After a long haul in the lower bracket, Natus Vincere were able to claw their way back to the Grand Final, where they took down Gambit in another all CIS final.

NAVI were sent to the lower bracket right at the start of the tournament, after a surprise loss to Liquid. However, after winning 4 consecutive matches against Heroic (2-0), G2 (2-1), Vitality (2-0) then finally a grudge match against Liquid (2-0), they were rewarded with a slot in the Grand Final. Gambit however had a relatively easier path to the finals, where it took them just 3 matches. Firstly against Heroic (2-0), then Liquid (2-1) then lastly Vitality (2-0).

So with that, on to the Final! The chosen maps were Mirage (picked by NAVI), then Ancient (picked by Gambit), and the leftover decider map was Inferno. Starting on Mirage, Gambit had woken up with full power at their disposal it seemed, as they blitzed the first half 9:6 on the CT side, continuing on the T sider 7:5 which took them to a surprise for many players win against NAVIs own pick at 16:11. With the Natus fans now in meltdown, we moved on to Ancient. The map was a perfect mirror score-wise of Mirage as Natus dug themselves in at 9:6 on CT, then 7:5 on T side for another 16:11 map. It seems for Gambit, this is where the energy levels dropped and their book of tactics became lost in the back rooms. Natus Vincere on Inferno hammered the victory home for themselves in a simple-looking 16:6. Looking at the scores, it becomes easy to picture how Natus managed to come out on top after that weak start on Mirage. By the end of the map, B1T, electronic & s1mple were the top 3 for Natus, between them was 181 kills to 126 deaths, however for Gambit their top 3 of Ax1Le, nafany & Hobbit had 146 kills to 162 deaths. 

For both teams in the future, they're both pre-qualfiied for IEM Katowice in February so there is the opportunity for a grudge match there for Gambit. NAVI are also set to attend both ESL Pro Leagues of 2022, the first in March and the second at end of August, with Gambit yet to qualify for ESL Pro League 2022, it is likely that in the interim between now and February, other events will be announced to look forward to.

With the end of BLAST World Premier, top tier Counter-Strike has come to an end for 2021, with some lower tier events still to either play out or come to completion. Here at Gamer Galaxy, we'll be here throughout the holiday seasons to bring you all the updates from any events still occurring, so as always, stay tuned!