Live updates from BLAST World Final quarter-finals

Natus Vincere 2-5 G2

Three G2 players were alive in an A afterplant situation, but two were hunting for Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen unbeknownst to them that he was about to kill the sole site defender, Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, and defuse the bomb before they could get back.

Natus Vincere 0-5 G2

G2 have stormed into the attack side of Inferno with all of the energy that they were missing at the beginning of Anubis. They are now the ones leading early, going up 5-0 as only Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy has found any impact for NAVI so far.

Natus Vincere 13-16 G2

It all started with a 1vs5 by Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov, who singlehandedly put G2 on the board for the first time when down by five, and ended after saving three map points to go on and win Anubis in overtime.

G2 are now in an excellent position to advance to the semi-finals after stealing NAVI's pick, but first they will have to take their own Inferno.

Natus Vincere 12-12 G2

G2 fell behind 9-12, but found three big defenses late in the half when up against map point to push overtime in Natus Vincere's map pick.

Natus Vincere 7-8 G2

G2 won the pistol round on the CT side and took an 8-6 lead, but were then punished by Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy as he got a double on two players pushing out of the A site to get Natus Vincere on the board in the second half.

Natus Vincere 6-6 G2

Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius was once again defusing a close bomb plant, but this time around he didn't get to it in time and G2 posted their sixth round of the half to bring it to a stalemate at the half.

Natus Vincere 6-3 G2

Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius barely stuck a 10-second defuse after a successful retake to stop G2's three-round streak from continuing.

Natus Vincere 5-1 G2

Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov won what looked like a throwaway round when up against five all by himself, taking down one player at a time to get his team on the board.

Natus Vincere 5-0 G2

Natus Vincere are off to a pristine start on their map pick, taking a 5-0 lead on the defense as G2 struggle after not planting the bomb on the pistol round.

Natus Vincere 1-0 G2

The match between Natus Vincere and G2 is live on Anubis, the first map of the series picked by Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and his men, and it was they who bagged the first pistol round on the defense as Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov clutched a 1vs1 against Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković.

The second map to go through in the veto was Inferno, G2's pick, and if necessary the series will end up on the Nuke decider.

After MOUZ's victory over Cloud9, the second quarter-final is set to take place between G2 and Natus Vincere.

G2, with Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković in place of Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, have shown good form in Abu Dhabi so far, beating MOUZ 2-0 and barely falling to FaZe in a three-map thriller. On the other side, Natus Vincere come from a loss to Vitality and a three-map win over the struggling ENCE.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2023
15/12/2023	Natus Vincere 12:05 G2	Match

Cloud9 7-10 MOUZ

The same sort of aggression that allowed Cloud9 to destroy ENCE a couple of days ago is not working out for them now against a hard-shooting MOUZ squad. Nine in a row from Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek & co.

Cloud9 7-6 MOUZ

Cloud9's lack of a defuse kit and a super-long run from all the way in T spawn to the A bombsite leaves them with just barely not enough time to defuse the bomb in the chaotic retake.

0.01 seconds.

Cloud9 7-5 MOUZ

What a recovery. It looked all over for MOUZ just four rounds ago, but they close out the half with all four — and convincing, with just one bomb plant allowed — rounds featuring quick doubles from Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman, Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin, and Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás. An important pistol is coming up.

Cloud9 7-1 MOUZ

Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov converted a 2v5 on the B bombsite in the sixth round to put Cloud9 back in control. MOUZ under big pressure now.

Cloud9 4-1 MOUZ

Cloud9's decision to contest MOUZ on B Lane came back to bite them as they ran through a smoke into the open arms of Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo. Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás then finishes the drawn-out round on A with a couple of flank kills.

Cloud9 4-0 MOUZ

Clean entries into B gave Cloud9 the first gunround, and an A exec to follow the second.

Cloud9 1-0 MOUZ

You have to think that's a super-important pistol to win for Cloud9 after the nightmare of a Mirage they just had.

Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy clutches it with some patient play, but the pistol was curious from the start: Cloud9 ran into the B bombsite, fake planted, and instantly wanted to turn as a group. It would have been interesting to see how the whole tactic would go if they didn't get intercepted.

MOUZ 13-1 Cloud9

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's Dualies didn't find the success he wanted in the pistol and Cloud9's misery is over on the first map.

I wonder what the team talk after this will be like.

MOUZ 11-1 Cloud9

Honestly, had Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás not missed that second shot, this probably would have been a 12-0. Silver linings for Cloud9, I guess, because at least this won't be a complete whitewash.

MOUZ 10-0 Cloud9

Cloud9's fast pace is not working out. They're overlooking angles and getting shot in the back, and MOUZ are just dominating them all around the map at this point. There were a few close rounds at the beginning, but the last five have been a landslide.

MOUZ 6-0 Cloud9

It's a somewhat misleading scoreline considering three of the six rounds ended in 1v1s, but it is all that matters.

Cloud9's only respite is that it will be somewhat easy to break MOUZ's economy. Then there's also the Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov knife kill:

MOUZ 2-0 Cloud9

MOUZ nearly gave up the anti-eco after Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás single-handedly won the pistol round for them, but they live on:

Because MOUZ are playing the season-ending event with a stand-in, Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin, Cloud9 enter the first quarter-final series as quite significant favorites.

Maybe it's not quite so skewed considering MOUZ had a decent showing against a G2 squad that has looked better than expected on the opening day, and then destroyed HEROIC, albeit they were considered by far the worst team at the event.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2023
15/12/2023	Cloud9 10:00 MOUZ	Match

For some pre-match reading, you can go check out HLTV's interview with Brollan, who spoke about the BLAST Premier World Final being a chance to prove himself, improving his individual level after a disappointing stint with Ninjas in Pyjamas, and the rumors of an all-Swedish team:

Read more

Brollan: "I think I can still be a top player"