BLAST Global Finals: Liquid and NaVi Survive Lower Bracket Challenges

Afer we’ve already had to wave goodbye to Complexity and FURIA, Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports were now the next in line on the chopping block of the BLAST Premier: Global Finals. They fell against Team Liquid and Natus Vincere, respectively, who have secured their tournament survival for now.

Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo continues to impress as the new Liquid in-game-leader. EG were outmaneuvered strategically, but Keith “NAF” Markovic also dismantled them on a purely individual level. The young Canadian secured 31 kills in the 16-6 Dust2 game. He basically did the work for the entire team and achieved a 2.07 rating. Before that, he already put up an Inferno performance with which EG simply couldn’t compete.

NAF is continually growing into the mad-fragging role which Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken had left vacant upon his departure. Fallen proves that he has still got it – both as an in-game-leader and in individual terms. The future for Liquid looks bright, provided that they can mantain and build upon this level of play. After all, it wasn’t enough for Vitality, even though Vertigo and Nuke were close games.

NATUS VINCERE ARE SLOWLY COMING BACK

The winter break has thrown Denis “electronic” Sharipov and his colleagues back. With the exception of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who plays on his usual top level, the NaVi boys required three entire matches before they managed to display the form we know from them. Earlier on, they lost to Team Liquid in rather decisive fashion and only narrowly set themselves on top of Complexity, who were playing with a stand-in.

In their G2 match, they finally woke up. Not even Nikola “NiKo” Kovač managed to contend with them. The match was quickly brought to an end with 16-6 and 16-8 maps and left no doubt that NiKo and his colleagues have got quite a bit of work ahead of themselves. Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov and s1mple were the frontrunners for their team, even though the NaVi players all managed to display great performances. They looked much sharper than they did in their Opening Match against Liquid earlier on.

However, the end is near for one of the two. They’re bound to clash in the Lower Bracket and will have to decide between themselves who gets to advance towards Vitality and Astralis. Looking at the developments of recent months, NaVi should be the clear favorites. But Liquid have already beaten them on two straight maps and have only improved since. Every day, their tactical arsenal continues to grow. If NAF manages to turn on his god mode again, even s1mple and electronic will feel the heat.

ASTRALIS VS. VITALITY – WHO’S GOT THE UPPER HAND?

The most demanding rivalry of 2020 is heading for a second round. After the teams have clashed for several trophies already, they’ll have their first encounter in the new year. Astralis are not yet present in full force. Their matches against Evil Geniuses and G2 Esports were messy, whereas Vitality have already displayed great performances.

This opens up a window for the Frenchen to quickly reach the Grand Finals. In this case, Astralis would have to descend to the Lower Bracket and face either Liquid or Natus Vincere. NaVi have already played much better against G2 than the Danes did earlier on, and the same holds true for Liquid and EG. This might actually be a real challenge for Astralis. But does it really matter who makes the Grand Finals? Overall, no team appears to bring the kind of fire that would be necessary to take down Vitality at this point.