BLAST Premier World Final Semifinals Recap

The second-last day had some explosive action in store

The second-last day of competitive CSGO in 2022, which contained the Semifinals of the BLAST Premier World Final, was a, well, blast. The two games weren’t the longest or most competitive we’ve seen in CS over the years, but the action was undoubtedly top-tier. If you missed out on the matches, here’s what happened.

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Team Liquid vs OG

Nobody really expected OG to ace their group — which contained the likes of Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, and Heroic — and make a direct berth for themselves in the Semifinals. When they did, many began suspecting that this might be their tournament, and that they might go all the way. Liquid on the other hand made it through the harder way, and after a year of disappointments both big and small, they had in their hands a great chance to end the year on a high.

Map 1 – Overpass 

Just because you pick a map doesn’t mean you’re better at it than the other team, and on Liquid’s map Overpass, OG showed that they came to play. Coming back immediately after losing the Pistol Round on the defense, the European squad took 6 straight rounds before going into a back-and forth round exchange, and signed off the half with 3 straight wins to claim 11 on the CT-side. Liquid were no pushovers, though, and they mounted a strong defense that saw them climb up to 12 before OG finally closed the game out.

Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar finished at the top of the table with 22 kills and five assists, but Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski wasn’t far behind. Overall, it was a competitive game with good performances from all except Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.

Map 2 – Inferno 

Moving on to OG’s pick of Inferno, it seemed that Liquid had learned a thing or two about their difficult opponents, and had come back with just the rejuvenation that was needed. After a pretty balanced 9-6 half on the CT-side, and just when it looked like OG were about to hunker down with their own defense, the Americans grabbed five in a row, and after a short exchange of rounds, finished the game off at 16-10. 

YEKINDAR and EliGE were a sight to see, with the former landing as many as 7 important first kills, and the latter being his usual rock-solid self. None of OG’s players could really shine, and Maciej “F1KU” Miklas had an especially poor game with 7 kills and 9 assists.

Map 3 – Anubis

By the time Anubis rolled around, it seemed that Liquid had taken control of the stage completely. They were imperious on the CT-side with a total of 11 rounds going to them — 7 of which were eliminations. Afterwards, although OG began their own defense well, Liquid dashed any hopes of a comeback by them with five straight rounds to end the match 16-7. 

This time the scoreboard was all about Liquid. Keith “NAF” Markovic came out on top with a fantastic 1.63 rating, and next after him were, you guessed it, YEKINDAR and EliGE. It was a fitting end to a thrilling series, with those that managed the pressure best coming out triumphant and buying a one-way ticket to the Grand Final.

FaZe Clan vs G2 Esports

One could say that FaZe Clan have had a poor last few months — they crashed out of ESL Pro League 16 in the Quarterfinals, were shambolic at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major, and lost in the Grand Final of the BLAST Premier Fall Final to Heroic. However, G2 on the other hand have had a terrible year as a whole. Since their infamous Major final loss against Na’ Vi, they haven’t been remotely close to winning anything of note, and didn’t even make it into the Challengers Stage of the Major. Now, however, 

Map 1 – Nuke 

G2 have been an absolute force on Nuke of late, winning the map against FaZe in the Group Stage before also beating Vitality on it. Up against FaZe once more, they were faced with a much stiffer fight as FaZe overcame the French clan’s 5-1 advantage with 5 rounds on the trot on the T-side. However, G2 were able to finish with a 4-round flourish to end the half 9-6. G2 then proceeded to storm to a 13-10 lead, but FaZe then took four in a row to build up a massive economy and destroy G2’s own. It looked as though the superteam would have the last laugh.

A post-plant clutch is a beautiful thing, and one such round got G2 back in the saddle. With that crucial win, they came back and closed the map 16-14. Justin “jks” Savage, the player who got the aforementioned clutch, was also the MVP of the match with a 1.47 rating, but it would be criminal not to hail Rasmus “huNter-” brilliant Nielsen’s 29-kill turn.

Map 2 – Inferno

In literally any sport, a comeback is the greatest spectacle. This is even more amazing when the team coming back is the underdog, and for CS in particular, comebacks are especially amazing on the T-side. That being said, when FaZe closed a T-side half that started competitively but ended with them getting a whopping 11 rounds, not a single person would have dared to dream that they wouldn’t win the match. G2, though, had other plans. All FaZe could do was watch as they racked up 7 straight rounds to equal their score before the former struck back at last.

FaZe’s success was short-lived, however, as G2 went back to dominating them and won the match 16-13. Once again, huNter- showed up big with 25 important kills, and although Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken was in top shape, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and the rest of G2 were simply better than the other FaZe players – especially Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who had a miserable time with just 8 kills and 10 assists.

The Grand Final beckons, and while you can catch the recap of that once it’s over, feel free to take a look at our other CSGO content, including guides, betting tips and more.