A much better showing from the Snappi-led squad sees them survive at the Fall Groups.
Falcons take on GamerLegion in the elimination match at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. The former looked shaky against Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz's Astralis in the opener and took a tough 2-0 loss. Meanwhile, GamerLegion impressed everyone, taking one map and being on matchpoint for a 2-0 win over Vitality, even though they eventually crumbled. Who will survive in the lower bracket? And who will drop down to the Showdown?
GamerLegion's surprise success while the Falcons faltered
GamerLegion's performance on July 29 was the cause of much applause. The team came into the match against Vitality with a great game plan and had their individuals succeed in every duel. The first map was a victory off of the incredible performance from Timur "FL4MUS" Maryev. Mirage, too, nearly went the way of GamerLegion, but an overtime loss broke their momentum, and the team crumbled in the final map.
If GamerLegion brings their game plan and firepower like they did in that game, they will have a strong shot at clipping the Falcons' wings. But if the crumble continues, the Falcons might ease their way into an Astralis rematch.
Falcons and GamerLegion: Fall Groups rosters
Falcons | GamerLegion |
|---|---|
| Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer | Sebastian "volt" Maloș |
| Emil "Magisk" Reif | Henrich "sl3nd" Hevesi |
| Pavle "maden" Bošković | Andreas "aNdu" Maasing |
| Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia | Timur "FL4MUS" Maryev |
| Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen | Erik "ztr" Gustafsson |
| Danny "zonic" Sørensen (C) | Ashley "ashhh" Battye |
Map veto
- GamerLegion removed Dust2
- Falcons removed Inferno
- GamerLegion picked Anubis
- Falcons picked Nuke
- GamerLegion removed Vertigo
- Falcons removed Ancient
- Mirage was left over
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Falcons' CT side dominates: Anubis 13-8
Anubis is historically a T-sided map, but if you watched this game, you wouldn't have known that. Right from the get-go, Snappi's side looked surgical on the defense. Their pistol-round win was converted into a streak of rounds that saw the Falcons go all the way to 7-0. The AWP-rifle duo of sl3nd and volt found success late in the half, but could only muster 4 in the half.
Moving to their own CT side, sl3nd once again was crucial in keeping the team floating. He locked in the pistol win with a 1v2 clutch on A. That allowed his team to get within one round of the Falcons before a full buy propelled the Danish core back up. The Falcons took five out of the next six rounds, and the game was quickly closed out with a 13-8 win.
Falcons flip the script: Nuke 13-5
Now, on their own map pick, Zonic's troops looked even more confident. On a CT-dominant map, the Falcons started on the T-side and put up an absolutely incredible 11-1 half. A pistol conversion had given them early momentum, and with every single frag going their way, the Falcons took over. By round 5, it was clear that ztr had no answer to Snappi's calls, and the lead just kept on increasing. A solitary round went the way of GamerLegion, but the map looked lost already.
It was yet another pistol clutch, this time a 2v5 from sl3nd and volt that gave GamerLegion a win. That allowed some momentum to go the T-side's way, with even the first gun round closing in their favor. But with such a dominant first half, the Falcons could bide their time to strike. And strike they did in round 17, taking two back to back to close the series out 2-0.
Falcons set up Astralis rematch in Fall Groups after GamerLegion win
After that fiery showing, the Falcons look in much better shape to take on Astralis in the rematch. The Danish side tasted some of their own medicine at the hands of Vitality, and will now have to regroup and prepare for a rematch. Usually, rematches favor the loser. Can Falcons make use of that and survive through to the Fall Finals?
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