BLAST Premier Fall Finals Preview: Can anyone stop s1mple and NAVI?
There is one big favorite going into BLAST Premier Fall Finals.
We are getting spoiled with LAN events these days. The PGL Major in Stockholm was a kind reminder of what a LAN tournament in front of an audience can do for a CS:GO match. At BLAST Premier Fall Finals we get three days of matches in front of a live crowd, while the first two days will be played as a LAN event without spectators.
Natus Vincere is the big favorite to win the title and the $225,000 in first prize. Heroic and Ninjas in Pyjamas are next in line as contenders to the title according to the bookmakers. Here we give our power ranking before the event starts today at 12.00 (CET).
1. Natus Vincere
There is no doubt, that NAVI is the best team in the world right now. Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev is the best player in the world, but he is now getting full support from a very good team. Newcomer Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi proved during the Major, that he is a perfect fit for NAVI. The Ukrainian ended the Major as the fifth best-ranked player in all of the tournament, which is an unbelievable feat for a young debutant at a Major. With Denis "electronic" Sharipov also performing at a very high level, it is almost unthinkable that NAVI will not make it to the Grand Final at BLAST Premier Fall Finals.
2. Heroic
The Danes performed at a high level at PGL Stockholm, where they had a great opportunity to qualify for the Grand Final with a match point at 15-14 on the decider map against G2 in the Semi-Final. In the end, Heroic fell short against NiKo and G2, but the most important thing for the Danish roster was the confirmation, that they could actually perform on LAN in front of an audience. In the Royal Arena, Heroic is playing on home turf, which could be the last piece of the puzzle for Casper "cadiaN" Møller and the rest of the Heroic roster to try and upset NAVI. The two teams are in the same half of the bracket, and will most likely already collide on day 2 of the tournament, which will push one of the teams down to the lower bracket.
3. Ninjas in Pyjamas
The Swedes are the first on our list to have made changes before the start of the Fall Finals. Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen has joined the team and will be the new support player on the roster. An interesting move for the Danish player, that has been very unlucky with his two latest teams, Cloud9 and Complexity, who disbanded their roster shortly after he arrived. At NIP he will join a team, that has been on a positive course since Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz joined Astralis at the start of the year. Will 'es3tag' be the last piece of the puzzle?
4. Astralis
Our dark horse of the tournament! Astralis in front of an audience and on home turf is simply too tempting not to give a chance to succeed. With two new players and a new coach, there are many good reasons to think, that Astralis needs more time to be an actual contender for a tournament like BLAST Premier Fall Finals. We expect that there are only two ways, that this event can go down for Astralis. Either they go all-in and will be a dangerous side for everyone to face, or they will make a quick exit from the tournament. Astralis face NIP in the opening round, where they will have the chance to revenge their 16-1 defeat to the Swedes at the Major.
5. Team Vitality
Since the PGL Major in Stockholm, rumours have been flying around about an upcoming roster change. So how will a "dead" team perform? Vitality had their moments at the Major, where the team actually looked decent. The Frenchmen forced the best out of NAVI in the Quarter-Final game and finished the Major with their heads held high. The big question is how motivated they are? Vitality can be a threat at Fall Finals and will have a good chance to advance from their opening round match against Team Liquid.
6. FaZe
So what kind of FaZe will show up? That is the big question. Finn "karrigan" Andersen and the rest of the experienced roster will finally have the chance to perform in front of a live crowd, which they missed out on at PGL Stockholm. With their 3-4th place at IEM Cologne 2021, FaZe has shown, that they are a much better team on LAN than online, but the lack of success at the Major still puts some doubts over, what FaZe will be able to bring to the tournament in their current iteration.
7. BIG
Berlin International Gaming is active as always in regards to playing tournaments. At both DreamHack Open and V4 Future Sports Festival, there were good signs, but when they faced tougher opposition, the German team came short. They face NAVI in the opening round, which on the outside looks like a one-sided match, but BIG is actually one of the only teams outside of Gambit to beat NAVI in 2021! At BLAST Premier Fall Finals they are not among the top contenders.
8. Team Liquid
At the bottom, we find Team Liquid. A team that finds themselves in the middle of a break-up! The North Americans have not practiced together since their exit at PGL Stockholm. Furthermore, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski confirmed in an interview with Pley.gg, that the team is not "getting along", which makes it even more unthinkable, that Team Liquid will have any role to play at BLAST Premier Fall Finals. They start the event by facing Team Vitality.
