Who will earn the last three spots? Fall Groups Gauntlet preview

After eight days, the Group Stage of BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 is now over and we now know the first three teams to have booked their places at Fall Final.

Three teams have qualified, but a further nine teams still have games to play to decide their fate. Each one of them will want to qualify for Fall Final, but first, they'll have to run the Gauntlet and battle teams from other groups.

Confused on how it works? Allow us to provide an easy explanation.

How it works

The Gauntlet is split into three, single-elimination brackets. In the opening round of each brackets, the fourth place team from a group will face off against a third placed team from another group. The winner of that game will go on to play in a final match against the second placed team from the last remaining group, make sense? If not, let's take a look at the first bracket.

OG placed fourth in Group C, meaning that they will face BIG, the third placed team from Group B, in the opening round. Thanks to their shock defeat at the hands of NIP, Vitality, the Group A runners up, will be the team lying in wait for them in the final.

Photo: Michal Konkol

The remaining brackets

In the second Gauntlet bracket, the fourth placed team from Group A, Evil Geniuses, find themselves in one of their toughest games yet as they face off against G2 in the opening round. A team that would have been surprised to have fallen down to this bracket, they'll be looking to make light work of their North American opponents.

The winner of that game will go on to face NAVI, the runners up of Group B. A tough opponent on paper, it's still too early in to their time as a team to really be able to know what their level is, so providing G2 take down EG, at the very least, their game against NAVI will be insightful.

The final bracket will see an opening round between Astralis and Complexity. The Danes will be looking for a strong performance, they have been disappointing thus far and will need a good result to restore some faith in their team. As for Complexity, after their heartbreaking choke to NIP in the Group A Consolidation Final, they most important thing is that they managed to close out the game should it get close.

For either team, their final opponent will provide a match with a lot of history. For Complexity, a chance to beat Liquid is a chance to truly become the number one NA team, while for Astralis, it's a chance to relive their captivating rivalry that spanned 2018 and 2019.

Photo: Michal Konkol

Who are the favourites?

In the first bracket, it's very hard to not look at Vitality as the favourites. Winners of the BLAST.tv Paris Major and the highest ranked team remaining in the Fall Groups, it would be a huge shock to see them need the Fall Showdown in order to appear at Fall Final.

The second bracket is harder to judge. While NAVI have looked strong this event, and do still have s1mple, their most likely opponents for qualification are IEM Katowice winners G2. One of the most skilled rosters in the world, they will be a tough test for NAVI, but one they must overcome if they wish to be the top dog once more.

The final bracket, containing Astralis, Complexity, and Liquid, is hardest to judge. Second place in their group, Liquid should be the favourites, especially considering some of the Counter-Strike they've played so far, but for such a new team, there could easily be growing pains. As for Complexity and Astralis, both teams look great on their days. On their off days, however, it can be quite the opposite.

Photo: Michal Konkol