BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Details
BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 is scheduled to take place between December 8th – 13th. This will be a European tournament that features a single “outsider”, FURIA Esports. Apart from the Brazilian squad, everyone is from Europe and CIS.
Participants
BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 features 8 participants.
Team Vitality mousesports Natus Vincere Astralis G2 Esports FURIA Esports OG BIG
No less than 7 of these 8 teams are currently in the top 8. In effect, this means that the tournament will bring together the best competitors in the world and provide a great spectacle for all of us.
Competitive Format
The competitive format of BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 is double-elimination. All of the 8 teams start in the Upper Bracket. Every match is Bo3, including the Grand Final. One interesting fact about this way of doing things is the total absence of the Group Stage. We rarely get to see events that don’t include a Group Stage, so this is quite unusual. On a positive note, it should be mentioned that by starting directly with the Playoffs, the rhythm of the action is greatly increased. In effect, the great matches start right away. There’s no rehearsal.
Prize Pool
BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 offers a prize pool of $425,000, which is an enormous amount for an online tournament. Just consider the fact that Majors offer $1 million in prizes. The money will be distributed among the 8 participants in the following way:
1st place: $225,000 2nd place: $85,000 3rd place: $40,000 4th place: $25,000 5th – 6th place: $15,000 7th – 8th place: $10,000
Match Analysis
At this point, we already know the first 4 matches of the tournament. I’ll take a look at each of them below.
Team Vitality – mousesports
Team Vitality is currently ranked 1st globally and has been in this position since two months ago. This is a team that won 12 of its last 15 matches, which is an 80% win rate at the highest competitive level. During these matches, Vitality encountered the likes of BIG, Heroic, Natus Vincere, Complexity, Fnatic, Astralis, and of course, mousesports. Given how dominant Vitality has been over the last two months, I do expect them to win this match. But I don’t think they can do it without losing a single map. And that’s because mousesports has played well recently and is currently on an impressive winning streak: 6 in a row. Going into this match, I have high expectations from Vitality. RpK’s team won the title at the recent IEM XV Beijing. Against such a team, mousesports would have to play at its highest potential to triumph. And I don’t think they’ll do that. Usually, when a decent team that’s in great shape encounters the best team in the world, a lot of things no longer go according to plan. Sure, mousesports is constantly proving that it can beat world-class opponents such as Heroic and Liquid. But in a Bo3 against Vitality, the best they can hope for is a 2 – 1 result.
Natus Vincere – Astralis
These two teams met each other at IEM XV Beijing, a tournament that was won by Vitality. In that Quarterfinals match, Na’Vi won with a score of 2 – 0 and then went on to almost win the tournament. The Grand Final score was 2 – 3 in favor of the French squad. In terms of their global rank, Na’Vi and Astralis are very close to each other. Na’Vi is 3rd while Astralis is 4th. Historically, Astralis has almost always defeated Na’Vi in direct confrontations, but a lot has changed since last year. One strength for Astralis in this encounter will be their IGL. Gla1ve has reclaimed the role and is looking to prove himself once more. After all, it was under his leadership that the team prospered a few seasons ago. Because of this, I expect Astralis to win this match.
G2 Esports – FURIA Esports
G2 Esports is ranked 8th while FURIA is ranked 7th. So once again, we don’t have much of a difference. At least, not an obvious one. But when you look closer, you clearly see that FURIA is the better team. And this is partly proved by what happened in their latest match. The key thing to consider for this match is the experience difference. While FURIA’s roster has been competing as a cohesive unit for several years, G2 has made big roster changes over the years. Most recently, NiKo has been acquired from FaZe Clan and the initial results were poor. Because of that, I’m confident in FURIA’s chances here.
OG – BIG
And finally, we have OG against BIG. Once again, we’re talking about a tiny skill difference. OG is ranked 6th while BIG is ranked 5th. Both team’s recent form has been decent but not amazing, so it’s quite difficult to predict who will win. The last time they met each other was in October. OG won that match with a score of 2 – 0. I expect them to do the same in this match.
