BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 kicks off Wednesday in Abu Dhabi
BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 kicked off on Wednesday. Six winning teams from two groups — Team Liquid, Vitality, FaZe Clan, OG, Natus Vincere and G2 — advance to the playoffs.
BLAST Premier is the last Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major in 2022, taking place in Abu Dhabi from December 14 to 18, with the prize pool amounting to $1 million. The champion and the runner-up will bring home $500,000 and $250,000, respectively. Meanwhile, each semifinal loser will get $85,000.
This tournament features eight teams, who were the champions of the BLAST Premier Series’ Spring and Fall Final. The organizer separated these teams into Groups A and B for the first stage of the tournaments. Group A consists of FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, G2 Esports and Outsiders, while Group B comprises OG, Team Vitality, Heroic and Natus Vincere.
The top three teams from each group will head to the playoffs. Each group’s No. 1 immediately advances to the semifinals on Saturday. Meanwhile, No. 2 and No. 3 still need to win in the quarterfinals on Friday. The playoffs implement a single elimination format to determine the finalists for Sunday’s grand match.
Wednesday’s gameplay
Team Liquid defeated Outsiders 2-1. It lost the first game on Inferno 16-10. However, the team later claimed 16-8 wins during battles on Anubis and Mirage. Liquid’s Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski posted the most kills at 56. Teammate Keith “NAF” Markovic followed closely with 53 kills and a plus-22 differential.
G2 Esports lost 2-1 to FaZe. The European team won 16-10 on the Nuke map but posted a 19-17 loss on Inferno and a 16-4 loss on the last map. Robin “ropz” Kool of FaZe was the record maker of this match with 70 kills and a plus-25 kill-death differential.
The 2022 major winners were stumped on the first elimination day. OG defeated Fall Finals winner Heroic 2-1. OG won 16-11 in the first round on Inferno.
Heroic managed to tie the score with a 16-9 victory on Mirage. However, Heroic lost to OG in the deciding match on Anubis that went to double overtime, 4-1 and 22-19. Russian player Abdul “degster” Gasanov of OG posted the match’s highest record of 70 kills and a plus-24 kill-death differential.
Vitality stole the first day from Spring Finals winner Natus Vincere. The team won 19-6 on Inferno, then 16-11 on Nuke. Israeli player Lotan “Spinx” Giladi of Vitality recorded the highest kill of 51, while his teammate, France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, led the kill-death differential with a plus-17.
The elimination round for losers of Day 1 is held today. G2 and Outsiders faced each other in Group A, with the former winning the game, and Natus Vincere defeated Heroic in Group B. Each Day 1’s winner is also scheduled to face the other winner of the same group to determine teams that will immediately get to the semifinals. FaZe won over Liquid in Group A, while Group B’s winner will be determined later.
Partnership with ADGaming
This year’s BLAST Premier is a part of a three-year collaboration with ADGaming, an initiative funded by the Abu Dhabi government to foster an “esports and gaming ecosystem” in the region. The partnership was first announced by the organizer back in June.
BLAST Managing Director Charlotte Kenny said the organizer was “committed to bringing our best-in-class shows to all corners of the globe” and “proud to be working with AD Gaming to provide the BLAST Premier World Final in Abu Dhabi.”
ADGaming has worked with household game developers, including After Work Games and Ubisoft. The organization is currently working with another tournament organizer, EStars, to host more events.
