BLAST Pro Series Global Final preview

Four teams will play their final event of the year this week in Riffa, Bahrain, where the $500,000 BLAST Pro Series Global Final will take place. Before it starts, we took a look at all of the teams and analyzed their chances of lifting the trophy at the ISA Sports City.

To decide the BLAST Pro Series Global Final champion, a double-elimination BO3 bracket will be used, with two matches played during each of the three days of the event. Astralis, Liquid, FaZe, and Ninjas in Pyjamas are in contention for the title, having earned spots by performing well throughout the BLAST Pro Series 2019 season.

The bracket for the Global Final was determined based on the season standings, which saw FaZe finish first as the only team with victories at two different BLAST stops, Miami and Copenhagen. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's team will be taking on Ninjas in Pyjamas first, which results in Liquid and Astralis facing each other in their opening game, setting up the eighth BO3 series between these two teams in 2019.

The full BLAST Pro Series 2019 season standing is available below:

FaZe - 30 points
Liquid - 28 points
Astralis - 26 points
Ninjas in Pyjamas - 24 points

Natus Vincere - 12 points
MIBR - 12 points
Cloud9 - 6 points

Without further ado, let's take a look at the four top-10 teams in competition in Bahrain.

Giving away a 14-8 lead on the final map of a series is not something we expect to see from Astralis, but things seem to change when they are on home soil, as was displayed at the ESL Pro League Finals last week and BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen a month ago. But there is reason for optimism for their fans ahead of this event: while Astralis do not have the best track record in Denmark, they usually bounce back from domestic disasters with vigorous victories. Following BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018 they claimed the IEM Chicago title, while this year's edition of the tournament in the Danish capital was followed by a sweeping victory at IEM Beijing.

On the surface, it seems like there isn't much on the line for Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and co., but even though they cemented themselves at the top of the rankings going into 2020, they will still want to keep their main rival for the past two years, Liquid, as distant as possible. The opening match sees the two sides match up in a BO3, which, if Astralis manage to win, will see their series record in 2019 against the North Americans go up to 6-2 in their favor. Winning the tournament, aside from keeping the trophy out of Liquid's hands, would also help Astralis end, once and for all, the discussion about who the better team in 2019 was, claiming that (unofficial) title for the second year in a row.

Are Astralis still favorites for the BLAST Pro Series Global Final after what happened in Odense? Of course. The Danes showed a respectable level throughout, despite Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz not playing up to his standard (1.05 rating, third highest-rated in his team). Even if he does not show up in prime form, Astralis are favored to take out any team at the event, but the AWPer returning to his MVP-level would almost certainly result in the Danes winning their sixth Big event trophy of 2019.

As the dry spell continues, frustration builds for Liquid. Five months have now passed since the North Americans lifted their last trophy, at IEM Chicago, with Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's team not even coming close to doing that since the summer break. The nearest they have been was at the start of the month at the ECS Season 8 Finals, but a win in the championship match against Astralis was never actually within their reach.

Liquid are at least not as vulnerable as they were right after the summer; they are reaching playoffs consistently and their last three losses came against Astralis (twice) and fnatic, both respectable teams. But it looks like a tournament win is needed for the North American troops to rally back and start contending for titles, just like they did in their Intel Grand Slam Season 2 campaign after winning IEM Sydney.

However, as Liquid found out in 2018, trophies don't come easy, not even if you have Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski performing admirably at almost every event. The 22-year-old is yet to have a below-average rated event this year, posting a 1.21 average rating at LAN events over the last three months. A win here for Liquid and perhaps another MVP award to EliGE's name (he already has three in 2019) could give him an extra push in what will certainly be his highest placing in the top 20 player of the year list. A more realistic outcome for Liquid is to just outplace FaZe and Ninjas in Pyjamas, and settle for an "ok" end to a year that looked much more promising before the summer break.

After FaZe's unexpected triumph at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, we were all left thinking if what we saw was just flash in the pan. The European roster had done a similar thing earlier in the year, winning BLAST Pro Series Miami, so the suspicion was warranted. Two events later, the jury is still out on FaZe.

Two BO3 wins over Evil Geniuses at IEM Beijing were a promising sign, but then they were demolished by Astralis in the semi-finals, managing just two rounds over the same number of maps. The results that came afterwards followed a similar up-and-down trend: a victory over Vitality and then losses to MIBR and 100 Thieves.

Looking at their individuals, an aspect which is always going to be key for FaZe and their approach to the game, there is also some contrast. NiKo, who looked completely lost in the period around the StarLadder Major, has found his footing, finishing four consecutive events with 1.15+ ratings. Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David was keeping up with his teammate until the Pro League Finals, with Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer also falling significantly below his three-month average at the tournament in Denmark - worrying signs from the team's main AWPer.

Regardless of the form their individuals show up in, FaZe will be looking to at least outdo Ninjas in Pyjamas, the lowest-ranked team at the event, and potentially pick up an upset BO3 win to gain some confidence leading into 2020.

Despite quite a few changes throughout the year, Ninjas in Pyjamas have for the most part remained a top 10 team, which is, in a way, worthy of both praise and critique. Without massive spending and with constant disruptions, the Ninjas in Pyjamas players have managed to grab playoff spots at events such as DreamHack Masters Malmö, ESL One Cologne, and IEM Sydney, but, at the same time, without taking any significant steps forward.

Ninjas in Pyjamas's biggest positive sign in recent times has been Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora, who is starting to prove that his signing was warranted. He has formed a strong partnership with veteran Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg, from whom the Ninjas can still expect some vintage performances after he appeared at the Major in abysmal form.

The fact that is worrying is that Ninjas in Pyjamas don't have many win conditions over their opponents at BLAST. With Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson looking mediocre at every tournament bar StarSeries i-League S8, and Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner on a decline, especially after his latest role shift, the Swedes, averaging just 0.78 multikills per round, will struggle to hold up to the individual prowess of their opponents. The teamwork is also questionable, as a 70% 5v4 conversion rate and only 18.8% of traded deaths put them at the bottom of the list of teams in Bahrain in both categories.

Ninjas in Pyjamas always have that upset potential whenever they go, but achieving a big result in the BO3-heavy format at the BLAST Pro Series Global Final is going to be very unlikely.