At the moment, Natus Vincere seem unbeatable. Even FaZe Clan, who had nothing to lose and delivered a stellar show, didn’t manage to play to the Russians’ level. MIBR and Team Liquid didn’t stand a chance and had to watch as NaVi gripped the first place of BLAST Premier: Group C.
This event featured a few key moments of 2021 Counter-Strike already. FaZe brought their new Canadian player to the server and Liquid got a chance to show that they could maintain or even expand on their form after their first tournament with a new shotcaller.
FAZE DEBUT TWISTZZ
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken made his first match under the FaZe banner a success. The Clan had to face Team Liquid, which meant that the new addition had to battle his former colleagues already. However, this didn’t stop him from delivered a great performance – at least on the second map. On Dust2, FaZe stood victorious on a 16-11 scoreline, with Teistzz only recording a 0.94 rating. On Nuke, however, the team was miles ahead of Liquid. Twistzz achieved a 1.84 rating as FaZe dismantled the North Americans for a 16-1 win.
The speed run from @FaZeClan on Nuke ?@Twistzz loving his debut in the red and black!#BLASTPremier | https://t.co/mKPHu9UP7D pic.twitter.com/QhfNZ4yrHc
— BLAST Premier ?♥ (@BLASTPremier) February 12, 2021
The Upper Bracket Finals against Natus Vincere, however, didn’t kick off on such a high note. On the first map, FaZe had to suffer an 8-16 loss, but quickly bounced back with a 16-11 finish of their own. Train got really close, as the two teams headed into overtime. There, Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy closed the match out with a 1v2 clutch. After another 2-0 win over Liquid, in which the NA team at least made the first map count with double overtime, FaZe landed a spot in the Grand Finals. There, they admitted defeat on two straight maps and gave way for Natus Vincere to grab the first place trophy.
Nonetheless, this tournament was a huge success for FaZe Clan. They not only secured a spot at the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals, but also proved how much they can potentially achieve with Twistzz on board. Despite their defeat in the Grand Finals, the Canadian recorded a 1.15 overall rating for the event.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO OLOFMEISTER?
The legendary Swede has not yet made up his mind as to what his future in CS:GO will hold. Last year has seen Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer spend most of his time on the bench. He only came back as a replacement for the transition period after Nikola “NiKo” Kovač had left for G2 Esports. The BLAST Premier: Spring Group C was his last event under the FaZe banner, and at least he managed to close this chapter off in style. In the Opening Match on Dust2, he recorded a stellar 1.42 over Liquid. In the repeat match, he even managed to surpass this on Nuke and Inferno.
He has been around a while now – still got the skills? @olofmeister #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/REXYPPYGMD
— BLAST Premier ?♥ (@BLASTPremier) February 14, 2021
Now that the best player of 2015 has proven yet again to be capable of greatness, ending his career might not be the right step after all. Maybe olofmeister is waiting for offers and looking whether he can find a place in a high-tier team. Otherwise, it might not be such a shame to retire before he becomes one of the many veterans who have slowly faded into obscurity.
TEAM LIQUID NEED MORE TIME
At the BLAST Premier: Global Finals the North American team managed to place just behind Vitality, Astralis and Natus Vincere. This was a great sign for a team that had only changed its in-game-leader weeks ago. Unfortunately, the fans’ expectations had been set too high by that performance. In Group C, Liquid have now shown that they’re still a long ways away from consistency.
Obviously, we can’t expect Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo to have everything under control right away. But the 1-16 loss at the hands of FaZe Clan should not have happened. This went to show that Liquid still need to work on their cooperation and mentality. At least they managed to drag Nuke into overtime on their second attempt. Even though their rematch versus FaZe ended in another loss, they showed up much more competitively and had already fixed some of their mistakes.
NATUS VINCERE RACE TO VICTORY AGAIN
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev has definitely won the first leg of the year. In Group B, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut put up one of the worst performances of his entire career and ended the group with “only” a 1.13 rating. NaVi’s s1mple, however, secured one match MVP after another as he recorded a 1.34 rating with a 1.62 KD. Only k0nfig managed to slightly surpass him, although his group (featuring G2, EG, and a weakened Vitality) was not nearly as demanding as Group C.
The last #BLASTPremier Spring Group winners, and they close it out with a ninja smoke defuse ?
Congratulations to our Group 3 winners @natusvincere ? https://t.co/C2oDpgApnw
— BLAST Premier ?♥ (@BLASTPremier) February 15, 2021
After two consecutive first-place finishes, Natus Vincere are looking really scary. Last year, they were victorious at IEM Katowice, beating G2 Esports in a clean 3-0 Grand Finals. They took home the crown of the very last offline CS:GO event, but this IEM will be held online. This obviously changes things, but at the Global Finals and in Group C, NaVi have more than proven that they’ve got the upper hand in online combat as well. Their rivals of last year, Astralis and Vitality, are also in attendance and will try to keep them from defending their title.