The final Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major of the year got underway in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, and Team Vitality turned in the most impressive showing in the day’s final contest.
In all, Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, OG and Vitality all emerged victorious and advanced to the winners’ matches to open group play in the BLAST Premier: World Final 2022, a $1 million event featuring the BLAST Premier Series’ Spring and Fall Final champions.
The eight-team event features two four-team groups in a double-elimination format, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs. The group winners automatically advance to the semifinals while the second- and third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals.
The playoffs are single elimination and culminate with the Grand Final on Sunday. The champion pockets $500,000 with $250,000 going to the runner-up. The semifinal losers each get $85,000.
Play began Wednesday with Team Liquid downing Outsiders 2-1, losing 16-10 on Inferno before earning 16-8 wins on Anubis and Mirage. American Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski led all players with 56 kills for Liquid, while teammate Keith “NAF” Markovic of Canada posted 53 kills and a plus-22 kill-death differential.
Group A’s second match saw another come-from-behind victory, with G2 Esports beating FaZe 16-10 on Nuke before dropping Inferno 19-17 in overtime and Ancient 16-4 on the decisive third map. Estonian Robin “ropz” Kool led all players with 70 kills and a plus-25 differential for FaZe.
Group B saw both 2022 major winners fall to the elimination match.
First, OG beat Fall Finals champion Heroic 2-1. OG won 16-11 on Inferno and Heroic tied the match with a 16-9 win on Mirage. The deciding match went to double overtime before OG won the second extra frame 4-1 for a 22-19 win on Anubis. OG’s Abdul “degster” Gasanov of Russia posted match highs with 70 kills and a plus-24 differential.
Vitality also needed an extra frame against Spring Finals champion Natus Vincere in the first map of the final match, winning 19-16 on Inferno. Vitality completed the sweep with a 16-11 win on Nuke. Lotan “Spinx” Giladi of Israel’s 51 kills led all players in a winning effort, while France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut led all players with a plus-17 differential for Vitality.
Play resumes Thursday with the elimination and winners’ matches. Outsiders will face G2 in Group A while Heroic and NAVI square off in Group B. The losers of those elimination matches will be eliminated. Liquid and FaZe (Group A) and OG and Vitality (Group B) are assured of making the playoffs, with the victors in the two winners’ matches getting byes to the semifinals.
BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 standings:
Group A
T1. Team Liquid, 1-0 (+10 point differential)
T1. FaZe Clan, 1-0 (+8)
T3. G2 Esports, 0-1 (-8)
T3. Outsiders, 0-1 (-10)
Group B
T1. Team Vitality, 1-0 (+8)
T1. OG, 1-0 (+1)
T3. Heroic, 0-1 (-1)
T3. Natus Vincere, 0-1 (-8)
–Field Level Media
