NaVi Crowned at 2021 BLAST Premier Fall Major

The 2021 BLAST Premier: Fall Major ended with a bang! In a dramatic thriller implicating the end of its streak on Nuke, the S1mple-led NaVi team still managed to defeat Team Vitality 2-1 in the Grand Final.

This was a matchup made in heaven, with S1mple versus ZywOo, France versus Ukraine, and domination against revenge. In the Upper Bracket Final, Natus Vincere had proven itself to be too strong for Vitality. However, the French team rose from the dead, defeating Astralis to get one final showdown against NaVi.

Blast Premier Fall Finals

Mirage

Natus Vincere got off to a blazing 5-0 start on Mirage. They took advantage of Vitality’s poor economy, as well as Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s slow start. With decent weaponry and utilities, Team Vitality somehow managed to catch back, only trailing by only a couple of rounds. At half-time, NaVi led by 9 rounds to 6.

Vitality made good use of its four timeouts, trying to figure out a game plan to stop Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electronic” Sharipov. So far, NaVi’s lurking abilities had gathered free-kills, creating a lot of five-versus four situations.

Although Team Vitality won the first two rounds as counter-terrorists, they simply could not prevent NaVi from going on a round of their own. This is how, with almost sixty kills between electronic and S1mple, Natus Vincere grabbed the first game of this match.

Nuke

Natus Vincere picked Nuke as the second map. Coming into the Blast Premier Fall Finals, NaVi had won its last twenty games on this map. The consensus was that this should been a surefire map for NaVi, and an impossible situation for Vitality.

Never mind the odds, ZywOo and his teammates played exceptionally well. They had the perfect level of patience, taking down NaVi’s attempts one after the other. Oftentimes, either ZywOo, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, or Richard “shox” Papillon surprised NaVi with perfect placement and timing. It is obvious that video analysis had a lot to do with Vitality’s success on Nuke.

Boasting an 11 to 4 lead at halftime, Vitality then only lost two rounds before going a roll. To end the map, ZywOo also gratified the CS:GO esports scene with a huge moment. In a three-versus-one situation, with time against him, the French genius scorched Natus Vincere with a triple clutch kill. At least, Team Vitality ended NaVi’s historic win streak with style.

Inferno

It all led to Inferno, the third and final map. From that point onward, fans knew they were witnessing something great. On one hand, Natus Vincere could win its second Major in a row, after seeing its most memorable streak broken. On the other hand, Vitality could be taking down NaVi, who was the Blast Premier Fall Major’s clear-cut favorite.

Soon into the map, Natus Vincere killed all suspense. Coming off Nuke, ZywOo, apEX, and shox had cooled down, and NaVi instantly used it to its advantage. Vitality often found itself in two-versus-two situations but without making a dent at NaVi’s defenses. After a 13 to 2 halftime, Vitality was able to grab a couple of early-rounds, only to fall to a decisive Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi’s double kill.

Natus Vincere won BLAST Premier: Fall 2021, taking home $225 thousand and 4000 BLAST Premier points. With 76 kills, S1mple was obviously awarded the MVP award.

Written by Charles Fuster

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