BIG, Vitality Victorious in BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Group B

In yesterday’s opening to BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Group B, the teams played incredibly close matches. FaZe had to field a stand-in and Vitality brought their new sixth member onto the server.

COMPLEXITY SUCCUMB IN TIGHT MATCH VERSUS VITALITY

It has happened before that a player had to be swapped out mid-match due to internet issues. Especially during the days when all the big leagues took place online (even without coronavirus), participants often suffered DDOS attacks. But it was never the explicit plan of any team to bring six players into a match – until now.

Vitality arrived on the second map against Complexity with Navil “Nivera” Benrlitom. The CS:GO DNA seems to run strong in the family of Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom, as his younger brother performed beautifully in his first match under the Vitality banner.

First, Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier had to enter the server. On the first map, he was one of the top performers, but the victory was secured by Richard “shox” Papillon. For quite a while, Vitality didn’t look good enough to win on Nuke. Complexity got an 8-7 half on the T side. This should have spelled the end for Vitality, but shox held them in the game and countered Benjamin “blameF” Bremer, who put up a star show himself. The Frenchmen were so good on their T side that they managed to get a 16-14 in the end.

Now, it was time for Nivera to show up on Dust2. There, the team had the chance to deliver a quick 2-0. But Complexity showed much more resilience and mounted a 10-5 half. Despite the heroics of Nivera, they secured the 16-12 victory. The young Belgian was the shining star for his team, while Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut ended up uncharacteristally low on the scoreboard. Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke took over the top position for Complexity with 29 kills and a 1.60 rating. Unfortunately, he didn’t bring this kind of energy to Vertigo. There, he massively dipped in form and allowed the Frenchmen, following a 5-10 half, to still bring it back on a 16-14 scoreline.

BIG WIN TENSE DUEL OVER FAZE

FaZe Clan have had a turbulent few months. After the self-benching of Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer, Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras was recruited, only to be replaced by Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye later on. Now, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač is gone too and olofmeister returns from the bench for just one event. BIG, however, have remained in the same formation ever since the beginning of the year.

Still, FaZe showed up in style. Particularly olofmeister, who confessed that he hadn’t touched the game in months, was on the top of the scoreboard on the first map for quite a while. In between, he also delivered a beautiful triple clutch. But this still wasn’t enough, as BIG got the overtime victory on a 19-17 scoreline.

If only FaZe had won in these last crucial rounds, they could have closed the match on a quick 2-0. On the second map, Nuke, they were a dominant force. Kjaerbye earned himself an impressive 1.58 rating, all while his team mounted a 16-9 victory. Even on the T side, they were unstoppable.

Unfortunately, they let Dust2 slip through as the third map. At the moment, the Germans hold a ridiculously high win-rate there and were able to play this out to perfection versus FaZe. First, they secured 7 rounds in a row, after which Kjaerbye and company turned up and sweeped the rest of the half for an 8-7 scoreline. But with the exception of one round, BIG were just invincible on their CT side and soon held the 16-9 win. So they’re heading to the Winners’ Match versus Vitality, whereas FaZe are down to the Losers’ Match alongside Complexity.

Are FaZe really worse off without NiKo? They may have lost their top individual performer, but they’ve also gained a lot of freedom. A dedicated in-game-leader might be able to squeeze more out of the other players. With some guidance, Helvijs “broky” Saukants could arguably be molded into a world-class talent.