FaZe and Liquid take home convincing wins on day 1 of BLAST
It was relatively plain sailing for Liquid and FaZe on the first day of BLAST Premier, with both of them winning 2-0. FaZe took down NiP and looked clean while doing it, while Liquid spluttered on Vertigo before blitzing MiBR on Inferno with an early barrage. For NiP and MiBR, tomorrow’s game is a huge series to determine how they feel about their newest additions, while FaZe have a great chance to really outline their credentials as a contender if they can muscle past Liquid.
FaZe cleaned NiP out with a 2-0 victory on Overpass and Mirage, with Latvian rookie broky stole the show with a huge performance - even if it was NiKo who topped the scoreboard.
It all started so well for NiP, too, who stole away the pistol with Lekr0 winning a 1v2, despite rain hitting two one-taps to bring it back. But, the signs were there, and FaZe broke back with a force-buy after two dirty SSG headshots opened up the round for them.
coldzera beat out Lekr0 in a tight 1v1 to defuse with less than a second left, and he then tripled down on B to push FaZe into an early lead. It wasn’t until new-boy nawwk ended three CT’s stay on A with the Krieg that NiP got a second round.
After NiKo rotated into B to rescue FaZe with a double, the international team went on another run. They got up to nine rounds with little resistance, until olofmeister got caught out on long and NiP trading down for the win.
broky closed out a tight round with a double to break the economy, but NiP got their fourth as Plopski popped two heads in a 2v2 situation. Though NiP were moving into the CT side, they needed the pistol round to stay in the game, but the Latvian once again showed up, tapping down three with the Glock to convert a 3v4.
Lekr0 picked up an ace to save the game after FaZe coasted to 15, but the damage was already done, and FaZe closed out with a calculated B rush.
YNk was pleased with FaZe’s Overpass performance, as he mused to GGRecon: “We did play a lot of Overpass during the break, because it wasn’t one of our strongest maps so we focused on it a lot and tried to change some things, figure out what we need to work on to improve it and yeah it went great. I think we are undefeated on this map for a long time, so maybe we should start picking it more.”
FaZe started as they finished, rushing into a fast 4-2 lead on Mirage. rain swept NiP up early, taking eleven names in the first seven rounds. FaZe were abusing the A site, breaking into it over and over again.
Twist nearly won a nasty 1v2 on the A site, narrowly missing the second AWP shot as he moved, but broky didn’t miss in return. NiKo kept calling A hits, but switched it up with a brutal B rush that caught NiP off-guard. A fake onto B got them onto A cheaply, as FaZe kept outmanoeuvring the Swedes.
broky came extremely close to a nutty 1v3, faking the plant four or five times and taking out two, but finally fluffing the last shot on nawwk. But it didn’t matter in the end: despite NiP closing out for a 6-9 half, FaZe walked all over their offense on the second half. Some heroics from REZ got NiP a round, but FaZe’s defence was impenetrable for the most part, closing out with a force buy on the A site.
Liquid took down MiBR 2-0 in the second game of the day, thanks to a quality performance from NAF and EliGe.
Liquid took the first two rounds, before a pretty naughty 1v2 from meyern with two instant SG headshots saw them take their first buy round. Liquid bit back though with the next four rounds, including a NAF last minute defuse - but only after a crazy Twistzz ace.
MiBR went from 1-6 down to 13-6 up in the blink of an eye, though. They just about muscled past the eco rounds, but powered by some stupendous TACO fragging on A, they flew into the lead.
A fer double on the pistol turned the tides in a 4v5, but finally at 13-6 Liquid showed back up. An ELiGE wallbang opened up A before Liquid ended up on B, and then Stewie2k took down three on B with the AWP.
Liquid got back to 13-13, but back to back rounds from MiBR with FalleN finding picks with the AWP got them to map point. ELiGE, however, was having none of it. He stepped out into middle and took down two with Deagle headshots, and Stewie took out FalleN in an AWP duel to start the round for 15-15.
nitr0 started out OT with a bang, winning a post-plant 1v2 including a headshot through smoke. KnGv- flanked out the slow A hit for 16-16, as the teams kept swapping rounds. With Liquid on map point, TACO turned into a one-man-army, flying through a A smoke to drill three Liquid players into the ground and take us to second OT.
A runboost from meyern got MiBR an advantage, and they pressed it into a 4v2. But with five seconds left, NAF pulled off a mind-bending wall-bang with the AWP to deny the plant and got away, stealing a 19th for Liquid. The same man pushed a smoke to mow down two and force a teamkill on a third, and nitr0 finished OT the way he started it - with a 1v2 clutch.
Inferno was more clear-cut - Liquid went 10-0 up, with Stewie’s double AWP entry being the only highlight to that point. After 10 rounds, MiBR had only 15 kills as a team - which painted the picture beautifully.
fer bodybagged three with an MP9 to get MiBR’s first, but the Brazilians could only muster four CT rounds with a KnGv- AWP triple on B in the final round.
Liquid sprinted down middle with USPs to make it 12, but were broke back with fer winning an important 1v1. FalleN opened up A with a fast AWP shot, but the comeback was swiftly dealt with by a Stewie2k triple kill on the B site.
MiBR got one more, but NAF cut them open with the AWP in Banana and he and Stewie held down B to put Liquid into tomorrow’s showdown with FaZe.
The games continue tomorrow, with FaZe v Liquid in the upper bracket and MiBR v NiP in an elimination match. You can check out all the details on our BLAST hub.
Image via BLAST.