BLAST Fall Finals - everything worth to know
A total of eight teams competed in the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, six of which qualified through the regular season rankings while FURIA and mousesports qualified through the showdowns. Alongside $425,000 in prize money, the main prize up for grabs was a highly coveted spot in the BLAST Global Finals.
All matches were played online due to the current situation. However, the Blast Fall Finals were one of the first tournaments of the year to be held with participants from all over the world. With the server location in Europe, two non-European teams, NAVI and FURIA, traveled to the tournament. The tournament was played in a double-elimination bo3 playoff.
Winner and tournament MVP
Opening round
Playoffs
The upper-bracket finals were won by Team Vitality with two victories each and, somewhat surprisingly, by BIG Clan. In this match BIG had to admit defeat after an upset on Vertigo with 16:1 and 16:2 on the two remaining maps Inferno and Dust2. So the Germans slipped into the lower bracket final, for which Astralis qualified in the meantime.
In-between Astralis could qualify for the third round of the lower bracket in a duel with G2 and NAVI against FURIA. Thus, the rematch of the opening round took place between the Danes and the top team out of the CIS region. Unlike then, however, NAVI failed to consist against Astralis and were knocked out of the tournament with a 0-2 loss on Inferno and Train.
With a 2:0 win in the lower-bracket final against BIG, the Danes finally fought their way into the final with four wins. In the final they had to play against the French top team, which came through the upper bracket undefeated. The French were quite dominant on Vertigo and Inferno. Only Dust2 was narrowly won by the Danes, securing at least one map.
Surprises and disappointments
The big surprise, if it can even be called one after 2020, was the BIG Clan. After a brief dip with their form in fall, they came to BLAST well prepared and surprised most of all with a win against G2. In their opening match with OG, the Germans were lucky with the draw. In the end, however, the BIG Clan had no chance in their duels with Vitality and Astralis for a place in the final.
Performance of the individual teams
- OG: No chance against the strong field of participants
- Team Vitality: 4:0 in games, outstanding performance by the French
- G2 Esports: Disappointing against BIG, no chance in duel with Astralis
- Natus Vincere: Good performance, but in the end Vitality and Astralis were too strong
- Astralis: Fought through the lower-bracket, eventually losing the final to Vitality
- FURIA Esports: Significantly below their expectations
- Mousesports: Bad luck in the draw, but still a weak performance
- BIG: Great performance and strong third place