BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024: Group A preview

BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 is about to kick off, and our previews will give you everything you need to know about both groups.

This preview in particular focuses on group A, which features Natus Vincere, G2, FaZe Clan, and Team Spirit. The group stage uses a double-elimination format, which means that three of these teams will make playoffs. The group winner will qualify directly to the semifinals, while the second and third-placed teams have to attend the quarterfinals.

Here's the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 group A preview, which includes the lineup of each team, their current form, and how they fare against each other.

NAVI roster

NAVI arrived in Copenhagen for the BLAST Premier Fall Final on the top of their game. The international powerhouse led by Aleksib won the ESL Pro League Season 20 on Sept. 22, their third big trophy this year.

So, based on their recent performances, they should qualify for the playoffs without much hassle. All of their players minus Aleksib are averaging a 1.19 rating or higher, according to HLTV, in the past three months. This shows how well-oiled NAVI are at the moment.

NAVI will play Falcons in the opening match and possibly get a good start in the tournament as Falcons had an awful tournament at EPL season 20.

Falcons roster:

While NAVI are firing all cylinders, the same can't be said about Falcons. The team had shown some improvement at the end of August during BetBoom Dacha, but it all crumbled after EPL season 20.

Falcons were knocked out in the group stage of EPL as they lost to FURIA, Virtus.pro, and RED Canids, and only defeated ATOX. This form comes amidst rumors that G2's star player NiKo will join Falcons after the Perfect World Shanghai Major at the end of the year, which only adds more pressure to the players.

Even with all these problems, Falcons can reach playoffs at the BLAST Premier Fall Final. As we said, the group stage is very forgiving, and Falcons have a shot especially if they decide their fate against FaZe Clan.

G2 Roster

Although G2 are one of the top teams in the world, they're in a weird spot. The only tournament they won this year was IEM Dallas in June when they played with Jacky "Stewie2K" Yip instead of their former IGL Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen.

Then, the organization benched HooXi and Nemanja "nexa" Isaković to make space for the arrivals of malbsMd and Snax. With these two on board, G2 finished runners-up at Esports World Cup, fell in the quarterfinals of IEM Cologne, and most recently lost to NAVI in the semifinals of EPL season 20.

These results are acceptable for a team who just switched two pieces, but as G2 have three clear stars in NiKo, m0NESY, and malbsMd, the pressure is starting to mount.

FaZe should be a good matchup for G2 at the moment, as they're in a slump. Should G2 beat FaZe, they'll be in a comfortable spot to qualify for the BLAST Premier Fall Final playoffs.

FaZe Clan roster

FaZe lived a true honeymoon period when CS2 came out in September 2023. The international team led by karrigan went on to win four tournaments and finished runners-up in other four, a form that will be hard for anyone to replicate.

The higher you get, the bigger the fall. Since winning IEM Chengdu in April, FaZe didn't reach the semifinals at least once. Instead, they're finishing fifth-sixth place in a lot of tournaments, and not even qualified for EPL season 20 playoffs.

The team are still solid on paper, but it's about time the players get out of their slump and show some improvements until management starts considering roster changes. FaZe have a good opportunity in the BLAST Premier Fall Final as they can at least reach playoffs and work from there, but the first game against G2 will tell us what version of FaZe we'll see in Copenhagen.

That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 coverage directly from Copenhagen, Denmark.