Last updated: 23 Nov 12:46
BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Showdown will be the second last BLAST event of 2020. We have 16 teams that are fighting for two spots in the BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Finals. Besides the spots in the finals, there are BLAST Premier points on the line too. Top eight teams of the Showdown event get points that are crucial looking towards the Global Finals that are played in late January in 2021.
This year has proven that when it comes to online Counter-Strike, anything can happen as surprises are often seen. Something quite telling is that we have had way more changes in the HLTV top30 than what we would usually see. The lack of LAN events has meant that all teams have had to adjust to playing exclusively online, which is a big change for the top teams especially. Considering that the top teams from the past few years have pretty much only played LAN events as they have gotten direct invites and qualified to events with their recent performances without having to play the actual qualifiers. When you are used to playing in front of big crowds and physically together, it’s a significant change when all of that suddenly changes to playing alone from your home.
The change has also affected betting, as we have seen more upsets than what we would see in a LAN environment. It’s complicated trying to identify reasons why the performance level of teams have become so much more volatile than before. In a way, you could think that playing from home is more comfortable as you have no pressure from the audience in the stands etc., but when you are used to sucking energy from the roaring crowds playing from a silent room where you are sitting alone is challenging.
BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Showdown offers various great betting opportunities (for the esports lovers). We have an exciting lineup of teams in the event, and there are a couple of wild cards among them. One of the best parts of this event is the fact that there are teams from three different regions; CIS, Europe and the Americas. The best from the West, FURIA, MIBR and Evil Geniuses were all disappointed after the BLAST Premier: Fall, as they failed to qualify for the finals and they are looking to bounce back against the mid-tier teams of Europe and CIS.
As it stands at the moment, we recommend to avoid looking at the HLTV rankings or any other world rankings before you are placing your bets. The way online CS is going at the moment has forced us to switch our way of looking at things. Only the results from the past few weeks or a month or so matters. A team might’ve been top 3 in the world rankings last month, but lose to a ranked 97 team in a dominant fashion tomorrow and then continue to lose the next five series they play too. Data is key. Make sure you are up to date with the most recent performance of each team, double-check that the lineup hasn’t seen any late changes, and then place your bets based on the most accurate up-to-date information from the past few weeks that you can find. That’s how you can increase the possibilities to win from betting at the moment.
As esports has its own challenges and development areas; it’s challenging to give betting tips even a day before the tournament starts. The reason simply being that the odds are not fully live yet at the time of writing this preview. So essentially this tournament preview should work as a preparation tool for you to get familiar with the event and the teams that are playing in it. When the odds are live, and we start seeing some games being played, we will also start sharing some game previews and betting tips for some of the best-of-three series that is going to be played in the event. You can find those from our free betting tips page.
Read this one through with thought and do your research on the teams that interest you before the tournament starts. Return here or to our betting tips page when you are looking for some extra juice!
The outright odds are out which means that we can get some idea from the odds regarding the chances for each team to qualify for the Fall Finals. As the BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Showdown is played in two single-elimination brackets, we are going to pick favourites and challengers from both of them. There aren’t too many surprises in the outright odds as the top teams are relatively easily identifiable even without seeing what the outright markets look like at the moment. As the tournament is played in a bracket, you can also identify what the next games and the final could potentially look like. Now, let’s get to it.
In the first bracket we have the following initial matches:
With these games in mind let’s take a look at how we predict that the 1st bracket will play out and who are the most likely to qualify to the Fall Finals played in December.
FURIA has been raining terror in the North and South American CS:GO scene throughout the year of 2020. I know I said that old-ish results are irrelevant, but since June FURIA has won five trophies from SA/NA tournaments. Their main competitors, Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves have not been able to match the power of the best Brazilian team out there. They travelled to Europe with big expectations for the BLAST Premier Fall Series, but the reality was something else than what the team, their fans and pretty much the entire CS:GO scene was expecting. After getting schooled 2-0 (16-10, 16-11) by G2, FURIA had to play against the new MIBR, which was supposed to be an easy win for them. Well, that didn’t happen as the two Brazilian teams both won their map picks, and the series went to the third deciding map. It was a dire wake-up call for FURIA as they lost 2-1 (16-9, 11-16, 16-4) to a new team that wasn’t supposed to be able even to challenge them.
Either way, FURIA is still the best Brazilian Counter-Strike team currently out there. They are one of the odds favourites to win the entire competition, and as they are facing Isurus on the opening round, they should have a free ticket for the round of 8 where they are to face the winner of Spirit vs Virtus.pro. It’s safe to say that FURIA pretty much has the easiest possible route to the semi-finals of the Showdown event. Whether they can capitalise on the advantage is something that remains to be seen, but at least the road is laid out for their success.
The new MIBR has been underestimated since day one, and that seems to be a trend that continues to live and prosper. In the BLAST Premier Fall Series MIBR met Astralis in their opening matchup. I can’t stress enough how unlucky you can be that in your first official game with a fresh lineup you have to play against the best team in the history of Counter-Strike. You could think that it was a murder in plain sight, but the Brazilians did put a fight and stole a map from the Danish monsters. Funnily enough, the game could’ve gone in either direction as the first map went on overtime before Astralis was able to close it out. That series ended as a 2-1 (19-16, 13-16, 16-5) loss for MIBR, but after the Astralis game, they played against FURIA and surprised the world by winning it 2-1 (16-9, 11-16, 16-4). Unfortunately for MIBR, they lost to G2 with a 2-1 (19-15, 17-19, 16-5) scoreline.
Since the BLAST Premier Fall Series, MIBR has been playing in Flashpoint 2, and in it, they have only lost to BIG so far. But even in the losses, they have been able to challenge the Germans, and with a bit more luck they could’ve even won the series. MIBR is being underestimated very heavily still in odds as they are a newly reformed lineup. Therefore betting on MIBR to take maps or even win series can be valuable as the odds for them tend to be quite high-ish.
The second bracket will start with the following matchups:
The same story as with the first bracket, the winner gets a spot in the Fall Finals played in December. Again, we have picked one favourite and one challenger who can excel on the server and take the throne.
Complexity has been one of the hot topics lately. After they signed jks, they looked terrifying on the server. BlameF has evolved into an absolute monster, and the lineup as a whole has constantly been taking steps forward. I don’t think it’s going to take long until Complexity is knocking on the door of the top 5 HLTV rankings. Just recently they placed 3-4th in the IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Europe, where they only lost to Vitality in the semi-finals. To get there, they had to beat Fnatic, Natus Vincere and BIG, which is kind of telling about the current form of the team.
COL is set to start their journey in BLAST by facing Sprout on the opening round, and that shouldn’t cause any issues for them. In a way, the stage is pretty much set for Complexity’s success. Sprout is among the easier teams for them to play against, and if they succeed with that, they would then face the winner of NiP vs Cloud9. I expect that COL would be the favourite against both of them and that way their most challenging matchup would be in the last best-of-three series of the event. But there’s a long road to walk, and anything can happen during this exciting tournament.
Cloud9 is our wildcard pick for this tournament. They are a newly reformed team that has generated quite a lot of fuss in social media due to the way they have approached the entire process of creating a new lineup. HenryG’s involvement in the building of the new Cloud9 has been significant, and they are bringing a fresh wind with them to the Counter-Strike scene as a whole. If you aren’t familiar with the new Cloud9 CS:GO roster, here’s a reminder:
We’ve only seen a couple of games from the new C9 roster, as they are participating in the Flashpoint 2 tournament at the same time. So far they’ve played against Virtus.pro and OG, and they’ve lost both of those games 2-0. In both games, C9 has had one tight map which they could’ve won and then got schooled on the other. As it’s very early days for the squad, it’s hard to predict how their future will play out, but they are surely a potential top10 team in the future.
Cloud9 has a tough start as they are to face NiP in their opening game. They are a relatively big underdog going into the series, but if C9 beats NiP they can get a confidence boost that opens up opportunities. It isn’t going to be easy, but they are an exciting roster, and online CS tends to surprise.
The BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Showdown consists of 16 teams who are fighting for two spots in the Fall 2020 Finals played later this year. Eight out of the 16 teams will also score some BLAST Premier -points that are crucial if they are to qualify for the Global Finals tournament that is going to take place in January 2021.
There are $150 000 on the table for the 16 teams participating. But, the teams are not fighting just for cash prices in BLAST Premier: Fall 2020 Showdown, as there are BLAST Premier -points on the line too. In a nutshell, with BLAST Premier points teams can qualify to the Global Finals that are played in early 2021. Therefore every game is even more critical now as only the top eight of the tournament get points on top of their cash price.
All of the above makes us believe that the race will put every fan on the edge of the seat.
Here is the prize pool distribution and BLAST points after the dollars:
Playoffs: November 24th - 29th, 2020
Teemu Maarela
Esports & Ice Hockey SpecialistBio:
Teemu is an enthusiastic Finn who spent his childhood around ice hockey and video games, and he has 10+ years of experience with sports betting industry. Teemu specialises in analysing esports and ice hockey games. He contributes to Betting.com website in English, writing about his two passions - ice hockey and esports.Recommended Bookmakers
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