by G2 Esports have emerged as the first BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 finalists on Saturday, September 28, when Nikola “NiKo” Kova? and co. reverse-swept the Vitality in an intense three-map series.
By eliminating the Bees, G2 Esports are guaranteed their fourth top-two finish in an S-Tier tournament just a week after reaching the semifinals at ESL Pro League Season 20.
The fixture marked the first clash between G2 Esports and Team Vitality since BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024, when G2 Esports still fielded Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi?.
Now, with a new lineup and largely thanks to the newest member Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa, G2 got their revenge.
NiKo Leads G2 Esports to Victory
The BLAST Premier: Fall Final semifinal series kicked off on G2 Esports’ pick of Anubis, yet despite choosing the map, G2 failed to get over the finish line and lost 9-13.
That also marked Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov’s first map of a 29-map streak in which he failed to post a positive rating. Still, despite the slow start for the Russian AWPer, he managed to pick up the pace in the final two.
The series moved to Vitality’s map pick, Dust2, which started close, entering half-time with a narrow 7-5 lead for G2.
Vitality responded on CT-side, winning the first two rounds, but could not find a response for NiKo, m0NESY, and malbsMd, who carried their side to victory with seven straight rounds to close the map.
After a back-and-forth start, the series moved to the deciding map – Mirage, which continued the theme of the semifinal.
Team Vitality started strong, and on the back of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, took three of the first four rounds but quickly lost momentum and entered the half-time 5-7 down.
Not to repeat the situation from Dust2, Vitality put their foot on the gas and secured seven of the first nine rounds on CT-side, setting themselves up for success.
But even after reaching a comfortable 12-9 lead Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and co. failed to close out the series.
Despite their best attempts, Vitality could not get the final map which would take them to the grand final.
They were unable to stop NiKo, who put on a masterful display and dragged his side into overtime, where a closely contested six maps ended in a well-deserved 16-14 victory for G2.
The Bosnian Counter-Strike superstar ended the series with a 1.47 performance rating, closely followed by malbsMd at 1.43.
G2 Esports are set to face Natus Vincere on Sunday, September 29. Counter-Strike betting sites have NiKo and co. priced as +154 underdogs for the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 grand final.
