Sangal eliminate BIG from BLAST Premier Fall Showdown

After narrowly missing out on a place at IEM Rio, Sangal have taken a big scalp in the opening round of the Fall Showdown.

Sangal have taken down BIG in an upset ending with an incredible comeback. The German squad was in prime position to close out the series with a 2-1 victory as they were 15-10 up in the final map, Vertigo, but thanks to heroics from the entire team Sangal brought the game into overtime and completed the upset.

BIG were heavy favorites coming into this matchup after Sangal suffered a devastating 16-3 loss in a best-of-one to the German side at the recent Regional Major Ranking event ahead of the IEM Rio Major. At the RMR, the team around Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant showcased an upwards trajectory but ended up narrowly missing out on a spot in Brazil following a tightly-contested deciding match against MOUZ.

With the Major just around the corner and BIG still playing with Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein as a substitute for an ill Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann, the result leaves the German side in a difficult position heading into the IEM Rio Major, starting in just 11 days. In Rio, Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's team will continue to play with the academy member, with their first match pitting them against home team FURIA.

Dust2 was the first map in the series, with BIG making it look like they would continue where they had left off at the RMR and take another win over Sangal. The Germans took the first half 9-6 and would go on to win with Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische leading the way and ending Dust2 with 30 kills.

It was on Inferno that we saw some real fight from Sangal. On the T-side they did not let up, only giving away five rounds with phzy finding his rhythm on the AWP. The European let BIG know that it would not be a repeat of the RMR with a 16-9 scoreline in the second map to set up a final showdown on Vertigo.

syrsoN continued his every effort to keep BIG in the game and it seemed to pay off as they began with a hot start on Vertigo. Going into the second half with a 9-6 scoreline the favorites looked to be ready to close things out. The ending seemed on the horizon as BIG were on match point. However Sangal were not ready to give up just yet despite the 15-10 scoreline.

Sangal fought their way back into the game with individual moments of brilliance such as a spray down from Robin "⁠ScrunK⁠" Röpke and a 2v4 on the A-site. Once they were forced into overtime the wind seemed to have left BIG's sails as they only gained one round, falling 19-16.