Now coming very close to the end of BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023, day ten has seen both heartbreak and jubilation for our teams in Copenhagen. One team qualified, two teams were sent packing, and one team will live to fight another day.
Well into our single elimination Gauntlet, another spot at Fall Final has been claimed, and G2 had to avoid a scare against NA underdogs EG to book their final game against NAVI.
Before that though, we got our first taste of a new chapter in a historic rivalry when Astralis faced off against Team Liquid.
The two teams vying for Fall Final qualification on day ten have experienced very different fortunes in Copenhagen thus far. Having suffered defeats against NAVI and BIG, it took until day nine for Astralis to claim their first victory at the event, whereas Liquid opened their account with victories against both G2 and FaZe.
A matchup with a storied history from a different era of Counter-Strike, just as it so often did back then, it would see Astralis come out as the victors.
One of the only two players in the server left from the foundations of the rivalry, device, had another strong performance on Overpass with a 22-14 scoreline, although he was outfragged by b0RUP who finished the map with 24 kills. A 16-11 victory for the Danes, they once again showed their proficiency on a map that has been so reliable for them in their organisation's history.
The Danish duo kept up their strong performances on Inferno, and device was tied with blameF as the top fragger with 19 kills. A 16-9 victory for Astralis, they qualified for Fall Final with all of their players going positive, a stark contrast to a Liquid team that didn't have a single player with a positive KD.
Considering Evil Geniuses have only just promoted the EG Black roster and G2 are meant to be one of the best teams in the world, no one would have expected that the international squadron would have required a choke from the NA side to even still be at the event.
G2 started the series incredibly strongly. A 16-7 win on Inferno, NiKo starred with a 27-9 scoreline as every member of the G2 squad finished the game with a positive KD. On the flipside, everyone struggled on the side of EG, and the entire team failed to have even a neutral KD.
While everyone would have expected EG to be down and out at this point, the former academy team defied all expectations by coming back to win the second map of Nuke. NiKo was again the main star on the server, but junior and co. managed to put in a great team performance on one of G2's best maps to pull off a shock 16-13 victory.
Now on a confidence high, EG carried their momentum into Mirage. Walco, junior, and autimatic all performed well again, and at 15-10, it looked as if EG had the series wrapped up. Unfortunately, being such a new team, EG didn't have the composure to see the game out, and a run of nine rounds straight for G2 saw them comeback to win the map and series 19-15.
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