Cloud9, G2, Liquid progress in BLAST Showdown

Movistar Riders, OG, and Forsaken had their Showdown campaigns ended early.

The second day of the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown is done and dusted in both Europe and the Americas, with the favorites all securing victories to advance in the bracket.

Cloud9 kicked the day off by comfortably brushing aside Movistar Riders, G2 then took three maps to get over the line against OG, and finally Liquid survived a scare from Forsaken after requiring three maps to close things out in their series.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Europe
05/10/2023	Cloud9 Finished 2:0 Movistar Riders	Match

The first game of the day saw Cloud9 make relatively quick work of Movistar Riders, securing a 2-0 victory thanks to wins on Ancient (16-11) and Inferno (16-7). The Spanish side were unable to replicate the kind of form that recently guided them to the playoffs of ESL Pro League, with only one player breaking a 1.00 rating on each map.

Two powerful offensive halves got the job done for Cloud9, and the trio of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov (1.49 rating), Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov (1.44 rating), and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy (1.42 rating) were in prime form throughout the series.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Europe
05/10/2023	G2 Finished 2:1 OG	Match

Next G2 took on an OG side who have played precious few officials against tier one squads in recent weeks, having featured only in qualifiers and online competitions since IEM Cologne at the end of July. The teams traded map picks, G2 taking Mirage (16-7) and OG stealing Ancient (16-13), before G2 sealed the deal on Inferno (16-7).

Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen produced a rare carry performance to help get his team over the line on Mirage after OG initially put together a 10-round offensive effort to put G2 on the back foot. OG responded by clinching a narrow victory on Ancient, producing another strong T side, powered by Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen, to ensure a decider.

Normal service was resumed on Inferno, however, with G2 dominating the map easily thanks to a 27-kill performance from Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač to seal the series.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Americas
05/10/2023	Liquid Finished 2:1 Forsaken	Match

The final BLAST Showdown series of the day took place in the Americas event, with Liquid taking to the server for the first time since moving Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov to the bench.

The first map, Inferno, was a straightforward victory for Liquid, their 11-round T side proving more than enough to ensure a comfortable map.

Things were much more shaky for the Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele-led Liquid on Mirage, as they slipped to a 1-9 deficit to start their offensive efforts. Liquid recovered to a 6-9 score, and it seemed they would grind out a narrow victory in the second-half, but Forsaken stayed resilient, forced overtime, and eventually clinched a 19-17 win.

Forsaken came into Overpass with momentum in their hands and made good use of it to push up to a 7-2 lead on the CT side, but ran out of steam after Liquid converted a half-buy round to take control.

Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis led the way in bringing Liquid back to within one round at halftime, and they powered up even more after the side swap as they conceded just one more round en route to a 16-9 win.

Today's results have set up an exciting semi-final matchup in Europe, with Cloud9 set to take on G2 for the first time since the Russian team's off-season changes. Over in the Americas, Liquid will be taking on Party Astronauts in the semi-finals. Both games will go down on Saturday.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Europe
07/10/2023	Cloud9 15:00 G2	Match

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Americas
07/10/2023	Party Astronauts 18:45 Liquid	Match