FaZe deny Astralis a spot in the Royal Arena

It is the final day of the ongoing BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 event and only three Bo3-series remain yet to be played. The first brawl of today saw the Danes of Astralis lock horns with, probably, the current best team in the world in FaZe. Fighting for a spot in the Royal Arena for the upcoming Fall Finals event, today's Bo3-series was a must-win for the two teams. On paper, FaZe were the heavy favorites, however, the big names within the Astralis roster make it so that you can never really count them out of anything. Unfortunately for the Danish fans, however, Astralis had met their match against FaZe. Despite being a close affair, FaZe managed to beat Astralis and secure qualification to the Fall Finals event with a 2-1 victory.

The first map of the Bo3-series was played on Inferno on was, of course, picked by FaZe. There is little discussion currently on whether or not FaZe is the best Inferno team in the current CS:GO scene and with Inferno being the most played map for "karrigan" and his troops it is by no means an easy map to challenge FaZe on. "gla1ve" and Astralis, however, gave it their best shot as there was little separating the two teams in terms of strategical ability and the halftime scoreline read 8-7 in favor of FaZe. Once the two teams had switched sides, however, things became a little more one-sided. Once again it seemed as if both teams played their hands right, but the firepower of FaZe's individuals was what gave them the advantage in many situations. Only dropping two rounds on their defense, FaZe managed to secure Inferno at the scoreline of 16-9.

Astralis' map pick saw the brawl continue on Ancient as they needed a victory to force a third and final map in the Bo3-series. Astralis is known to be a great Ancient team, however, it often banks on "k0nfig" or "blameF" playing a phenomenal game on an individual level. A, once again, close first half saw a more confident Astralis in the driving seat. At 8-7, the two teams switched sides with everything still to play for. Despite "k0nfig" pulling his weight from the top of the leaderboard, Astralis never managed to gain real economic control as the brawl between the two teams became a back-and-forth affair. With close to nothing separating the two rosters, it seemed only fitting that overtime was needed for the battle to find its victor.

The third and final map of the Bo3-series came to be Nuke, a map that both teams are more than familiar with. With both "karrigan" and "gla1ve" considered to be one of the best IGL's in the history of CS:GO, it seemed only fitting that the two brainiacs should clash on such a strategical map as Nuke. Starting on the favored CT-side was FaZe who also had the strongest start to the final battle. With only "karrigan" falling behind on the leaderboard, FaZe ended a cohesive first half at the scoreline of 10-5. It didn't take Astralis long to catch up with FaZe, however, after things became tied up at 10-10, FaZe broke the bank of the Danes and ran away with all the momentum. Thanks to great teamwork and an amazing clutch from "broky" along the way, FaZe claimed victory on Nuke at the scoreline of 16-10.

FaZe - Astralis 2-1 | BLAST Premier Fall Groups

16-9 (Inferno) | ropz – 1.54 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 89.3 ADR

16-19 (Ancient) | k0nfig – 1.23 Rating / 31-22 K-D / 87.5 ADR

16-10 (Nuke) | broky – 1.75 Rating / 31-16 K-D / 109.9 ADR

MVP: Helvijs "broky" Saukants 1.23 Rating /71-55 K-D / 77.0 ADR