confrontation between the two top CS: GO teams happened to be Mirage. Here, the FaZe Clan team convincingly outplayed their opponents. The US organization managed to pick 8 T rounds in the first half, and finish the game flawlessly, with the 8:1 score in their favor, playing on the safety side after the switch.
In the end, the score was 16:8. The total 2:1 score indicated that FaZe continued their journey to the finals of the group, while OG dropped out of the tournament, to place one of the last in the final standings, but still be able to compete in the upcoming BLAST event of the Fall Showdown 2021 series.
Complexity vs FaZe
The lower bracket finals started with COL against FaZe. Three maps were played in this full Bo3 series of hot CS: GO action. The first map on the server was Dust2, picked by FaZe. The scores were 9:6 during the first period and 5:10 after the swap.
Practically equal entry kills amount by both teams, as well as the combined player ratings. In the end, team FaZe clinched the victory in the clutch 16:14 game against the opposing roster.
Even though COL team lost the map, Justin “jks” Savage’s performance was true to his name, as the Australian professional CS: GO player was top fragging on Dust2, with 26 kills, and he had by far the best rating on his team — 1.30.
Nuke was played second. The map was picked by the Complexity CS: GO team, as they managed to equalize the map score in the series, by taking the second map of the match with the 16:7 score in their favor. Their solid 11 rounds on the Nuke’s Terrorist side almost guaranteed them the win, but not until the final map of the event started.
On the third and final map of the Bo3 series, something strange happened. FaZe started on the Counter-Terrorists side, and the US esports organization managed to pull a clean sweep of the enemy team. COL literally could not breath and pick a single round. Ideal 16:0 score for FaZe, as they won and moved forward to the finals to meet the CIS team.
Natus Vincere vs FaZe
The final match of group C featured two excellent CS: GO teams. The finals of the group were played in the same Bo3 format.
Na’Vi team, the top CS: GO squad in the world, who recently won EPL event, the ESL Pro League Season 14, and the Intel Grand Slam trophy with $1,000,000, as the third team in the history, were coming to the BLAST Groups finals in decent shape.
The the last 15 maps of the head-to-head matchup between both teams finished with the total 12:3 score in favor of the top CIS squad. The Ukrainian team defeated FaZe in the recent ESl Pro League matches in August.
The CIS giants were coming from the upper bracket, and the FaZe squad used their second chance. They came back from the lower bracket brawls against the other elite contenders.
The first map of the group’s final was Dust2. The map was picked by the US organization. Na’Vi started as CT and showcased excellent defense on this T-centric map, with the 9:6 score in the favor of the Ukrainian organization before the swap. 7:4 after, and team Natus Vincere led the series 16:10.
Mirage was picked second, and it was picked by the Na’Vi team. Twice more rounds on the attacking side, and a solid defense after the switch for the Ukrainians. The round scores were 4:11, and 12:2 after the switch. In the end, Natus Vincere topped the opponents with the final 16:13 score, to end the series — 2:0.
Results
Na’Vi won group C, and the CS: GO team joined other top three teams in the tournament, such as French organization Vitality, and Swedish legends Ninjas in Pyjamas. All three top teams get $25,000 prize money, and earn the seed to the next elite BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021 tournament, and also get 1600 BLAST Premier points.
Joining the top teams in the final standings of the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021 are the other top CS: GO organizations, such as Danish Astralis, team BIG from Germany, and FaZe Clan. The listed teams are also invited to the upcoming Fall Finals event.
The remaining teams also earn money and points, but they are instead seeded into the other BLAST series tournament, the Showdown event. 7th-9th places are US’ roster of Team Liquid, G2 Esports, and Complexity Gaming. The esports organizations earned $7,500 for their finish.
The last teams on the list are Evil Geniuses, Brazil‘s MIBR, and OG. They conclude the list of tournament’s participating teams, finishing 10th-12th places, and earning only $5,000.
What’s next?
The next BLAST events start shortly. The first one will be BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2021, starting October 12. The other competition, the 2021 Fall Finals tournament, is scheduled to run on November 24. The final BLAST Premier: World Final 2021 or Global Final event will conclude the year for BLAST. The final championship is planned for the middle of December.