BLAST Premier’s Copenhagen events in Royal Arena, have always been somewhat of a rollercoaster. On one hand, the Danes turn up in thousands to watch, primarily Astralis, get booted from the competition, but on the other they don’t really engage.
You know, it’s not for nothing it’s been called The Library of Counter-Strike, because the only thing you hear after Astralis go out, is the shuffling of feet towards the entrance.
This Sunday it was completely different. Not only were Astralis shirts in the minority, but the home crowd were guaranteed to see a Dane lift the trophy for the first time since BLAST’s inception.
Hometown hero and showman extraordinaire, karrigan, up against home country hype monster, cadiaN. You probably couldn’t have scripted a more energized matchup if you tried.
And Royal Arena duly delivered. Packed to the brim, alight with fans of both teams, karrigan entered the Arena clad in the Danish flag, while cadiaN proudly showcased his new rainbow captain’s band. A gesture befit of a Danish captain, but a hollow one unless he repeats it in Abu Dhabi a few weeks from now.
What followed from the dramatic entrance, the hyped up crowd and the imposing stage was… not the best advertisement for Counter-Strike.
Overpass was, except for a good start by FaZe, dominated by Heroic who had the the map swept up in their palm from round 10. In the end the Danes closed it out at 16-11 to resounding applause, but it could have been 16-9, or worse.
On Inferno, FaZe never really got comfortable despite it being their map pick. But Heroic looked even less at home, and as ropz + broky dropped a combined 51 kills in 28 rounds, the crowd advantage fizzled out.
How we wish the decider had been Nuke. Both teams are experts on the map, and it plays well both on tempo, strategy and gunplay. Instead we got Mirage…
Yes, there are good Mirage matchups, but this wasn’t one of them. Heroic ran away with 11 CT-rounds in the first half, before FaZe managed to sweep 8 of their 9 first defensive rounds. Not quite the tactical tit-for-tat we had been hoping for on Nuke.
No, instead it was complete chaos. Speed and brute force, in the place of finesse and smarts. And as any Silver II player will attest to, that usually favour those able to switch off and aim.
And oh boy is jabbi one of those players. We’ve said before that Heroic doesn’t have the same elite level firepower as their competitors, but on Mirage, jabbi showed he can go toe to toe with the best.
Granted, it took overtime and clutch plays to get there, but Heroic got it done in the end with a 19-16 victory. And jabbi? Well he finished 71-59, 1.20 in rating and 80.3 in ADR in a LAN Grand Final. He’s the real deal.
A curse undone. For Heroic on LAN, for the Danes at BLAST Premier in Copenhagen, and for cadiaN, who can finally put the ghost of North back on its burning longboat where it belongs.
Final standings:
1st 🇩🇰 Heroic - $200.000
2nd 🇪🇺 FaZe - $85.000
3-4th 🇸🇪 Ninjas in Pyjamas - $40.000
3-4th 🇺🇸 Liquid - $40.000
5-6th 🇺🇦 NAVI - $20.000
5-6th 🇪🇺 G2 - $20.000
7-8th 🇧🇷 Fluxo - $10.000
7-8th 🇪🇺 OG - $10.000
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