What you need to know about the Blast Premier: World Final 2021

The Blast Premier: World Final 2021, the last big Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament of the year, takes place this week. It’s not quite a world championship event, but it’s the last of five S-tier tournaments this year with a prize pool of at least $1 million. Eight of the best CS:GO teams in the world will compete in a double-elimination bracket on LAN in Copenhagen, Denmark. To get you ready for this event, here’s a brief overview of the schedule, how to watch and a little bit about each of the eight teams.

Schedule, format and how to watch

As mentioned above, this is a double-elimination tournament. The four initial upper-bracket quarterfinals look like this:

• Natus Vincere vs. Team Liquid | Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET
• Gambit Esports vs. Heroic | Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. ET
• G2 Esports vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas | Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. ET
• Team Vitality vs. Astralis | Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET

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One lower bracket first round matchup will take place Wednesday, and the other will happen Thursday. The upper bracket semifinals will also take place Thursday, and the upper bracket final will be contested the next day. Friday and Saturday will feature more lower bracket action, and the lower final and grand final will be on Sunday.

The entire tournament can be seen on the Blast Premier’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Teams competing

Natus Vincere

Na’Vi have been the best team in the world all year. They have won every S-Tier event they have participated in since July. That includes IEM XVI - Cologne, ESL Pro League Season 14, the PGL Major Stockholm and the Blast Premier: Fall Finals 2021. With a roster featuring one of the best players in the world in Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, this event is Na’Vi’s to lose.

Heroic

Photo credit: PGL

Heroic don’t get the amount of attention fellow European teams Ninjas in Pyjamas, G2 Esports, Team Vitality or even Astralis do, but they are actually ahead of all these teams in the Blast Premier World Leaderboard 2021. They received the bulk of their points by finishing first in the ESL Pro league Season 13 and 3rd-4th in ESL Pro League Season 14 to put them third in the global leaderboard behind only Na’Vi and Gambit. However, they have had inconsistent results in other tournaments -- finishing 13th-16th at IEM XVI - Winter, but 3rd-4th at the PGL Major Stockholm.

Gambit Esports

Gambit will try to do what their brethren in VALORANT couldn’t do this past weekend. Gambit’s CS:GO team hasn’t quite been as good as their VALORANT team, but they have picked up some good results earlier in the year. They won the Blast Premier: Spring Final and IEM XVI - Summer and finished 3rd-4th at the PGL Major Stockholm. They’ll face Heroic in the upper bracket quarterfinals.

G2 Esports

Photo credit: PGL

G2 finished second to Na’Vi at the two biggest CS:GO tournaments of 2021, the PGL Major Stockholm and IEM XVI - Cologne. They recently brought back G2 legend Kenny "kennyS" Schrub for IEM XVI - Winter and the team finished third after a tough 2-1 semifinal loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas. It also was the team’s first event with interim coach Jan "Swani" Müller after parting ways with longtime coach Damien "maLeK" Marcel. They will get a rematch with Ninjas in Pyjamas in the quarterfinals of the World Final.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Ninjas in Pyjamas probably haven’t done as well as they had hoped when they added longtime Astralis player Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz back in April. However, NiP are coming off a second-place finish at IEM XVI - Winter. They just couldn’t beat Team Vitality -- in group play or in the playoffs. It was their best finish at any S-tier event this year and they should have some momentum going into the World Final. However, they’ll be without dev1ce who is out with a health issue.

Team Vitality

Photo credit: PGL

Team Vitality could be the biggest challenge for Na’Vi at the World Final. They’re coming into the tournament riding the momentum of winning IEM XVI - Winter over Ninjas in Pyjamas. They finished second to Na’Vi at the Fall Finals and ESL Pro League 14. At the PGL Major Stockholm they showed a tremendous amount of resilience after a slow start to the tournament where they ultimately lost to Na’Vi in the quarterfinals. Lucky for them, they are on the opposite side of the bracket from Na’Vi at the World Final.

Astralis

This Astralis team is not the same team that has dominated CS:GO the past few years, but they’re still a team to be reckoned with. They finished 3rd-4th at IEM XVI - Cologne and third at the Fall Finals. With veteran IGL Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth leading the team, don’t be surprised if they make a run at this tournament. They’ll face Team Vitality first in the upper bracket quarterfinals.

Team Liquid

Team Liquid are carrying the NA banner as the only North American team at the World Final. Their best result this year was a 3rd-4th finish at the IEM XV - World Championship, but that was back in February. They get a matchup with Na’Vi in the quarterfinals, but lucky for them this is a double-elimination tournament, so even if they lose they’ll get a chance to make a lower bracket run. If they fall, there’s always hope for next year with the reported return of Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella after playing VALORANT for 100 Thieves in 2021.

Lead photo credit: PGL