Preview of BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021

Tomorrow begins BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2021 – there twelve teams will compete in three GSL groups. Although the event features a hefty prize pool of $150,000, money is not what most teams are looking for here: six best teams of the group stage will qualify for the seasonal final, while the others will play at BLAST Premier Fall Showdown.

Group A will be played from September 16th to 18th, featuring Astralis, Vitality, Evil Geniuses and Liquid. If Vitality will be able to maintain the level of performance they showed at ESL Pro League 14, where they placed second after losing 2-3 to NAVI in the grand finals , the team is very likely to win the group. The other team to look for is, obviously, Astralis – however, once a powerhouse, recently the Danish team has been showing disappointing results. Moreover, the team will play at the event without their captain Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander. The first match-ups of Group A look as follows (UK time):

• September 16th, 3:30 PM: Astralis vs EG
• September 16th, 6:00 PM: Vitality vs Liquid

Group B is scheduled for September 20th – 22nd, the teams are G2, NiP, MIBR and BIG. This group will show us whether G2’s performance at EPL 14 was an anomaly – there they, one of the strongest teams of the world, failed to win a single series. However, their previous results – 2nd finish at IEM XVI – Cologne and 3rd place at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021 – still make them the favourites of the group, seeing as other teams of the group have not been able to show significant results for quite some time. The first series of Group B are following:

• September 20th, 3:30 PM: G2 vs MIBR
• September 20th, 6:30 PM: NiP vs BIG

The final group of the event will start on September 24th. The group features NAVI, FaZe, OG and Complexity, which makes it probably the most competitive one. It will be interesting to see whether NAVI be able to continue their winning streak, which includes their victories at EPL 14, IEM XVI – Cologne and StarLadder CIS RMR 2021. The other teams to look for are OG, who recently placed 3rd – 4th at EPL 14, and FaZe, who, despite their humble recent results, few month ago managed to finish 3rd – 4th at IEM XVI – Cologne. The first match-ups are as follows:

• September 24th, 3:30 PM: NAVI vs OG
• September 24th, 6:30 PM: FaZe vs Complexity