Aditya ChaudhuriDanish outfit Heroic took down FaZe Clan in the final of the BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2022 to take home their maiden Tier 1 LAN trophy.
The Danes, who finished runners-up at the recently finished IEM Rio Major, made sure they went all the way with this time and took down tournament favourites FaZe, who were looking for a redemption arc following an abysmal Major performance.
By taking down FaZe, Heroic became the first team in 2022 to beat FaZe in a grand final, while also becoming the first Danish team to win at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
While Heroic took home the champions trophy and a spot in the BLAST Premier World Finals, which will start in about two weeks’ time, it was FaZe Clan’s star AWP-er broky who was awarded the MVP award for the tournament. For FaZe’s veteran Danish in-game leader (IGL) karrigan, the wait for a maiden trophy in front of his home crowd continues.
It was FaZe Clan against OG in the opening match of the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, and the best-of-three series kicked off on OG’s pick of Ancient. Coming off the back of a disappointing Rio Major, FaZe were looking to redeem themselves and they were on the right path. Twistzz, broky and rain made sure FaZE hammered OG 16-3 on the opening map. On FaZe’s pick of Mirage, it was a similar story as they swept OG 2-0 following a 16-6 win on Mirage to send OG in the Lower Brackets.
The second game of the day saw Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) take on Heroic. It was NiP’s pick of Inferno up first. The Ninjas, carried by strong performances from REZ and their IGL, Aleksib managed to pick Heroic 16-13 to take an early 1-0 lead in the series. Heroic bounced back on their pick of Ancient, taking the map 16-6 with their IGL cadiaN, TeSeS and stavn making sure the map went to a decider. On the decider on Overpass, NiP were demolished by Heroic 16-4, with jabbi and cadiaN putting in solid numbers.
Natus Vincere (Navi) kicked off their campaign as defending Fall Finals champions against Brazilian side Fluxo, who made Navi sweat on the opening map on Dust2. It was s1mple and Perfecto, however, who made sure Navi took the opening map 16-14. On Mirage, Navi made light work of Fluxo, with b1t and s1mple making sure Navi took the map 16-7.
Team Liquid were up next against G2, and Liquid took down G2 16-10 on the opening map of Vertigo, with EliGE, YEKINDAR and NAF putting in strong performances. On Liquid’s pick of Mirage, G2 bought valiantly, but it was NAF and YEKINDAR again who made sure Liquid took the series 2-0 with a 16-14 win on Mirage.
In the first elimination game of the tournament, OG faced NiP. The series got underway on OG’s pick of Ancient. NiP had an early 10-5 lead on their CT half, but OG fought back to take the game to overtime (OT). NiP finally managed to take the opening map 22-19 in double OT, with es3tag, REZ and hampus all dropping 30-bombs. On their own pick of Vertigo, NiP took down OG 16-10 and eliminated them from the tournament. G2 faced Fluxo in the second elimination game, and G2 hammered the Brazilians 16-4 on their opponents pick of Dust2, with huNter- and NiKo stepping up. Fluxo showed promise on Mirage, but m0NESY and NiKo were the difference makers as G2 sealed the series 2-0 with a 16-14 win on Mirage.
FaZe faced Heroic in the Upper Bracket final, with the winner getting a direct entry to the semi-finals. FaZe took the opening map 16-14 thanks to their AWP-er broky stepping up massively in clutch situations, while rain and ropz provided solid support. On Inferno, Heroic were just no match for the international team as Twistzz, karrigan and ropz made sure FaZe took the series 2-0 after a 16-5 win.
Team Liquid took on Navi in the Group B winners match, and Liquid struck first blood as they edged out Navi 16-14 on Inferno, with their IGL nitr0 carrying them across the line. Navi fought back on Dust2, taking the map 16-12, and pushed the series to a decider on Mirage. It was Liquid’s IGL nitr0 once again leading from the front, and, this time was ably supported by EliGE, saw Liquid book a spot in the Royal Arena after taking down Navi 16-7 in the decider on Mirage.
G2 were up against Heroic in the quarter-final. The series got underway on G2’s pick of Mirage. G2 were just not present in the opening map as stavn, jabbi and cadiaN handed G2 a 16-8 defeat on Mirage. On Heroic’s pick of Nuke, G2 fought back through strong performances from huNter-, NiKo and m0NESY to take the map 16-6 and push the series to a third map decider. G2 were in the driver’s seat on the decider after taking the opening half 9-6 and were up 11-6 at one point, but they choked and let Heroic come back and take the series 16-12.
Navi faced NiP in the final quarter-final game. The series kicked off on NiP’s pick of Inferno. It was REZ, Aleksib and Brollan who gave NiP an early advantage, taking the opening map 16-10. Navi fought tooth-and-nail on their pick of Mirage, and it took a herculean 40-bomb from s1mple to keep Navi in the series as they won the second map 22-19 in second overtime. On the decider on Overpass, it was es3tag and Brollan who stepped up for NiP and knocked the defending champions out of the tournament after a 16-10 win.
The first semi-final saw Heroic go up against Team Liquid. The series got underway on Heroic’s pick of Overpass. Liquid, on the CT half, got a decent half in with a 7-8 score, but stavn and TeSeS stepped up in the second half of the opening map for the Danish team to give Heroic a 16-10 victory. The second map was Liquid’s pick of Inferno, where they needed YEKINDAR and NAF to go above and beyond to edge out Heroic in first overtime and secure the second map 19-17. On the decider on Vertigo, backed by stavn and TeSeS once again, Heroic mounted a stellar opening CT half where they went 11-4 up and wrapped up the map and series quickly 16-9 as they booked their place in the grand finals.
Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) faced FaZe Clan in the second semi-final. The series kicked off on NiP’s pick of Overpass. NiP took the opening map 16-11 thanks to strong performances from their IGL Aleksib and REZ. On FaZe’s pick of Nuke, NiP seemed like they would knock FaZe out in two maps as they were 14-7 up, but the Antwerp 2022 Major champions fought back and, with their Estonian star ropz stepping up with crucial back-to-back multi-kill rounds, forced the second map to overtime, where they took the map 19-17 and took the series to a decider. The decider on Mirage saw NiP start on the CT half, and after an even 8-7 opening half in favour of the CTs, FaZe proved untouchable on the defensive half as broky and rain made sure that their team won the map 16-8 and secured a place in the grand finals against Heroic.
The grand final got underway at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, with the home team Heroic kicking things off on their pick of Overpass. They had a strong comeback on the T side to finish the first half 7-8 down, but on the CT side, backed by some stellar calling and performance from their IGL cadiaN and newest signing jabbi, Heroic took an early 1-0 lead in the finals after taking down FaZe 16-11 on the opening map. FaZe bounced back on their own pick of Inferno, with ropz, broky and Twistzz stepping up, helping FaZe secure a 16-12 win to take the final to a third and final map. The decider was played on Mirage, and Heroic looked like they would run away with the map after taking an 11-4 opening half lead, but FaZe fought back in the second half to take the match into overtime. It was stavn and jabbi, who came through with some important clutches in the end to make sure Heroic took the map, match and tournament in first overtime 19-16.
