BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, CS:GO’s strangest tournament

The penultimate BLAST Pro Series event of the year comes to an end. Copenhagen hosted the most unexpected Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament in a while. This two-day event was full of unique memories spoken of for some time.

FaZe Clan Find Form

The major result of the tourney was that FaZe Clan finally sorted their issues and became the winners of BLAST Copenhagen. They are the only team this entire year to win multiple BLAST events. FaZe now comes into the BLAST Finals as the top seed.

Broky,
Coldzera,
NiKo,
Olofmeister,
Rain,

? CHAMPIONS of @BLASTProSeries Copenhagen ?#FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/Ih3XCEWI8U

— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) November 2, 2019

FaZe earned this honor, rolling through the entire field and only suffering one map loss in a meaningless match. The duo of Marcelo “coldzera” David and Helvijs “broky” Saukants looks unstoppable on their shared bombsite defenses. Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer also showed off his skill with the AWP. BLAST Copenhagen marks the first time this FaZe iteration reaches its potential. Hopefully, they can keep up the pace and continue at this level.

Top Two Tumble

In contrast to FaZe’s success, powerhouses Astralis and Team Liquid struggled much more than expected. Both teams only managed two wins total, one being the freebie from Cloud9.

On the first day, Astralis found a new low on performance. In their first two matches, Astralis only took nine rounds. They even lost 28 rounds in a row. Not only is this their worst slip ever, it’s now the longest round loss streak by a major CS:GO team.

@astralisgg lossstreak was more significant than I initially thought. It’s not just a negative record for Astralis. But no other major teams has ever lost more than 23 rounds in a row. pic.twitter.com/DjZPkCGr07

— MathiasH (@Hiderdk) November 2, 2019

Stats aside, Astralis did recover on the second day, winning two games and one draw. The draw against Natus Vincere eliminated them from finals contention, but they were able to participate in the BLAST Pro Standoff. With the help of their retired coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen playing against the best player in the world, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, Astralis won the game and the $20 thousand bonus prize. Fans and players alike found it very entertaining.

For Team Liquid, this event was yet another sub-par performance. They finished at 2-0-3, only truly beating Cloud9. Liquid grabbed a win off FaZe Clan, but it was meaningless since FaZe were already locked for finals and likely saving energy and strategies. If Liquid wants to remain at the top level of Counter-Strike, they need to start winning again. They could slip out of the top four before they know it.

Ninjas and Na’Vi Show Improvement

Coming into BLAST Copenhagen, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Natus Vincere were mid-level teams hoping to stand out. Finishing in second and third respectively is admirable, especially when Astralis and Liquid were below them. NiP even played FaZe close in the finals, but unfortunately choked away crucial rounds on both maps.

Both NiP and Na’Vi still look rough around the edges, but there is plenty of room to grow. NiP has the ESL Pro League European qualifiers in a week, while Na’Vi leaves for a month-long break. Hopefully, these teams can continue to rise back to their former glory. Counter-Strike isn’t the same without classic teams like NiP and Na’Vi after all.

Cloud9 Competitive

Arguably the most unexpected result of the event comes from Cloud9. They were expected to be dismantled throughout the entire event. While that held true for half of their matches, C9 also had great moments in the spotlight.

They started off day two by playing Na’Vi to a draw, then almost did the same to FaZe right after. If a few more rounds went their way, C9 could have ended the event on two wins, the same score as Team Liquid and Astralis. If they can refine their gameplay, C9 could again be a rising force in North American Counter-Strike.

With Copenhagen in the rearview, the Global Finals in Bahrain lay ahead. Starting December 12, the top four finishers in the BLAST Pro Series battle it out for a $500 thousand prize pool and the title of BLAST Champion. These top four teams are: