All the brutal, brilliant action from the Royal Arena and the BLAST Fall Finals Day 4.
Copenhagen’s Royal Arena is a hallowed CSGO battlefield, and another chapter was added as the Semifinals of BLAST Fall Finals 2022 took place there. Team Liquid took on Heroic in the first match, and FaZe Clan locked horns with Ninjas in Pyjamas in the second. Both games once again went the distance, and there were even a couple of Overtimes involved. If you couldn’t catch the games, here’s what happened.
BLAST Fall Finals – Team Liquid vs Heroic
Many people had been saying that Heroic reaching the Grand Final of the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major was a fluke, so the onus was on them to prove them wrong by reaching another final. Liquid have been too many, but wins have been rare for them and adding this to the tally would do wonders for their confidence.
On the first map, Heroic showed just why they picked Overpass as they put up 8 rounds on the T-side to create a strong advantage for themselves going into the second half. Liquid started their own T-side well, but the Danes subsequently turned the sites into steel cages, taking eight rounds on the trot to finish the game 16-10. Martin “stavn” Lund and René “TeSeS” Madsen led the table for the winners.
Over the many years of their existence, the one thing Liquid have almost never done is give up without a fight, and on Inferno, they came to play. This time it was them putting up 8 strong rounds at the halfway mark. However, Heroic came back strong and managed to reach OT despite being down 15-13 with a weakened economy. It was all good for Liquid, though, because they won 19-17. Once again, stavn was incredible for Heroic, but Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis and Keith “NAF” Markovic matched him well and got the victory for their team.
Going into Vertigo, the excitement in the arena was at fever pitch. Despite a good start on the attack from the Americans, Heroic shut down the Terrorists and picked up a whopping 11 rounds on the defense. Switched around, they had a tough time initially but soon managed to end the game with the scores at 16-9. TeSeS and stavn were amazing once again, but this time it was Rasmus “sjuush” Beck who outdid even them.
FaZe Clan vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
It’s been a while since NIP were a force to be reckoned with in CSGO, but after a recent low point, a renaissance might be in the works. Up against a daunting, in-form FaZe, they put up a fantastic fight that any team would be proud of. Speaking of whom, FaZe showed that they don’t just have heaps of talent, but tons of experience that has given them nerves of steel and the resilience of roaches.
NIP’s pick of Overpass might have come as a surprise to some, but they made a strong point of it by rushing to a 7-2 lead. FaZe fought back hard, though, and even won the half. On the other side, however, NIP were simply too strong. Thanks largely to Finnish superstar Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen’s incredible contributions, NIP were able to end the map 16-11 for a commendable triumph. Helvijs “broky” Saukants was also excellent for his team, but his efforts were in vain.
One would have expected FaZe to rule the roost on their map Nuke, but it wasn’t anything like that. After getting off to a great start on the T-side, they were utterly shut down and had to settle for a 9-6 half. Soon, they were down 14-7 and it looked like the international superteam wasn’t going to make it. However, they managed to hunker down and, with Robin “ropz” Kool being a cool, calm, and collected killing machine, take the game into OT. With the stakes higher than ever, FaZe were able to win the OT 19-17 and take the series into a third map.
You only get so many chances against such a strong team, and NIP seemed to have run out of luck on Mirage. They gave away 8 rounds on the CT-side, and when it came to the attack, they were just about toothless. Despite a commendable effort from Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, it was the dual ownage of Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Håvard “rain” Nygaard that won the fight 16-8.
Don’t forget to join us tomorrow for a recap of the Grand Final, and check out the variety of CSGO stuff we’ve written for your reading pleasure.
