BLAST Premier Fall Groups: FaZe defeats G2, NiP dominates

BLAST Premier Fall Groups: FaZe defeats G2, NiP dominates

20. July 2023 by Andrew Williams

G2 and FaZe battled it out in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups and G2 didn’t stand a chance. Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his team dominated the match in BLAST Premier Fall Group C. Also, Ninjas in Pyjamas played against Vitality and won.

FaZe vs. G2

The match started on Nuke, the pick of G2. Nevertheless, it was FaZe who jumped right ahead. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and his team struggled to find their flow. A 1vs3 clutch by the Bosnian with a last-second Bombplant were needed to get G2 into the game. While it looked like G2 was starting to pick itself up, FaZe came along and took five rounds in a row. G2 was visibly losing hope and it was Robin “ropz” Kool who finally ended the match for FaZe 16-8.

On Mirage, it was FaZe again who quickly took the lead. The 3-0 start in favor of FaZe was quickly doubled before G2 could even get a round. By halftime, the score was 9-6. G2 didn’t want to give up yet and actually managed to catch up and tie the game at 11-11. While it was briefly unclear whether G2 might not still win the match, FaZe surged ahead after the tie and took five rounds to win the match 16:11.

FaZe now has a chance for a rematch against Team Liquid, who they lost to in the finals of the Upper Bracket. The two will face each other today. G2 is set for the Knockout Stage, they will play Evil Geniuses on Saturday.

NiP vs. Team Vitality

Vitality were the huge favorites in this matchup and were already thought to go through to the BLAST Fall Finals. Also according to the analysts at the event, who all predicted Vitality to win. However, NiP and her young team disagreed and pulled off a clear victory that sealed their ticket to Fall Finals 2023. It all started on Mirage, the map picked by NiP, where Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin played the hero and led his team to victory. Although Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut tried as hard as he could to carry his mates, but it didn’t suffice as they went down 13:16.

After a start Vitality only garnered a close 8:7 lead, and at this point the alarm bells were ringing, NiP played really well! At the change of sides, NiP’s young Ukrainian star Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov took over and kept breaking Viatity’s attacks, leading NiP to the win with a 16:13 scoreline. Then on the second and last map, Overpass, we once again saw team Vitality win the first half 8:7. Unlike Mirage, however, the Vitality boys would end the map on the arguably easier CT side, which wasnt enough for them to close it out. When Fredrik “REZ” Sterner and Brollan switched to the T-Side they shredded the offensive approaches of ZywOo and Vitality to claim a 16-14 victory and secure one of the first tickets to the BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2023!