And it’s here. The final premier Counter-Strike tournament of 2021, BLAST Premier World Final, is starting this week. Featuring eight teams which qualified to this event over the year, this tournament will close 2021 with a bang.
Of course, no CSGO fan will want to miss any beat of the action, so we’ve got your back and prepared this preview. Here’s everything you need to enjoy the BLAST Premier World Final, as well as five key storylines going into the event.
TOURNAMENT DETAILS
BLAST Premier World Final 2021 starts this Tuesday (14th) at 3:30 PM UTC. You can check which time this is in your time zone through this handy link. The event will go through the entire week, which grand-finals being played on Sunday (19th).
As for the event format, the BLAST World Final is a single-stage event running a double-elimination bracket. All matches will be best-of-three maps, and the champions will take home half of the total prize pool, $500.000.
Finally, BLAST Premier World Finals won’t feature a live crowd, but the event will be played offline in one of BLAST’s studios in Europe. You will be able to follow all the action through BLAST’s channels on Twitch and YouTube.
SCHEDULE
Now that we’ve got the event details covered, let’s take a look at the five most interesting storylines of the event. Check it out!
ASTRALIS – THE STARS CAN WAIT
Astralis’ new roster has already played in two events. First, in BLAST Fall Final, they surprised and even managed to challenge Vitality before finishing in 3rd place. In IEM Winter, Astralis failed to keep their momentum before getting eliminated in 9 – 12th place.
Although their most recent result is disappointing, it doesn’t say anything about this project. As mentioned by Astralis’ captain, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander haven’t had time to adjust to their new players, and IEM Winter started just three days after the Fall Finals.
This means that only at the World Final we might be able to see a glimpse of what this team is capable of. The squad had some extra time to prepare and recover from both events, and we should see a stronger Astralis. Not a perfect one, but a stronger one.
Still, don’t expect Astralis to have solved their most serious issues. The team still is struggling with the AWPer role, and major problems like this need time to be solved. More than just two weeks at least.
Therefore, we won’t be seeing Astralis’ full power just yet. Instead, we’ll see a promising but incomplete squad. And there’s no problem in that. The Danes are using these last tournaments of the year to start 2022 in a good place after all. On route to the stars.
G2 – EVERYONE’S HERE
In these past weeks, G2 had to field a stand-in in place of their captain Nemanja “nexa” Isaković as he couldn’t attend IEM Winter due to visa issues. However, everything seems to be sorted out for the BLAST World Final. G2 is back in full force for one last hurrah.
However, it’s not just their last event of the year, but the last event for this current roster. According to rumors, G2 will be letting François “AmaNEk” Delaunay, and possibly Audric “JaCkz” Jug go before the 2022 season starts. According to more recent rumors, G2 has already finished one deal to bring 16-year-old upcoming talent Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov to the team. This means that no matter G2 performs here, this team will see changes.
Still, underestimating G2 for any reason is a serious mistake. Even in IEM Winter without their captain, G2 put a fight and even defeated Vitality. Now with their captain back, we better expect to see an even hungrier G2. They aren’t the favorites like they were in IEM Winter, but they still are a contender, and no team is safe from the Kovač’s cousins.
Hence, expect to see a great performance from G2. This team might break up after this event but until then, they will give their fans an incredible show. G2 opponents in the other hand can expect the same as always: a fierce, incredibly powered team that can take maps from any team in the world. It’s not over until it’s over.
NATUS VINCERE – THE EARLY DAYS OF AN ERA
The best CSGO team in the world won’t be stopped any time soon. In comparison to their rivals, mostly which are preparing for roster changes after the this event, Natus Vincere has found the perfect roster, and there’s no sign that this squad is going to slow down any time soon.
So, it’s no surprise that going into the BLAST World Final, Na’Vi has only one objective: win. 2021 has been Na’Vi’s year, and at this point everyone simply expects them to close the year taking $500.000 home as they close this season.
Still, while Na’Vi are the favorites by a wide margin, they still have to take this tournament seriously. After all, Na’Vi is building an era since they won the Major, and closing 2021 with three back-to-back tournament wins including that Major is simply the ultimate statement to their dominance.
Consequently, expect Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and his teammates to once again bring their top game. Winning the World Final will be Na’Vi way to say goodbye to this year, and their way to show that they are the team to beat in 2022. Making a statement.
TEAM LIQUID – ONE. LAST. TIME.
It’s finally time for this iteration of Team Liquid. The squad went through many lows and some highs this year, and after this event the squad will enter a rebuilding phase. However, while everyone’s looking at what’s next for each player in this team and the organization, they still have the World Final in their calendars.
Fortunately, Liquid’s final showings have been surprisingly more competent than what most expected. The team managed to get wins from NiP and Astralis recently, and they’re playing better than they did before roster changes were confirmed.
Don’t count on Liquid to reach the grand-finals. Instead, it’s fair to have them as a wildcard here. Team Liquid’s first game is against Natus Vincere, so that will be a rough match for the Americans. After that, though, it’s the wild west, and Liquid could very well end either Gambit or Heroic’s run in the BLAST World Final. Of course, they will be the underdogs, but this serves to remind us that Liquid has absolute no expectations here. No pressure, no stakes.
TEAM VITALITY – GOODBYE!
After winning IEM Winter 2021, Team Vitality is in a weird place. Much like G2 and Liquid, roster changes are on the way for this squad. However, after lifting their first trophy in 2021, and looking the best they have looked in a while, it’s weird to think that the World Final is the last event for this roster.
However, there’s no way around it apparently. Roster changes are already booked, and independently of their performance, next year we won’t see this squad together. As unfortunate this is, if anything, we can at least believe that Vitality will keep their form going into the World Final, and they are going out with a blast.
As for Vitality’s expectations going into this event, they are one of the teams that can challenge Natus Vincere. They still are underdogs, but Vitality has shown to be able to break Na’Vi at times. For example, last time they played against s1mple’s team, the Frenchmen broke Na’Vi’s Nuke streak.
Nevertheless, it’s just unfortunate that this is the last time we’ll be seeing this Vitality roster together. This squad started slowly, but over the year they started improving to the point they are at now. Then, it’s also unfortunate that this could be the last time we see a fully French team competing in the highest-level for a while. If rumors are to be trusted, Vitality will add a Danish spicy to their roster next year. This means that the top fully French team would be DBL Poney, which is far from top tier competition.
In any case, Vitality’s recent win at IEM Winter and their past results back their position as the 2nd best team in the world. They might not be able to stop Na’Vi’s domination, but they can be proud of what they achieved together. 2nd place is not enough.
THE LAST S-TIER TOURNAMENT OF 2021
Once BLAST Premier World Final starts, we will be on a countdown as Counter-Strike ends its current competitive season. However, until then, we will have plenty of matches to watch, and many surprises are awaiting. So, in order to keep up with everything, make sure to follow us here!
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