BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 Preview
/Today, October 12, the next major tournament, BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021, will start. 16 teams from Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia will compete for a prize pool of $ 162,500, BLAST Premier points, as well as two main prizes - tickets to BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021. In this regard, we invite you to get acquainted with the preview of the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021, which will surely bring a couple of surprises.
Tournament format and prize pool distribution
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 will run online for six days - October 12-17. At the same time, the tournament format assumes a single playoff grid with matches in the BO3 format. Any losing team is eliminated from the tournament, depriving it of the chance to get to the autumn finals.
Below is the grid of BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021:
Prize fund distribution:
- 1-2 place: $ 30,000 + 1500 points + a slot on BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021.
- 1-2 place: $ 30,000 + 1500 points + a slot on BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021.
- 3-4th place: $ 16,250 + 625 points.
- 3-4th place: $ 16,250 + 625 points.
- 5th-8th place: $ 10,000 + 187.5 points.
- 5th-8th place: $ 10,000 + 187.5 points.
- 5th-8th place: $ 10,000 + 187.5 points.
- 5th-8th place: $ 10,000 + 187.5 points.
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
- 9th-16th place: $ 3,750
The main contenders for victory
Among the main favorites are several teams: G2, Heroic, Liquid, Virtus.pro and Complexity. At the same time, the G2 team stands out from this five, which in recent weeks has begun to gain shape. In turn, the Danes from Heroic have a difficult period, and only the tournament will show the ambitions of the team against the background of the investigation from ESIC. In any case, the grid favors both teams, which have the highest chances to go to the autumn finals in Copenhagen.
Let's not forget about Liquid, who, although they could not win the final RMR tournament in North America, still showed a consistency that they performed well at the EPL in September.
Complexity and Virtus.pro have approximately equal chances to surprise. If the first tournament is needed to rehabilitate after the failure at IEM Fall 2021 Europe, then the time for changes is coming for the Russian team. Moreover, Virtus.pro is in the phase when the team chooses the time of the official announcement of a new player, and if these five show themselves worthily at the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021, then we can hardly expect FL1T to appear before the PGL Major.
Who is interesting to watch
Among the interesting representatives of the tournament are the following teams: 9z, MAD Lions, OG, paiN, Fiend and Movistar Riders. At the same time, several teams from the presented ones have good chances to catch on to the result. For example, Movistar Riders performed well at IEM Fall 2021 Europe, finishing in 5th place and showing their true potential. PaiN deserves similar epithets, which failed to jump into the "Legends" of the PGL Major, but still showed a cool game at a distance.
Six months later, 9z will also return to Europe, which flashed at BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2021, closing Vitality at that tournament. And the potential of the Latin American team is crazy, which should be enough to fight against the giants.
MAD Lions and Fiend are on roughly equal terms, as the teams will start their journey with far from the strongest opponents. And if they properly tune in to the tournament, they can cling to the result with better opponents.
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 for OG should be a serious test of strength. As we remember, the team failed at the last IEM Fall 2021 Europe, failing to qualify for the PGL Major. And if this line-up fails again at a big tournament, then the organization will probably think about substitutions. In any case, OG is able to compete for the TOP-2, although the team tends to fail at a distance.
Outsiders
It's no surprise that Dignitas, Lynn Vision, POGGERZ, MIBR and Evil Geniuses stand out among the championship outsiders. And if the Swedish team can still compete somewhere, given the grid, then everything is very sad with the Chinese team.
With POGGERZ, everything is pretty concise. In order to sensibly evaluate the team, it is enough to ask one question: "Who is this at all?"
MIBR and Evil Geniuses deserve separate words. The Brazilian team still can't find themselves, forced to enter the transfer market and dismantle competitors. However, the problems have been dragging on the team for several months now, and MIBR is unlikely to be able to realize itself at the next major tournament in Europe. With Evil Geniuses, the story is much more interesting, since the team not only made it to the PGL Major, but also flew into Legends. Nevertheless, the latest results of the team in Europe make you cry, from which the chances of success in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 are close to zero in advance.