BLAST Premier Fall Groups Preview: Which teams will top their group?

As the second half of the 2023 Counter-Strike season opens in Copenhagen with the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, BLIX goes over the key players and teams to watch for in each group.

As Vitality’s unexpected triumph on home soil at the BLAST Paris Major gave way to the traditional post-Major summer shuffle, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene is now ready for a fresh start, with a number of high-profile moves rarely seen in the game’s recent history. With CS2 and the transition on the horizon, all but three of the teams present in the Danish capital (Heroic, FaZe and G2) will battle it out with a different roster from the one they started their 2023 with. Between talent pipelines and star-studded quintets, NA’s last hope and a plethora of international teams, BLAST Premier Fall Groups will be an event to keep an eye on!

Group A: Vitality, Evil Geniuses, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Complexity

The first group of the event is headlined by current Major title holders Vitality, who will debut with their new signing Shahar “flameZ” Shushan. Coming into the French outfit after two years on perennial underdogs OG, the young Israeli rifler will have big shoes to fill as he takes the place of five-time Major champion Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen. While doubts have been raised over the entry fragger’s consistency against elite teams, and he doesn’t seem like a natural fit in the Dane’s roles, his addition might prove vital to allow Vitality to take the fight to other “superteams” and retain the Paris crown.

Taking on the French-Danish-Israeli mixture in the opening match will be NA representative Evil Geniuses, who decided to overhaul their roster after a dreadful first half of the year. As multiple deals for international players fell through, the Seattle-based organization will be relying on their famed and often mocked “talent pipeline” for their attempt to return to the upper echelons of the scene. Partnering a resurgent Timothy “autimatic” Ta will be Paytyn “junior” Johnson, Jeorge “Jeorge” Endicott, Jadan “HexT” Postma and IGL Colby “Walco” Walsh. The lineup is not particularly inspiring on paper, but autimatic’s experience and peaks from junior and Jeorge could get more established teams to pay attention.

HexT and junior will be looking to rebound after disappointing in their previous tier-one stints (Image Credits ESL | Adela Sznajder)

NIP come into the event looking for a fresh start after having ended the ill-fated Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen experiment, but without renouncing their new international identity. The big news for the Ninjas is Hampus “hampus” Poser returning to action in the In-Game Leader role, which saw him shine across 2021 and 2022. His comeback might, however, not be as straightforward as expected, as his new partnership with Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke will consolidate an extremely aggressive rifling trio potentially prone to overextensions on the offensive side.

Finally, their opponents in Complexity have come out of the shuffle reinforced by the signing of five-time HLTV Top20 player Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski. As Jason Lake’s organization is now NA’s last hope for a high-level quintet for the foreseeable future, Johnny “JT” Theodosiou will have the tough job of returning EliGE to his incredible 2019-2020 peaks. However, while roles are of no major concern and Norwegian import Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli has proven capable of quality performances in high-pressure scenarios, the addition of EliGE won’t do much if the existing core cannot solve its consistency issues.

Our verdict: Vitality seems poised to take the group with minimal trouble, with their main competition for the first spot coming in the form of a NIP showing up to Copenhagen with many questions and few answers. Don’t count out Complexity, however, as the NA outfit will be looking for positive signs in their opening best-of-three against the Swedish organization and might make a solid run for the second qualifying spot over EG.

Group B: Heroic, BIG, NAVI, Astralis

Group B houses the current world’s #1 Heroic, one of the three teams coming into the BLAST event without a roster change to their name. Before the summer break, Casper “cadiaN” Møller’s quintet was peaking thanks to Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard’s exceptional form and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck potentially developing into the world’s best support player. The Danes’ Major dream was cut short once again, however, as they collapsed in a 1-2 loss to GamerLegion in the Paris semifinals. Having taken the title at BLAST Premier Spring Final over Vitality, Heroic will start the second half of the year in good form and ready to take the next step.

Their round-one opponents will be BIG, the German organization shifting away from communicating in their native language for the second time in their history after signing Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski. While this won’t be an obstacle for the ever-reliable Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz, the additions of Elias “s1n” Stein and David “prosus” Hesse from the academy team haven’t been met with much excitement, as both had only marginally shined in their time in the lower circuit. With many doubts surrounding the lineup, and especially Florian “syrsoN” Rische’s departure, all weight will be on Karim “Krimbo” Moussa’s young shoulders.

BIG will reach Copenhagen aiming to rebuild around their star IGL tabseN. (Image Credits: ESL | Adela Sznajder)

The third and potentially most exciting team in the group is NAVI, the Ukrainian organization shifting away from a CIS lineup for the first time in their history by securing the aforementioned Aleksib and two Paris Major stars in Mihai “iM” Ivan and Justinas “jL” Lekavicius. This roster is the product of extremely smart recruiting, with an aggressive star in the Romanian rifler and two passive elements in Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy and jL, who can also operate as the team’s secondary AWPer. Aleksib now has all the necessary pieces to return to the top of the Counter-Strike scene, but it will probably take time for the puzzle to be completed.

Last but not least, Danish giants Astralis return to action with an inspired revamped lineup, taking on Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s men in their opening matchup. Now free from Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s disappointing calling and Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth’s dwindling form, the organization has rebuilt around Benjamin “blameF” Bremer’s leadership. The new IGL will also have to do less of the heavy lifting, as the organization has tried to compensate for his weaknesses with aggressive rifler Victor “Staehr” Staehr. Rounding out the roster is Johannes “b0rup” Borup, a jack-of-all-trades support who can hold his weight in the fragging department, leaving Astralis with a promising core.

Our verdict: Heroic and NAVI are the heavy favorites to advance, with the Danes more likely to come out on top and continue their period of strong form. Aleksib’s men will be interested in testing their game against some of the world’s best and making sure all the pieces fit, but they shouldn’t be bothered by an upset-happy, although still rebuilding Astralis and an uninspiring BIG.

Group C: FaZe, OG, G2, Liquid

The third group opens with FaZe, whose last permanent roster move is still Robin “ropz” Kool’s addition over a year and a half ago, as the superteam is one of the strongest quintets ever assembled in CS:GO. 2023 has nonetheless been a disappointing year for Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s men, taking home a single title at ESL Pro League Season 17 and even almost missing out on the BLAST Paris Major. As these struggles were attributed to issues with the mental side of CS, the summer break could mean we see a refreshed FaZe and especially Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken in Copenhagen, spelling trouble for all teams in Group C.

The international quintet will have a relatively easy first-round matchup against OG, who have just come out of their fourth rebuild in as many years in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. Again led by Nemanja “nexa” Isaković, potentially as good an IGL as they could have gotten in the shuffle, the Danish organization lost their star AWPer in Abdul “degster” Gasanov and replaced him with talented Romanian prospect Iulian “regali” Harjău. Where the team falls short is in its rifling department, with Nils “k1to” Gruhne, Maciej “F1KU” Miklas and Dion “FASHR” Derksen having no evident role distribution and, unless the Dutchman returns to his ECSTATIC form, no clear star.

Replacing degster will be no easy feat for Romanian prospect regali, but his talent is undeniable (Image Credits: ESL | Adela Sznajder)

The third and final team without changes to speak of is G2, who limited themselves to confirming ad-interim coach Jan “Swani” Müller in the off-season. The roster failed to meet the high expectations set for it in the first half of the year, taking the crown at IEM Katowice but only reaching a single top-four after February. While the team’s twin stars, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, have continued to perform admirably, G2 have both failed to challenge the likes of Vitality, Heroic and FaZe and become the subject of many upsets. If results don’t trend upward soon, a change could be on the cards, seeing as trigger-happy as the organization has been in recent years.

Rounding out the event is Team Liquid, once NA’s best-ever team in CS:GO, who will field a European majority roster for the first time in their history. The shuffle wasn’t entirely positive for the team; however, they secured a strong replacement for EliGE through Spirit star Robert “Patsi” Isyanov but chose not to pursue any IGL after Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella left the organization. Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis will retain leadership duties, hoping his aggressive space-taking style won’t clash with Patsi’s entry-focused one, while passive rifling roles will be handed to Bulgarian prospect Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov, a choice which came out of left field even for most tier-two enthusiasts.

Our verdict: FaZe and G2 are almost equally matched and poised to qualify, but neither have shown to be consistent in their pre-break outings and can be more easily studied by the opposition as they haven’t made any changes. If someone is to capitalize on their potential stumbles, that’s likely to be Liquid, as OG has to figure itself out before thinking of challenging elite teams.