The last CS2 tournament of the year – BLAST World Final 2023
radoslaw-davidovic
BLAST World Final 2023 is the last big CS2 tournament of the year. It took place in Abu Dhabi from December 13 to 17. The tournament featured the eight strongest teams, and we will discuss who won, what critical mistakes FaZe made, and look at the highlights.
Let’s get to the tournament and why it’s so important.
In article you will find:
BLAST World Final 2023: Teams, Stages, and Awards
BLAST World Final 2023 is one of the most important tournaments in CS2. Many teams try to show good results and win all year long to have another chance to earn big prize money and get a prestigious cup at the end of the year.
The tournament has a big prize pool of $1 million, of which the winner will receive half, and the rest of the money will be divided among the teams. Not a small amount, right?
Although the tournament is one of the biggest of the year, only eight teams compete. The first stage is the Group Stage. The Group Stage consists of two groups of four teams, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the Playoffs. The two weakest teams leave the tournament.
It is worth noting that the two teams that showed the best results during the Group Stage go straight to the Semifinals, while the other teams play in the Quarterfinals. Interesting games start from the very beginning of the tournament because everyone wants to show what they are capable of.
At any stage of the Playoffs, if a team loses, it leaves the tournament.
Group Stage
The Group Stage of the competition kicked off with the seeded teams, eight of which were divided into two groups of four. In these groups, the teams competed for a place in the Playoffs.
Here are the teams participating in this tournament:
- Team Vitality
- Cloud9
- Natus Vincere
- ENCE
- FaZe Clan
- G2 Esports
- MOUZ
- Heroic
So, let’s move on to Group A.
Group A
Based on the seeding, the following teams were placed in Group A: Team Vitality, Cloud9, Natus Vincere, and ENCE.
Vitality was the favorite of Group A. They immediately showed that they were truly worthy of the title of favorites. In the first match against NAVI, they beat them 2:0 (Anubis 13:8, Overpass 13:6).
Having won the first victory against the Ukrainian team, Vitality then met Cloud9. The situation was identical – Vitality crushed their opponent and earned a well-deserved victory 2:0 (Anubis 13:11, Inferno 13:8), securing a spot in the Semifinals.
Things were a little worse for Natus Vincere. After the loss to the French team, NAVI had a difficult situation. They either win and advance to the Quarterfinals or lose and leave the tournament. The same situation was with ENCE, which had already lost to Cloud9. Both teams fought for their lives and played three maps.
Still, NAVI proved stronger and defeated the opponent 2:1 (Anubis 4:13, Ancient 13:11, Nuke 13:11). ENCE lost twice and left the tournament. At the same time, Team Vitality, Cloud9, and Natus Vincere advanced to the Playoff Stage.
Let’s move on to Group B.
Group B
Based on the seeding, the following teams were placed in Group B: FaZe Clan, G2 Esports,
MOUZ, and Heroic.
Everyone who follows CS2 knows that FaZe currently ranks first in the team list on hltv.org. Therefore, this team was the clear favorite of Group B and the entire tournament, even with a replacement player. Recall that Twistzz left FaZe, and David “frozen” Čerňanský was invited to replace him.
The first opponent for FaZe was Heroic. They were able to handle it quite easily, winning 2:0 (Overpass 13:3, Ancient 16:14). After their first victory, FaZe waited for the second winner to compete for a place in the Semifinals, which turned out to be G2, who had already defeated MOUZ with a 2:0 score.
The match between FaZe and G2 was a real battle for the Semifinals. The teams played three maps and fought to the last round, but in overtime on the third map, FaZe overcame the opponent and guaranteed themselves a place in the Semifinals.
The only team in Group B that failed to win a single match was Heroic. They showed good results, but fortune was not on their side.
Now, we move on to the Quarterfinals of this tournament.
Quarterfinals
Teams that tied 1:1 in the Group Stage advanced to the Quarterfinals, where they will compete for a place in the Semifinals. The team that loses at this stage receives $25,000 and leaves the tournament.
Cloud9 vs MOUZ
The first Quarterfinal match took place on December 15 between Cloud9 and MOUZ. The teams picked maps: MOUZ picked Mirage, and Cloud9 picked Ancient. Overpass was supposed to be the decisive map, but it didn’t come to that. MOUZ crushed their opponent without giving them a chance.
No one expected the situation to be so bad for Cloud9 on Mirage. MOUZ started the map as counter-terrorists, and in the first half, they played with an incredible 11:1 score. After switching sides, they easily won 2 rounds and sent the opponent to the second map.
Cloud9 was hoping to bounce back on Ancient. After such a defeat of 13:1, Cloud9, even on Ancient, made incredible mistakes. Perhaps the previous match affected the team, perhaps the big difference in teams, but even on the second map, MOUZ easily defeated Cloud9, defeating them with a 13:7 score.
MOUZ easily defeated Cloud9 and advanced to the Semifinals, where FaZe was already waiting for them.
G2 Esports vs Natus Vincere
The second match was, fortunately, much more exciting, and neither team clearly dominated. Both teams played very well.
The first map was Anubis, picked by NAVI. Things were going well for Navi at the beginning of the map, but by the end of the half, G2 joined the game and tied the score at 6:6. After switching sides, the situation repeated itself.
NAVI pressured the opponent, but G2 did not give up and fought back. Such a will to win of both teams led them to the same score, after which a series of overtimes began, where G2 still won the map.
After losing, NAVI gathered their strength because they realized they would leave the tournament if they lost another map. That is why the team often took breaks and generally used familiar but working strategies, thus with great difficulty, but they could win on the second map with a 13:11 score.
The decisive map was Nuke, one of the NAVI’s signature maps. It was a very easy map for NAVI. They confidently took many rounds and showed why G2 should ban this map. NAVI won the match with a 2:1 score and advanced to the next stage, where they faced Vitality.
Now, it’s time to advance to the tournament’s next stage.
Semifinals
Every team that made it to the Semifinals was guaranteed to receive $85,000, but that was nothing compared to the grand prize. Only two teams could advance from the Semifinals and compete for the grand prize.
FaZe Clan vs MOUZ
FaZe and MOUZ played one of the most exciting matches of the entire tournament, with hundreds of thousands of viewers watching the game simultaneously. The match was one of the top three most-watched matches of the entire tournament. Even though FaZe was the favorite, MOUZ was able to put on a great show.
The first map was Mirage, picked by MOUZ. They had already shown how well they played on it in their previous matchup against Cloud9, where they won 13:1, but the opponent here was more serious.
FaZe won the first four rounds, but MOUZ was able to fight back and equalize the score. After that, the teams gradually took rounds and tied at 6:6 in the first half. However, after the sides switched, MOUZ tried to hold their defense, but FaZe attacked much better. With a 13:11 score, FaZe was able to win the first map, but with great effort.
The next map was Overpass. FaZe played as a terrorists in the first half and successfully took the first three rounds. However, MOUZ gathered money and offered resistance, but only for a short time. FaZe closed the first half with a 7:5 score.
After the teams switched sides, FaZe played on the CT side. They were able to win the first four rounds again, bringing the score to 11:5. However, MOUZ did the incredible. They were able to get to a 12:11 score, and in the last round, they had only a few seconds to plant the bomb, but they did not manage to do it, and that is why they lost.
FaZe won the match with a 2:0 score and advanced to the Grand Final!
Team Vitality vs Natus Vincere
We already said that the match between FaZe Clan and MOUZ was third on the list of the most popular. Still, the second place was the match between Team Vitality and Natus Vincere, where Vitality showed an incredible performance.
The first map, Anubis, picked by NAVI, could have been better for the team, as Vitality acted quickly and aggressively, and NAVI was not ready for such a turn of events. The first half of the map ended with an 8:4 score in favor of Vitality.
Perhaps NAVI was counting on the swishing sides, but it did not help them. Vitality steamrolled the opponent in the second half and won the first map with a 13:5 score.
After losing, NAVI was disappointed but not broken. At the beginning of the second map, they were able to show that they were strong and could give a worthy rebuff to Vitality! NAVI led quickly, reaching a 1:6 score, but Vitality took control of the situation, took a break, and put forth a reliable defense. That helped them to repel all attacks of the opponent and come out to the 6:6 score.
The second half was easier for Vitality. Team Vitality killed the opponent’s entire team five times and got a good lead in rounds, eventually finishing the whole game with a 13:9 score. Although there were many viewers, unfortunately, the game was not as interesting as the previous one.
Vitality won 2:0 and advanced to the Grand Final, where they will meet FaZe, the strongest opponent of the tournament.
Now, we move on to the most interesting and tense Grand Final.
Grand Final
In the Grand Final, the two strongest teams met, which from the very beginning of the tournament were clear contenders for victory, Team Vitality and FaZe Clan.
Here’s the list of map selections and bans:
- Vitality removed Ancient
- FaZe removed Vertigo
- Vitality picked Inferno
- FaZe picked Nuke
- Vitality removed Mirage
- FaZe removed Anubis
- Overpass was left over
Inferno
The beginning was very difficult for FaZe. Even the fact that they were able to plant the bomb in the first round did not help the team to win it. Vitality incredibly held the defense. In the first three rounds, Vitality allowed the bomb to be planted, but each time, they killed the entire team and defused it, which gave a good economic boost.
After FaZe lost three rounds, they received a loss bonus and could buy the necessary devices. FaZe was able to win the 4 round thanks to it. This round helped the team to restore the economy. In the next few rounds, FaZe continued to win, equalized the score, and even took the lead 4:3.
However, Vitality is a very strong opponent, and every mistake is punished with a lost round. What FaZe did, making just one mistake, Vitality was able to turn the round to their advantage and win, after which they established dominance on the map and finished the first half with an 8:4 score, which FaZe did not expect.
The second half was very easy for Vitality. They planted the bomb four times in a row and won by explosion. With a 12:4 score, it was already impossible to win. Although FaZe won 1 round, Vitality soon finished the first map with a 13:5 score.
Nuke
FaZe were out of their element on Nuke. ropz shot well, but sometimes he was just unlucky. Karrigan came out with m4a1 against three enemies with pistols and could not do anything. In general, FaZe let Vitality slip through, who was moving from Outside to Secret without smoke grenades. No one controlled this area, and seeing such a performance from a top-1 team was unexpected.
Vitality won the first two rounds, but then FaZe started to play better and took five rounds in a row. In the eighth round, they made a mistake and lost the round, which gave Vitality the advantage. Vitality took five more rounds in a row to close out the first half with a 7:5 score.
The second half started well for FaZe. They correctly predicted where their opponents were going and met them head-on at RAPM. It seemed like everything was going their way. FaZe won the first pistol round and had the advantage of devices.
However, things quickly turned sour for FaZe. First, Carrigan dies in the Garage. Then, the team made an unsuccessful rotation and lost another round. In the next round, they lost again. And so it went on for several rounds in a row. FaZe’s game was beyond understanding, and they were completely unlike themselves.
Thanks to Vitality’s strong play and FaZe’s mistakes, Vitality won the second map without much difficulty and became the champions of the BLAST World Final 2023.
Congratulations to Vitality! They received the main prize and $500,000.
Highlights
Let’s look at the highlights of this tournament.
To Sum Up!
The last Blast tournament of the year ended with Vitality’s victory. We want to thank all the teams that have provided us with such entertaining matches throughout the year. However, the fun does not end there. We have many interesting events and giveaways on our website, so come in, participate, and get into the Christmas and New Year spirit.
Radosław Davidović is Hellcase’s customer success manager. He enjoys blogging to share his knowledge and experience with customers.