As BLAST Fall Groups finishes, 6 of the 12 teams get a pass directly to the Fall Final, whilst the other 6 will have to battle it out all over again in the Fall Showdown for a place.
Firstly, let us start with the successes. None of the teams managed a perfect run, with all teams dropping at least 1 map, however, Liquid & Natus Vincere managed to get the closest, dropping just one map. For Liquid, it was coincidentally to NaVi, whilst their loss came on their first match with Complexity, where NaVi struggled without their star player s1mple, who was unavailable for personal reasons. headtr1ck stepped into his placed from the NaVi Junior roster, where he performed admirably coming top of his own team that match. The remaining teams that went through are OG, FaZe, NIP & G2. All four of those teams had moments of catastrophe and especially for G2 & NIP they got through right at the end, on their final opportunity to do so. Also going to the top teams, is $27,500 for Natus Vincere, OG & Liquid, and $17,500 for G2, NIP & FaZe.
For the lesser fortunate teams which are Evil Geniuses, Complexity, Astralis, BIG, Heroic & Vitality, there were no true 'losers' here, no one went home with nothing at all, with them all still qualified for the Fall Showdown, plus getting between $8,500 & $5,666 for them to put towards whatever they need to perform better at the Fall Showdown event where they can earn a spot in the Fall Final. The Showdown occurs in October, with the big money Fall Final in November. If there was however a loser, it would definitely be Evil Geniuses, whose poor performance seems to not have been resolved with the Summer player break, and they failed to win a single of their 3 matches before being sent home.
When all is said and done, there are big names in both those going to Fall Final, and Fall Showdown. So both events will be fierce and hard-fought, especially given there's only 2 more places to be won at the Final, so it really will be all to fight for at BLAST Showdown, only 8 teams are confirmed for the Showdown to date, the 6 from this event and also TYLOO & Sharks, who won the 5E Arena Cup (TYLOO) or were invited (Sharks). There are however, another 8 places to be decided at the showdown, so they'll be even more chaos to come!
Fall Showdown is from October 19th to 23rd, and the Fall Final is from November 23rd to the 27th. Although between now and those for many of the teams will be ESL Pro League in early October, and also the Closed Qualifiers for the Rio 2022 Major. We're set for a few months of fantastic non-stop action!
