Live updates from BLAST Fall Final semi-finals

Complexity 2-2 FaZe

It's a back-and-forth game, here on Nuke, as the teams are taking turns winning rounds and neither side can take control of proceedings. We've now seen three successful force buys in a row.

Complexity 10-13 FaZe

A valiant effort from Complexity, but FaZe prevailed in the end in a game that was a lot closer than many expected after that first half.

We're now heading to Nuke, where FaZe beat Complexity 13-10 in Sydney.

Complexity 6-11 FaZe

With no margin for error, Complexity are getting a few rounds on the board and building a stable economy. But FaZe know that they only need one round to hit map point. A single mistake could cost Complexity this map.

Complexity 2-11 FaZe

Things go from bad to worse for Complexity, as Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants wins the pistol round clutch with just 4 HP and the Dual Berettas.

Complexity 2-10 FaZe

Complexity got one round to begin the half and one round to close it. Other than that, it was all FaZe, who put in a near flawless T side display. Unless the North Americans step up in this second half, this game will be a quick one.

Complexity 1-6 FaZe

FaZe are on a roll on the T side of Anubis, punching holes in the leaky Complexity defense. Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou called a timeout in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Seven rounds into the game, Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli has yet to get a frag on the board. Can Complexity get anything out of this half?

Complexity 1-1 FaZe

After winning the pistol round, Complexity are immediately put on the back foot as FaZe hit back following a 1v2 clutch by Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants. This match is off to a hot start!

We already know the maps that will be played in this semi-final, and we've got Anubis as the opening map. That's the only difference from the IEM Sydney final, with FaZe picking Nuke and leaving Ancient as the decider.

Here is the full veto:

After a second-place finish at last year's BLAST Fall Final, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen, the only Danish player left in the tournament, admitted that it would be special to lift the trophy at the Royal Arena.

"It would mean a lot to win here, but I’ve learned during my career that whatever happens, happens. We have pressure on us, we’ve won a lot of tournaments lately. There’s a good chance we can do it again. But, first of all, we’re in the semi-finals. One map and one game at a time."

XTQZZZ to HLTV on preventing the Mirage comeback: I understood it was going to be a tough game when we lost 5v1 in the pistol (chuckles), but we stayed very calm. We had a pretty good read on them on T side, they didn't play aggressive at all on Mid, and we had full control. We are really confident about our T side on Mirage, actually.

On ZywOo moments at the end of the map: Typical ZywOo, I would say. Sometimes he can have a tough game and you don't know why, and then he has one action after that. He was insane, sometimes he says some words in French that I cannot say because it's not good (laughs), and when he's like that, I know, okay, we win the map.

On problems against Cloud9's aggression on Inferno: I think we had a bad plan to start the T side, and we took two tactical timeouts trying to improve what we can do, to take it slower, and it worked out, actually.

Speaking to Alex "⁠Mauisnake⁠" Ellenberg before the second semi-final, Astralis coach Peter "⁠casle⁠" Ardenskjold revealed which players will be impacted the most by the arrivals of Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund and Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard.

"Staehr is probably the one who is going to give up the most. stavn is going to play a lot of the same roles as in Heroic. blameF will keep all his positions, almost, except one, something like that. I think it’s Staehr who is going to get a new role."

Boombl4 to HLTV on top-four result: I'm happy because we fought with every team. Of course FaZe and Vitality are top teams right now in CS2, and of course we have a new structure in the team and only 10 days on bootcamp, we don't have a lot of work on some maps. I'm just happy because we have a top-four, we were fighting for the final, it was really close, and we still have some tournaments this year.

On not being able to complete the comebacks on Mirage and Inferno: I think this is the main thing we should fix. The FaZe Clan match we went to three overtimes, and now 12-10 on Mirage, and we had the opportunity on Inferno. I think we should play not like this, we were really nervous in these moments and we should fix it. But, still, we are happy like I said before.

On support from the fans in the arena: Yeah, I'm just really surprised, a lot of fans screaming my nickname and our team and support. I just wanna say thank you for every fan who came here and the fans who are watching the Twitch stream. It was really crazy emotions by me because I had two years without LANs, my last crowd was in Antwerp. I'm just really happy.

Vitality 11-11 Cloud9

Vitality seem to have found an answer on the attack and have clawed back to tie the score, meaning we're going the distance of Inferno to determine the first grand finalist.

Vitality 9-10 Cloud9

Live by the aggression, die by the aggression.

An early alt-mid fight from three Cloud9 members seemed to have gone in their favor when they ended up in a 3v3 with Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov snuck into Mexico, resulting in a kill on Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut. William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman walked out of halls and scored a pivotal double entry, however, and completely changed the outcome of the round to close the gap further.

Vitality 8-10 Cloud9

Cloud9 are getting into Vitality's head.

Relentless aggression on the CT side has been the name of the game, with a push down mid completely suffocating Vitality's T side pistol plans at the start of the half.

More early aggression and strong CT defenses allowed the Russian team to extend their lead to 9-7, and Vitality's first gun round win was immediately answered back by Cloud9 as they hit double digits.

Vitality 7-5 Cloud9

It's a narrow lead for Vitality at the break as Cloud9 secured entry to the B bombsite in round 13, tallying their fifth.

Who do you have taking it in the second half?

Vitality 7-4 Cloud9

William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman has stopped Cloud9's four-round spree by locking down Balcony, spraying down three players to guarantee Vitality a lead in the second half.

Vitality 6-3 Cloud9

Whew. Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov will be breathing a sigh of relief after he fumbled a molly, which was redirected at Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and nearly cost Cloud9 a post-plant. Instead, the Russian rifler lined up three kills to grab Cloud9 their second round, and followed that up with a double entry in the next round to crush Vitality's economy.

Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi, Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan, and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut are firing on all cylinders and are a big reason why Vitality are ahead, but with Cloud9 finding their form, it's no longer a blowout lead for the Europeans.

Vitality 2-0 Cloud9

Cloud9 got the space they wanted in the pistol round, but the space wasn't the bombsite. Full control of arch did nothing when the team didn't have any utility to counter Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, who single-handedly shut down A to give Vitality an early lead.

Vitality 9-13 Cloud9

We're headed to a third!

Cloud9 have forced an Inferno decider after a 1v2 clutch from Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov set them on map point, with a swift lower bombsite attack in the following round letting them seal the deal and steal away Vitality's pick.

Vitality 8-11 Cloud9

You might have spoken a bit too soon, Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire. The inspiring words are well-intentioned, but the round immediately after his words went the way of Cloud9 courtesy of a double lower entry from Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov.

Vitality 7-10 Cloud9

Cloud9 aren't the only one clean-sweeping rounds, though.

Doubles from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan allowed Vitality to notch their first on the CT side, but the next round is crucial for them if they want to put Cloud9 on the back foot.

Vitality 6-10 Cloud9

An excellent start to the first half has put Cloud9 on double digits and in a solid position to force an Inferno decider.

The pistol and conversion was followed by Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov catching Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire out on timing in the first gun round, and a clean sweep there meant that Vitality only had pistols to defend with in the next round.

Vitality 6-6 Cloud9

Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov's collat was all that Cloud9 could look back on for much of the half as Vitality consistently scored entry kills to break open the Russian team's defenses, winning three rounds on the trot to take the lead.

A triple from Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy to defend the A site brought things back to parity at halftime, but Cloud9 face a tough climb on the T side if they want to force a decider.

Vitality 3-5 Cloud9

Vitality 2-4 Cloud9

Vitality quickly negated Cloud9's pistol win, but the Russian combine kept the lead on their defense. Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and company fumbled a simple round after forgetting the bomb during a vent drop, and Cloud9 capitalized to go two rounds up.

Vitality 16-13 Cloud9

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut looked better as rounds went on and was the dominant force Vitality needed to close out the map. The French superstar found a quad-kill, which included a collateral, to put his team up to map point, and finished the map on 26 kills.

Vitality's pick of Nuke is up next.

Vitality 12-12 Cloud9

It looked like Cloud9 were about to complete the 5-9 comeback in regulation, but it wasn't to be. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov's impact on the AWP began to decrease as the IGL missed a few crucial shots, and Vitality were able to tie up the scores with the final two rounds of the half.

Vitality 9-9 Cloud9

It wasn't pretty, but Cloud9 have tied up the scores. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov has found a lot of impact on the AWP, and it's not just easy frags. The 24-year-old just pushed Underpass with the Big Green.

Vitality 9-5 Cloud9

Cloud9 had a short recovery to end their offensive half, but a pistol-round win for Vitality returned them to the driver's seat.

A full buy for both teams is up next, and the round is a must-win for the Russian squad.

Vitality 7-3 Cloud9

After his second quad-kill on the A site, the French IGL currently sits on 12 kills and 123 ADR.

Vitality 5-3 Cloud9

Cloud9 were 3-0 ahead after Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov's heroics, but Vitality recovered well.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire secured the first gun round with a crisp quad-kill on A, with Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut also getting warmed up with a few casual AWP kills through a smoke.

Vitality 0-1 Cloud9

We didn't need to wait long for a highlight. Much was said about Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov's declining performances in recent months, but the Russian rifler started well.

The three best-rated players at the tournament so far are about to go head-to-head for a spot in the grand final.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi have put forth some vintage performances so far in Copenhagen, but so has Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov, who looks like he might be back to his best with the IGL mantle lifted from his shoulders. All three sport a 1.38 rating so far.

The veto is as follows:

BLAST polled their viewers after matches finished yesterday, and below are the plays that were voted as the best of the quarter-finals.

Rasmus "⁠Zyphon⁠" Nordfoss appears twice, but unfortunately his showing was not enough to get HEROIC to the Royal Arena.

Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery also gets some recognition, and the rifler's resurgence has been key in helping Complexity hit new heights in CS2.

We are now at the business end of the BLAST Premier Fall Final. Four teams are left standing as play moves to the stage in the Royal Arena, with the live crowd set to add a whole new dynamic at the $425,000 tournament.

The first semi-final pits Vitality against Cloud9, with both teams currently in the process of embedding new blood.

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov has been revitalized with Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov taking over the IGL role in Cloud9, but on the other side of the server, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi are thriving with William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman now among Vitality’s number. Who will come out on top?

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023
25/11/2023	Vitality 15:30 Cloud9	Match

Closing the day will be FaZe and Complexity, both being among the few teams who arrived in Copenhagen with settled lineups.

FaZe have dominated CS2 LAN events thus far, led by the superb Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, whilst Complexity have been on a steady ascension since the addition of Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski. In a rematch of the first elite CS2 LAN grand final, which took place back at IEM Sydney, who will reign supreme?

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023
25/11/2023	FaZe 19:55 Complexity	Match