NA battle for World Final spot heats up at Pro League

BLAST Premier World Final 2024 is almost here and that means the race for qualification is well and truly hotting up.

Spirit, Vitality, NAVI, G2, and FaZe have already qualified and that means there’s just three spots left to grab for the event in Singapore, with not much time left to shake up the Leaderboard and book tickets to South East Asia.

Of course, BLAST Premier Fall Final is still yet to be played and a team could confirm their spot there, but let’s take a look at who could see themselves secure spots as a result of their Leaderboard placing.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

The current leaderboard

With Spirit winning both IEM Katowice and BLAST Premier Spring Final, there has already been one more spot afforded to the teams who are placed highest on the BLAST World Leaderboard.

G2 and FaZe have already qualified via Leaderboard placings thanks to their consistently high performances across the year, meaning that there are still two (Potentially three if a currently qualified team wins Fall Final) spots left for grabs for World Final.

MOUZ are the current frontrunners to secure a spot at the event, their 6450 points has them sitting pretty in sixth despite their early exit from ESL Pro League Season 20. However, MOUZ not being present at Fall Final, this is the final points tally they will end on.

Behind the German organisation is Astralis and Virtus.pro, the two teams who are the current favourites to round out the World Final lineup as long as a currently-qualified team wins Fall Final.

Virtus.pro could make huge strides in terms of their hopes of qualification if they are to reach the semi-finals of Pro League, while Astralis will still have another chance to earn points when they attend Fall Final after Pro League concludes.

However, that doesn’t mean their places are safe - and that’s where Pro League makes the race to qualify very exciting.

The NA battle

Thanks to Liquid’s resurgent form since the arrivals of jks and ultimate, the legendary organisation now see themselves in the strong position of ninth on the Leaderboard.

With 4975 points, they’re not far behind VP (5275) and Astralis (5550), and their chances at a high finish at Pro League could see them leapfrog one of the two teams ahead of them.

Already in the round of 12, Liquid need just one win in order to secure points from their time in Malta. Just securing points won’t be enough, however, they’ll need to at least get a semi-finals finish in order to secure 800 points and overtake the already eliminated Astralis.

This would also see them leapfrog Virtus.pro, however, the Jame-led team is currently in the round of 16, so securing points isn’t out of the question for them either.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

What makes Liquid’s road even more interesting is that they could meet their NA rivals Complexity on their road ahead. Complexity are due to face FaZe at 19:30 CEST today, and should they beat the former Major winners, they will meet Liquid in the next round of matches.

The NA side currently has 3600 points so they’re within an outside chance of qualifying with a very hard road ahead, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. They’re in strong form and have beaten MOUZ twice, so it might just be the time that Complexity manage to return to their early CS2 levels and pick up a tier one trophy.

A second-place finish would be enough to get them in the top eight on the Leaderboard, the 1800 points awarded for a second-place finish would see them just pip VP to the spot, but that’s only if VP doesn't pick up anymore points themselves.

However, if Complexity were to win Pro League and pick up the full 2400 points, they would also see themselves above Astralis, which would give them a fantastic opportunity to book their place at World Final.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

Who else could qualify?

The only other team still competing in Pro League that has a chance of qualifying is BIG, however, with just 2900 points, they would require a miracle in order to see themselves push forward from twelfth to eighth.

Lifting the trophy is the only way BIG can secure enough points, but they’d also need Complexity, Liquid, and Virtus.pro to all lose so that they don’t go far enough to secure enough points to stay above BIG even if they win the event.

Oh, and BIG would also have to face Vitality on the road to a potential trophy lift- so, no biggie.

The final team who we could be seeing in Singapore for World Final is Falcons. They’ve already been eliminated from Pro League, but their presence at Fall Final means they could secure qualification by lifting the trophy in Copenhagen.

Perhaps unlikely, but they’re a team with a point to prove and they are also one of the home favourites, so counting them out would be very unwise.