There are plenty of storylines to keep an eye on during the BLAST Premier World Final.
The $1 million CS2 tournament BLAST Premier World Final is about to kick off and there are some exciting storylines to follow.
The BLAST Premier World Final features seven of the 10 top teams in the world (Natus Vincere, G2, Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, and Team Liquid) plus Astralis, who's trying to improve their results under Casper "cadiaN" Møller's leadership.
The tournament presents an incredible opportunity for some teams to get out of their slump, and at the same time, is a good opportunity for the likes of NAVI to capitalize and add another trophy to their cabinet.
Here are the best storylines that could come true at the BLAST Premier World Final.
Best storylines to follow in the BLAST Premier World Final
Can FaZe turn things around?
FaZe enjoyed a hell of a start when CS2 came out in 2023 as they won IEM Sydney, Thunderpick World Championship, and the CS Asia Championships in a row.
It seemed that nothing could stop them, not even the loss of Russel "Twistzz" Van Dunkel to Liquid ahead of the 2024 season, as they continued delivering good results with David "frozen" Čerňanský.
In total, FaZe made it into eight straight grand finals between the end of 2023 and the start of 2024, however, they only won IEM Chengdu in April and lost all the previous finals after the CS Asia Championships.
From IEM Chengdu onwards, FaZe entered a slump and never reached a grand final again. Instead, they began to be knocked out in the first rounds of playoffs or even leave the event in the group stage like in ESL Pro League season 20 and most recently in IEM Rio.
Some factors could explain FaZe's decline such as the role clash between frozen and Robin "ropz" Kool and the fact they jumped from one tournament to another with not a lot of time to fix their mistakes and reinvent the playbook.
Before the disaster run in IEM Rio, FaZe saw an uptick in form at the BLAST Premier Fall Final and nearly made the grand finals, so perhaps they could bring some of that FaZe magic to the World Final in Singapore.
One thing is certain, though, if FaZe don't show results at the BLAST Premier World Final and the Perfect World Major, changes will happen.
Will Liquid finally step up to the task?
The season is nearly ending and Liquid are yet to deliver a superb performance. Of course, they did improve with the additions of Justin "jks" Savage and Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak in the off-season, but not enough to make a deep run.
Liquid's most notable win under Twistzz' leadership was beating Spirit at the BLAST Premier Fall Final in September, however, they never made past the quarterfinals when qualifying for the playoffs. Is this Liquid's ceiling or can they step up?
The fans have been asking for the removal of YEKINDAR for months as the Latvian continuously keeps underperforming. He'll be again under the microscope at the BLAST Premier World Final, and if Liquid fail, the critics will only get louder.
Given that Liquid and any other team at BLAST Premier World Final only need to win one out of the two possible matches during the group phase to advance to the playoffs, anything but a playoff appearance will be truly disastrous.
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MOUZ and their big stage syndrome
Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek and Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen have made MOUZ one of the most consistent teams in CS2. The organization's hard work totally paid off as they nurtured youngsters and turned them into star players.
Even though MOUZ won ESL Pro League season 19 and the first BetBoom Dacha Belgrade this year, one problem still persists: they have never won a tournament in front of a big crowd.
While the team seems to thrive in the studio enviroment, they can't bring their A-game to arenas and big venues. MOUZ had great chances at IEM Chengdu, IEM Cologne, and IEM Rio this year to get rid of the big stage syndrome, but ultimately fell in either the semis or grand finals.
It's comprehensive that such a young set of players—the average player age in MOUZ is 21.1—struggles a bit in arenas and big venues as the crowd adds an additional layer of pressure. However, this is something MOUZ will eventually have to overcome if they want to be the undisputed best team in the world.
A great opportunity lies at the BLAST Premier World Final as the organizer is expecting between 10,000 to 14,000 fans across the weekend and most of them will be neutral as there ain't an Asian team attending the tournament.
This makes the BLAST Premier World Final the best scenario for MOUZ to win a tournament in front of a big crowd, which would give them confidence for the Major RMR and the Major itself, should they qualify.
Will Astralis show some progress?
It hasn't been easy for Astralis fans. After Astralis' golden era between 2017 and 2019, the organization fell of a cliff and haven't lifted a big trophy on LAN since the BLAST Pro Series Global Final at the end of 2019.
This year it seemed like Astralis were doing well under Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz's leadership as they played in four straight semifinals between April and June. The organization, however, thought otherwise and removed Alexander "br0" Bro to bring cadiaN.
Even though it's only only one new player in, the arrival of cadiaN changed Astralis' approach to the game as he's a very different IGL in comparison to dev1ce. And to make matters worse, dev1ce is struggling a bit under cadiaN's system thus far.
It's way too soon to be harsh with cadiaN, but Astralis fans certainly expect better results at the BLAST Premier World Final as the team had a couple of weeks to focus on practice following the IEM Rio fiasco.
We'll see if cadiaN can unlock dev1ce's potential with his characteristic playstyle that worked so well in the HEROIC days, and give fans the hope that better days aren't that distant.
NAVI look to capitalize in the BLAST Premier World Final to build an era
When NAVI won the PGL Copenhagen Major in March, a lot of CS2 fans called it a fluke. Well, their theory has been proved wrong as Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen led NAVI to win the EWC, ESL Pro League season 20, and IEM Rio in the months that followed, plus three runners-up campaigns.
It's clear that NAVI are the undisputed best CS2 team in the world at the moment with G2, Vitality, MOUZ, and Spirit on their trail. And, if NAVI overcome these teams again, all of us should start calling this CS period we're living the NAVI era.
The consistency NAVI are displaying isn't on pair with the rest of the scene. Sometimes it feels that any top 10 team in the world can win an event under the right circunstances, but NAVI are proving they're the ultimate team to be beaten.
NAVI's path to win the BLAST Premier World Final looks easier in comparison to recent tournaments as one of their main competitors, Vitality, will use the veteran Audric "JACKZ" Jug as a stand-in for William "meziii" Merriman. But, can they pull it off one more time until the Major?
That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more BLAST Premier World Final coverage directly from Singapore.
