Who Should You Bet On To Win The CS:GO Blast Fall Showdown?
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive continues to grow into one of the world’s biggest Esport
titles and, barely two days on from the final of the Intel Extreme Masters Beijing Online
the tournament, the community is once again bracing itself for another adrenaline-pumping
the event in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown.
There are some new faces in amongst the mix at the event this time around, and a spot in
the BLAST Premier Fall Finals along with the world’s absolute bests should make for a
tantalising prospect for these faces. Here are some of the sides you should look out for at
the BLAST Fall Showdown this month.
Cloud9
Few sides active in the game of Counter-Strike right now is playing with the level of hype
Cloud9 currently has. Longtime pundit and commentator HenryG has completely shaken
things up and crafted a side filled to the brim with superstars, from AWPer Woxic, head
coach Kassad, rifler Es3tag, and IGL Alex, this is a side bursting with recognisable faces and
a huge amount of talent on the show.
Their first event together was at Flashpoint Season 2 earlier in November, and the side was
dumped out without winning a map. That wasn’t entirely unexpected, they were in the
toughest group and hadn’t played competitively together once, and there were a couple of
good points from their performances that they could definitely bring with them into BLAST.
At Flashpoint, Cloud9 played a different map in all four matches they played. This is either
good if you’re C9 because no one knows what your counters and map picks are going to be,
or it’s really bad because you yourself don’t know what maps you’re good on yet. Pushing
OG to overtime on Nuke is no small achievement in an event like Flashpoint, but are you
really going to try and hone Nuke as a map when you have a new roster to work with and
you’re coming up against some seriously heavy hitters at this event now?
Cloud9 have all the talent and every opportunity to really lay themselves down as a serious
force in the world of Counter-Strike with a win at the BLAST Showdown and a placement
alongside the best in the world at the Finals, and we expect them to push themselves much
further than Flashpoint.
Complexity Gaming
Complexity Gaming delivered arguably the feel-good underdog story of the year when they
managed to win the BLAST Spring Finals after qualifying through the Spring Showdown,
beating Team Vitality in the final after months of living in Europe from their homes in North
America.
Since then, they’ve become the BLAST specialists of CS:GO and found the time to bolster
their ranks by moving for JKS from the now-disbanded 100 Thieves. Easily one of the best
players to emerge from the Oceania scene, JKS is one of the most exciting prospects in the
game and seems to be a natural fit for a side like Complexity.
Things haven’t been as prolific for Complexity since their last win at BLAST, dropping down
to 10th in the world rankings coming into the event, and the side haven’t matched the likes of
Team Vitality, BIG, Heroic, and G2 in terms of just how many tournaments they’ve ran deep
in since the Spring and have struggled against the reinvigoration of sides like Astralis.
But, as we mentioned, BLAST is where they save their best for.
MIBR
First-person shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are examples of real money earning games and, as such, is prone to moments of messy bits of drama behind the scenes
with so much being on the line.
MIBR, and their roster core of Fer, Fallen, and TACO, had been back-to-back Major
Championship winners during their time with Luminosity and SK Gaming, however the side
had been in decline for a good long while and the strategy of replacing the fourth or fifth
members of the roster clearly weren’t working anymore.
Fer and TACO were kicked in September and Fallen requested to drop out of the lineup
because of this decision, ushering a hastily built new-look roster of Brazilians that few in the
the community had ever heard of.
However, since the drama of September, things have been looking fresh, exciting and
surprisingly successful for MIBR. Take a look at their reactions to winning rounds in even the
most inconsequential games to see the passion and energy on the show with this new look
roster and the quality of chemistry on the show with a side that barely knows each other is
surprisingly strong so CS:GO Blast Fall Showdown far.
Don’t count out the Brazilians as an outside bet for a place in the BLAST Finals this fall.
