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
The French top team Vitality went out of the tournament as the winner. Without defeat and with very convincing victories against mousesports, NAVI, BIG and Astralis, the team around star player ZywOo took first place in the BLAST Fall Finals. Alongside the S-Tier success, the French received USD 225,000.
Opening round
The opening round included four matches and with NAVI against Astralis, as well as G2 against FURIA two absolute top duels. Vitality, NAVI, G2 and BIG won their first round matches and advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals. There were no real surprises in this round. Only the success of NAVI against Astralis was a small upset.
Playoffs
The playoffs were divided into an upper bracket, in which the four winners of the opening round were represented, and a lower bracket. Starting with the deciding duels. Mousesports and Astralis, as well as FURIA and OG met one another in the first lower-bracket round. Very dominant the Danish favorite won against Karrigan and his team on two maps, on the other side it was FURIA who could consist against OG narrowly but nevertheless.
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 disappointments of the BLAST Fall Finals were mousesports and FURIA. While mousesports was eliminated from the tournament after only two days of play and in duels with Vitality and Astralis due to bad luck in the draw, FURIA remained below expectations. The top team from the NA region, which won numerous tournaments in 2020, was eliminated from the BLAST with losses to G2 and NAVI. The Brazilians only managed one win on the first matchday of the lower-bracket in their duel with OG. G2's performance was also weak compared to their expectations. Although they won their opening match with FURIA, they were eliminated from the tournament early on with losses to BIG Clan and Astralis.
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
