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Esports
G2 crush the competition at the BLAST Premier World Final 2022
Against all odds, G2 Esports have shot to the top and won the BLAST Premier World Final 2022. Read on to discover how they did it.
G2 Esports have done what many may have thought was impossible. After a middle-of-the-road season, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad have pulled out all the stops and capped off the year by winning the BLAST Premier World Final 2022 after an absolutely heroic campaign.
It wasn't without its difficulties, but the team showed incredible tenacity through it all, as well as undeniable skill in the face of seriously tough competition. It was an epic turn of events and here's how it went down.
A shaky start
It's fair to say that the odds were stacked against G2 for this tournament. The team's 2022 hadn't been its most successful, with a series of middling performances landing them fifth place in the BLAST Premier Global Leaderboard – not a bad position to be in by any means, but the gulf between their points and the leaders was too wide to go unnoticed.
That came to the fore in the opening match of the Group Stage against the team at the top of the Global Leaderboard, FaZe Clan. FaZe had an up-and-down year, but the moments where they were up led to several victories at major tournaments that gave them a huge points advantage over G2. And while G2 got off to a great start by winning the first game against FaZe with a solid 16-10 result, FaZe responded with a 19-17 and a brutal 16-4, knocking G2 into the elimination match.
Their opponents for the elimination match would be Outsiders, the team that had won the IEM Rio Major. Game 1 was fairly close, though G2 managed to close it out with a 16-12 record. Game 2 however was the definition of a stomp. G2 won every single round in the first half of the game and despite Outsiders managing to take one game back at the very start of the second half, G2 simply picked up the next round and won the game 16-1.
Finding their feet
After surviving the Group Stage, G2's next opponent was Team Vitality, who'd secured their World Final spot after a powerful performance at ESL Pro League Season 16. G2 dismantled them in Game 1, winning 16-3, but Vitality bounced back and managed to push Game 2 to 19-15 in their favour. But that was the last game G2 would lose. Game 3 was a tight race to the end, but G2 came out on top with a 16-11 victory to secure their semi-final place.
What awaited them in the semis would be a true test of G2's skill. FaZe Clan were back, having secured an immediate semis place after dominating the Group Stage. And things got off to a bad start for G2, as FaZe walked into Game 1 on Nuke and immediately took the first four rounds on CT side before G2 could pick up one of their own. The first half ended 9-6 in FaZe's favour, meaning G2 would need to pull out something special on CT to win. And they did. It took the whole 30 rounds, but G2 managed to finish the game 16-14 after a magnificent return to form.
Game 2 on Inferno was a similar story, but it was far tenser for G2. FaZe found their footing in this game and practically shut G2 out of the first round, picking up 11 wins to G2's 4. But G2, not wanting to have a repeat of the Group Stage, rallied and swept through FaZe with ease in the second half. Round after round went in G2's favour and despite FaZe finally managing to pick up two rounds, G2 bounced back and dominated their opponents, finishing off the game with a 16-13 record. The top team had been taken out – now G2 just needed to win the Grand Final.
An explosive finale
Their opponent for the final match was Team Liquid, who had also had something of a surprising run through the BLAST Premier World Final. Liquid had placed seventh on the Global Leaderboard, two places below G2, and had been in the same Group as G2 at the start of the tournament. A similar run – a win against Outsiders and a loss to FaZe – put them in the quarter-final against Natus Vincere, who they beat 2-1. Then they faced OG in the semis, where they again won 2-1. G2 had clearly had a cleaner run through the knockout stage, but Liquid weren't to be discounted yet.
Game 1 on Inferno saw the teams trading rounds to begin with, but G2 took charge in Round 5 – thanks to an incredible 1v3 clutch from Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač – and won seven straight rounds. Liquid fought back and picked up some more rounds, but G2 still managed to end the first half of Game 1 with 11 rounds under their belt. Liquid tried to fight back in the second half, but it wasn't meant to be and G2 finished off Game 1 with a 16-7 record.
It all came down to Game 2, on Mirage. G2 got off to a solid start on the pistol rounds on CT side, but Liquid managed to pull back a few rounds of their own. That didn't stop G2 then going on another seven-round win streak and pushing the first half to 9-6 in their favour, setting them up for success in the second half. Despite a spirited defence by Liquid, G2 managed to push on through and towards the end of the game seemed determined to wrap it up as quickly as possible with some truly magnificent frags, like NiKo's double in Round 24. The game ended 16-12 to G2 – against all odds, they'd won the entire tournament.
It was a long road for G2 to get here – 1,092 days since they'd last won a single map at a LAN Final – but G2 are now the world champions at BLAST Premier, having shown amazing resilience and skill against some of the world's best. It's the perfect way to end what's been a tough season for the squad and they're sure to come back in 2023 energised and ready to show the world that it wasn't a one-time thing.
