CS 2
BLAST Showdown 2024 Day 1: Overview and Predictions
The first day of the BLAST Premier Showdown will bring us three interesting matches with six teams. How is s1mple debut in a new team going to be? What new NiP roster is capable of? Is Cloud9 going to have another problematic tournament and one more chance to realize it is hard to play without a main sniper in a team? We will have to see it on the first day of BLAST Showdown.
First Day (March 6) Schedule:
- Cloud9 vs. Rare Atom starting at 15:30 CET
- HEROIC vs. NiP starting at 18:00 CET
- Falcons vs. Metizport starting at 20:30 CET
Cloud9 vs. Rare Atom
Cloud9 recently surprised us with a win over Vitality, where they played for the PGL Major spot, one of the most important tournaments coming soon. Not having a main sniper didn't seem to make a big difference there, and Cloud9 put down a team with one of the best snipers in the world. But only distance can show us if they can do it in the long run without the main sniper. Besides, Cloud9 is in good enough form to compete against anyone at this tournament.
Rare Atom is a team coming from Asian qualifiers, and so far, they have only played against teams from their region and haven't had a chance to show themselves against teams from different parts of the world. It will probably take a lot of work for them to start a single-elimination tournament against a more experienced team and players.
Based on the players' experience, results, and skill level, Cloud9 should win this match.
HEROIC vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
Compared to the first match, this one doesn't seem so obvious, yet it's HEROIC to be a favorite of this match.
HEROIC successfully qualified for the biggest tournament, PGL Major, with a 3-2 score, and other than that, lately, they've been putting up a fight against such teams like Spirit and Astralis, which is not a bad result for still a new roster trying to find its real power.
NiP, on the other side, got a new roster update after completely failing qualifiers for PGL Major, where they went out with a 0-3 score without winning a single match. The new roster seems yet to get its experience, and it doesn't seem like they're contenders for anything at this tournament; they're just trying to test themselves.
Based on everything said above, experience, results, team rosters, and experience, our vote goes for HEROIC to win this match.
Falcons vs. Metizport
This one might have the most views out of all three matches on the first day. s1mple, known for being one of the best players in history, back with a debut in his new team, Falcons, and this one reason alone is enough not to miss this match because this guy is known for his ability to make every game his highlight.
Falcons did well enough before PGL Major, but after failure qualifying, they decided to make some changes, and it might be the best thing they could do to bring someone into their team. But now, since they cannot attend the most significant tournament this year, they must take other tournaments such as this one much more seriously to show themselves and get a spot at another tournament.
Metizport is a young team comprising five Swedish players, and it will be their first try at the big tournament to show themselves against experienced teams and players. Let's hope not having that much experience will not stop this team from showing us their capabilities.
The match seems evident, at least now, and experience, skill level, results, and everything goes for the Falcons. On the Metizport side, they're unknown for big teams, and they might be surprised by some different playstyle. But it would be much better for a best-of-one match, and since it will be a best-of-three, it's hard to surprise such an experienced team on two maps in a row to win this match. So, for the many reasons mentioned above, the Falcons should win this match.
We will be back with our predictions for BLAST Day 2 soon, stay tuned!
