Liquid secure statement victory as NAVI fall to lower bracket at BLAST

The overwhelming favorites of the tournament have been sent straight to the lower bracket.

Natus Vincere have suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Liquid in the opening round of the BLAST Premier World Final after a back-and-forth series, which saw the two teams trade maps before the North American side picked up a statement victory on the deciding Inferno.

The shocking loss sees the tournament favorites' chances to finish the year on a high note with a third consecutive title take a massive hit, as a daunting run awaits Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company in the lower bracket, where they will need to win five consecutive series to clinch the trophy.

In what is by all accounts the last appearance of the current Liquid iteration ahead of big changes in the squad in 2022, the North American team move on to Thursday's upper bracket semi-finals to set up a clash against the winner of the second quarter-final between Gambit and HEROIC.

It was back to slow starts for Natus Vincere when they entered their opening series at the final event of the year, as despite a significant early lead they couldn't bring Liquid's map pick home on Overpass.

The North American side fought back from a 2-6 deficit on the T side to make it a one-round half, and once they switched over to the defense they seemed to have everything under control once they were able to buy up rifles in the third round.

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip played a key role in particular in helping Liquid take their first lead on the map and then bring it over the finish line in a dominant display, with the latter ending up on top of the board thanks to five multikills in the second half.

Down by a map in the best-of-three, NAVI quickly returned to winning ways with a quick response on Dust2. Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic was a nuisance for the CIS squad at first, defending B with several multikills in the first few gunrounds, but then s1mple and company ran away with the map with a few successful splits towards the same bombsite.

After switching sides, Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy stepped in with a 1v2 clutch in the pistol and Natus Vincere steamrolled the opposition to force Inferno.

What followed was utter domination from Liquid, who lost the opening pistol round of the map once again but this time never looked back. NAF's stellar play in defense of B staggered Natus Vincere's offense as the CIS team found themselves grasping for answers without success, and the underdogs went on a 15-1 run to reach series point and close it soon after at 16-7.