Review of BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 Finals

This tournament had did not end up unexpectedly and most of matches did not finish sensationally as well. The favourites of the tournament made it to the final and the outsiders were the first to leave BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 Finals. Was everything so predictable, or there were some curious moments at the championship? The answer is: yes, there were. We could easily get surprised with the results of the teams that were not treated like favourites.

The first example here is a meeting between NAVI and Astralis at the quarterfinals of the upper bracket. Natus Vincere have already proven that they are not the team that like to win first matches but BLAST Premier Finals was an exception to this rule. NAVI played Astralis and, having lost the first map, managed to win the rest of them. As a reminder, NAVI are entering a new meta with six gamers in the main roster. The team moved B1t to the starting lineup where he is going to be instead of flamie on Inferno. He also played on the first map at the match against Astralis. This battle was his debut on the big stage but it turned out well as the team won fourteen rounds while fighting with Astralis. But the gamer thinks that he didn’t do his best. When the gamers proceeded to the third round of the lower bracket, NAVI again played Astralis, however, this time they could not recover after the first lost map and got defeated on the second one. By the way, there B1t again played on the first map and this time he reached the third position in his team and showed more confident gaming. It will be interesting to watch NAVI in the future but this time the team took fourth place and earned $25,000 and 1,000 BLAST Premier rating points. S1mple, by the way, again became the best gamer of the tournament beating ZyWoo in their principal race. Meanwhile, Astralis made it to the grand final through the lower bracket beating Natus Vincere at the revenge match and got defeated by Vitality. This battle made them vice-champions. The team earned a monetary reward of $85,000 and apart from the fact that Vitality gained enough points to participate in BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, the Danish gamers also got invited to the main CS:GO event this year.

Vitality, the winners of the tournament, actively use their sixth player, Nivera, who helps the team to win for the second time in a row. This approach is somewhat innovative but the French players know what they are doing. The proof here is their performance at BLAST Premier, where the team lost only at two maps: at the final of the upper bracket and the grand final. And if in case of Astralis it was predictable, BIG participating in the final of the upper bracket definitely surprised the audience. The Germans beat OG and G2 Esports. The victory over the latter looks especially interesting due to the fact that the French players improved their gaming. Playing Vitality, BIG could not win more than one map. Their second and third maps were demolishing for them, so they were able to win only 1 and 2 rounds correspondingly. After this turn of events in the lower bracket, they were unable to defeat Astralis. The first map held a great battle and the gamers won fourteen rounds there, and they were not able to win even seven rounds on the second. BIG took third place in the tournament bracket and they got $40,000 and 1,500 BLAST Premier rating points. Vitality, that were mentioned before BIG, got the main prize of $225,000 and 4,000 BLAST Premier points which makes it possible for them to take over the leadership in the European rating and to get a direct invitation to Global Final. This way, the invitation from this championship was received by the Danish gamers from Astralis.

G2 Esports made their fans a bit disappointed as after NiKo had joined the team, the spectators’ expectations from the Europeans became higher. As a result, G2 defeated FURIA, lost a battle with BIG and Astralis at the lower bracket and took 5-6 place in the table. Their reward is $15,000 and 500 BLAST Premier rating points. FURIA had the same results: they passed to the second round of the lower bracket and lost a battle with NAVI. But OG, who were unable to beat FURIA Esports at the first round of the lower bracket, did not have good luck and they took 7-8 position in the tournament bracket earning $10,000 and 250 points for their participation in the event.

Before the beginning of BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 Final, mousesports took second place at DreamHack Masters Winter 2020, losing against Astralis, and earned $30,000. The result was not bad so we expected to see something more solid than 7-8 place. But not all dreams are destined to come true and this time mousesports did not please their fans. At first, they lost a battle with Team Vitality which was not a big surprise at all, and then they lost a match with Astralis. The European were unlucky to face two CS:GO world titans — it resulted in 7-8 place and a consolation prize of $10,000 along with 250 rating points.

Results of BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 Finals

• 1 place: Vitality — $225,000 + 4,000 pts
• 2 place: Astralis — $80,000 + 2,000 pts
• 3 place: BIG — $40,000 + 1,500 pts
• 4 place: NAVI — $25,000 + 1,000 pts
• 5-6 place: G2 Esports — $15,000 + 500 pts
• 5-6 place: FURIA Esports — $15,000 + 500 pts
• 7-8 place: mousesports — $10,000 + 250 pts
• 7-8 place: OG — $10,000 + 250 pts