BIG send G2 to BLAST Premier Fall Finals lower bracket

The German squad came out on top in a marathon match to secure a spot in the upper bracket final against Vitality.

BIG defeated G2 in a two-map series in the BLAST Premier Fall Finals upper bracket semi-final, which puts Tobias "⁠tow b⁠" Herberhold’s men up against the red-hot Vitality next for a spot in the tournament’s grand final, while the French-Serbian squad will now go on to face off against Astralis in a lower bracket semi-final match to survive in the tournament.

The two teams last faced off at DreamHack Open Fall, where BIG came out on top in another upper bracket affair, 2-1. This time around the match opened up on Inferno, the same as the in the aforementioned series, but unlike last time it was now BIG who took it. The Germans hoped to close it out on their pick, Dust2, but G2 struck back taking the map in the last round to send the series to the decider.

The match came down to Mirage, which the two teams had not played in their last bout, and both went neck-and-neck in a first half that BIG secured 8-7. The second half was an equally close affair, going all the way to 29 rounds, but in the end G2 couldn't stop the No. 5 team in the world from securing the map and series.

BIG went up 3-0 on the attacking side of Inferno, but G2 were quick to tie it all back up by the sixth round. Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač and Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub then propped up the Franco-Serbian squad with several multi-kill rounds each as they took the defending side of the map 9-6 before switching sides. After taking the pistol round, BIG dominated the play on the defense, allowing G2 just three out of the first five rounds before going on a rampage, winning six straight to hit map point and close it out 16-12.

The German squad brought their momentum over to Dust2, where they went up 4-0 on the CT side, but G2 were able to stabilize and start to pile up successful attacks, regaining the lead. Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş hit three Desert Eagle headshots in the 12th round to open up his personal tally on the map, but it wasn’t enough as G2 took the round on their way to an 11-4 half.

BIG took the second pistol round and won three in a row to make it 7-11 before G2 put a small hiatus in Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and company’s comeback attempt, but the terrorists had absolutely no intention of letting up, chaining round after round to 12-13, although finally fell short in a barn burner that went all the way with G2 surviving 16-14.

Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković won a 1vs1 on B to defuse the bomb and win the first Mirage round for G2, but BIG retaliated in the forcebuy. The match became a brawl as the teams went back-and-forth, with the German squad picking up steam but unable to run away, taking the half 8-7. nexa and company took the lead after the second pistol round, but constant pressure from BIG put the German squad back ahead as they went on to close the series out with a victory, 16-13.