BLAST Premier World Final Group Stage Overview

Glancing back at the action that transpired before we move to the Playoffs

As we have mentioned countless times, CSGO is an unpredictable game to put it lightly. No matter how many times you’ve seen certain teams play — even against each other — you never really know for sure what’s going to happen when they meet once again. This has rung true at the Group Stage of this year’s BLAST Premier World Final, with the two teams that played the final of the recent Major (one of which also won BLAST’s Fall Final) subverting all expectations, and the biggest underdog among the eight teams at the event winning their group. 

If you haven’t been following the event, we’re here with a recap. 

Group A

Both teams have hard-hitting participants, but many people considered Group A to be the so-called “group of death” as it contains the two most recent Major winners as well as two strong teams striving to prove themselves. Most people expected either Team Liquid, G2 or perhaps even FaZe Clan to crash out in the Group Stage, but that, as we’ll see, is not what happened. Group A contained the following teams:

• FaZe Clan
• Outsiders
• Team Liquid
• G2 Esports

Outsiders vs Team Liquid

Playing a competitive game for the first time since their triumphant Major win, Outsiders were expected by many to make short work of Liquid. This belief was strengthened when the CIS side shut Liquid down completely on the T-side of their map pick Inferno to win the map 16-10. Things changed drastically in the first ever tournament match on Anubis, with the Americans becoming its first victors with a 16-8 beating. With this boost of confidence, they went on to also beat the reigning Major champions on Mirage, once again with a 16-8 scoreline.

FaZe Clan vs G2 Esports

G2 picking Nuke as their map might have been questionable going into the series, but they shut their critics up with a convincing 16-10 win. They had the chance to close the series on Inferno, but FaZe came back to take the game into OT before winning it 19-17 to justify their pick. The Decider, Ancient, was absolutely ruled by FaZe as they slapped G2 around for a 16-4 butchering.

Outsiders vs G2 Esports

It was an Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov show on Inferno as G2 won their map 16-12 and the young Russian put up a performance that had an HLTV rating of 1.77 — miles above the rest of the players. If anyone had hopes of Outsiders coming back on Mirage, however, look away now because G2 absolutely dominated them for a flawless CT side and a 16-1 victory. This time, m0NESY had an unbelievable rating of 2.23.

Team Liquid vs FaZe Clan

After a terrific start on the T-side, Liquid managed to secure their map pick of Mirage despite being down 14-11 at one point. FaZe struck back fiercely with a 16-5 ravaging of their opponents on Inferno following an 11-4 half on the attack. Next up was Anubis, but try as they might, Liquid couldn’t repeat their performance against Outsiders and lost 16-9 to the multinational superteam to give away the series.

Group B

Given OG’s performances over the last few months, most people expected them to be outclassed at this tournament. Team Vitality had also been struggling after having an awful time at the Major, but they were expected to beat OG and secure a spot in the playoffs. Either Heroic or Natus Vincere were considered to be the favorites to win the group, which contained:

• Team Vitality
• OG
• Natus Vincere
• Heroic

Heroic vs OG

Although Heroic were playing with a substitute — Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke in place of Martin “stavn” Lund — they were certainly the favorites to win this matchup, and one of the favorites to win the tournament outright. However, OG started the show with a 16-11 triumph on Inferno. Mirage saw the Danes come back strong by winning 16-9 thanks to k0nfig’s 1.71-rated performance, but the underdogs had the last laugh after a double Overtime 22-19 victory on Anubis.

Natus Vincere vs Team Vitality

The new El Classico’s latest iteration saw just as much action as expected, with the only problem being it didn’t go all three maps. Inferno was a torrid affair as Vitality barely managed to edge out the Ukrainians 19-16. A lot of people expected Na’ Vi to come back and take Nuke once they subbed out newcomer Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi and brought in Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev. Na’ Vi began strong with 6 straight rounds on the T-side but eventually Vitality just won by a bigger margin of 16-11. 

Heroic vs Natus Vincere

With both their backs against the wall, Heroic vs Na’ Vi went all three games to produce a result. The CIS squad took their map Inferno 16-10 courtesy of a brilliant 1.77-rated run by Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi, but Heroic came back immediately to rule over Ancient 16-8. Things went right down to the wire on Nuke, but the Danes just couldn’t close it out despite a great comeback from 13-7 down, and lost by the barest of margins in regulation play.

OG vs Team Vitality

Flukes happen all the time, but OG proved that their defeat of Heroic wasn’t one with a powerful turn against the French organization. After coming back from being down 14-9 with a crushed economy to win 16-14 on their map Inferno, they bested Vitality once again on Mirage — but this time much more convincingly with a 16-9 scoreline. This secured them a place in the Semifinal, and also earned them a lot of respect in the scene.

Don’t forget to join us for the recaps of the Playoff stage as things unfold, and take a look at our myriad of CSGO content on offer; including recaps, guides and even CSGO betting tips.