BLAST Finals: BIG Deliver Grand Upset

Expectedly, Gambit made their way past Evil Geniuses. After a long and bitter fight, NaVi pulled through against FaZe. To start off the second tournament day, BIG delivered a massive upset over G2 Esports.

So the Germans are through to the Upper Bracket Semi Finals already. They are bound to face Natus Vincere, who struggled a lot in their Opening Match – more than they would like you to know. FaZe Clan came into the match prepared. Following the departure of Marcelo “coldzera” David, we couldn’t really expect a lot from this lineup. After all, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer had been out of commission for a few months already. But the Clan picked Ancient right away and secured a 16-9 victory on it.

They headed for Dust 2 next. There, Natus Vincere were obviously more comfortable, but the FaZe Clan went for the attack again. Håvard “rain” Nygaard secured a whopping 28 kills – which was almost enough to make it! Unfortunately, the team folded in the last few rounds and allowed NaVi back into the game. After suffering a 14-16 loss, FaZe headed for Mirage, where they got a second chance at victory. Unfortunately, they came out with yet another 14-16 loss.

This defeat surely stings and forces the FaZe roster down to the Lower Bracket, where G2 Esports are lying in wait. Should they lose there, they will be out of the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals in last place. Nonetheless, they can see this match as a preliminary success. They’ve come close to beating a Top 5 team this close after a major roster change. This is a great sign going into the future.

GAMBIT AND COMPLEXITY CONTINUE ON AS EXPECTED

After NiP had already failed to get going at IEM Summer, their defeat to Complexity didn’t come as a surprise. Their Ancient victory over fnatic led them to try it against Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and his men as well. However, the results weren’t anything to be proud of and offered a sad conclusion to their Opening Match. The team went on to face Evil Geniuses. Fortunately for them, they survived this affair at least.

The short EG miracle run was unfortunately just that – short. At IEM Summer, they temporarily lit up and got going, but their BLAST matches didn’t have any of that spark. It’s striking to see how much of a difference these few days in between can make. They at least brought one map versus Gambit to overtime, but they failed to contend with the Ninjas in Pyjamas.

The FaZe and G2 encounter will be a heated affair. The latter have shown massive deficits in their fight against BIG. On Vertigo in particular, they were essentially tricked and fooled every step of the way. That’s not really the best signal going into their FaZe match. However, we don’t really know what those two 14-16 losses have done to rain and his colleagues. Maybe they had prepared a lot for NaVi and are now demoralized. In any case, the Lower Bracket will be sure to deliver us exciting action. The same holds true for Gambit, NaVi, and the rest, who will be looking to secure an early Grand Finals slot.