When it comes to Counter Strike:Global Offensive, emotions run high. And when it is a Danish face off in Copenhagen, then they are even higher. At least this was the case when the ‘karrigan’ (Danish CS:GO IGL) led FaZe clan faced off against the all Danish roster of Heroic. It was the grand final of the Blast Premier Fall Final 2022 was the matchup that lit the Royal Arena, Copenhagen on fire this Sunday.
This game had come on the back of an action packed week of S-tier Counter Strike. So, everyone expected a cracker of a contest. That is exactly what the players and the fans were served.
The drama started during the map picking phase itself. First, Heroic removed Dust 2, which is on the way out of the competitive map pool. After that, FaZe dropped Vertigo, Heroic picked Overpass, and FaZe picked Inferno. This was followed by the teams dropping Nuke and Ancient and Mirage being left over as the deciding map of the best of three lineup, which was well utilised later in the day after the teams battled it out on Overpass and Inferno. Neither the fans or the analysts had expected this to happen which made things steamy from the get go.
When the teams took to Overpass, it was an intense back and forth in the first half. The scores were 8:7 in the first half in favour of Heroic. It looked like the game would go down to the wire. But it was not before the start of the second half that it was clear that Heroic raced to the 16 round mark and clinched the opening encounter 16:11.
On Inferno, the next map in the best of three matchup, similar story folded out. But this time, it was FaZe that came out on top. In the first half, Heroic looked poised to close out the series 2-0, with the score line sitting at 8:7 in their favour. However, FaZe staged an amazing comeback in the second half (4:9, in their favour), and came out as the victors on Inferno, levelling the game 1-1.
It all came down to Mirage and the 4:11 curse hit Heroic hard. They were leading with this score line in the first half, but FaZe managed to turn the tables and flipped the scoreline (4:11 in their favour) to take the game into overtime (15:15). Here, CadiaN’s passionate in-game leadership left no room for FaZe to bounce back and claim another title this year. The Danes fought hard with echoing support from the crowd and won in overtime (4:1) to be crowned the champions of Blast Premier Fall Final 2022.
This is the roster’s first S-tier tournament win, and it had a lot more value for CadiaN than any other member of the side. He has been around in the CS:GO scene for quite some time now, and has seen it all. For him to stage such a recovery and lead a roster of Heroic’s capabilities to a win at this year’s Blast Premier Fall Final was something that was revered by the fans and players alike.
For FaZe, this tournament was a chance to close out the year on a high, and for karrigan to add one more trophy to his cabinet. Alas, it would not be the case for him this time around. As we head into Blast Premier World Final 2022, where these two teams will hopefully face off again, at a bigger stage though, it will be interesting to see how things pan out.