Christmas has come early. Maybe not early, but 12 days or so.

BLAST’s final swing of the year is taking place in Abu Dhabi, with seven of the best teams in the world, as well as Heroic, descending on one of the sunniest places in December.

Don’t expect much snow on this early Christmas day. BLAST are bringing you some lovely presents, though.

Sliding down the chimney on Wednesday morning is Cloud9 and ENCE, in what promises to be an intriguing match. Both teams have changed IGLs and both are facing interesting challenges. gla1ve has to revive his career while convincing a set of players, all of whom have offers from other teams, to commit to his leadership. On the other side, Boombl4 has to handle a team without a real AWPer while dealing with his own return to the top tier.

Vitality vs NAVI are up next and it barely needs any commentary. This will be a straight up banger.

Finally, FaZe take on the ghost of Heroic in their opening game, before day one closes out with MOUZ vs G2. If you can confidently predict the outcome of that game, you’re smarter than we are.

MOUZ just lost their best player, and G2 just signed one of their weaker ones. This might just be the stoppable force and the moveable object.

It all, most likely, leads to a FaZe vs Vitality final in the end - but there’s a non-zero chance we see the balance disturbed and a new challenger rise to the top. Whatever happens, it’s the last big event this side of 2024, so make sure to enjoy it.

Even if you’re a Heroic fan.