The CS2 BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024 opening match between FaZe and Rare Arom wasn’t a one-sided domination.
When an underdog team, such as Rare Atom, faces well-established CS2 esports celebrities, such as FaZe Clan, you don’t expect to have an action-packed match. FaZe’s fans got themselves small packages of snacks and prepared for a quick and totally glorious win. The win is sure here, but the resistance we witnessed from Rare Atom is remarkable.
Here is a brief recap of the CS2 BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024 match and a short pre-match interview with karrigan taken by James Banks for the official stream.
An interview with FaZe’s karrigan
Before the match started, the official interviewer of CS2 BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024 asked Finn "karrigan" Andersen a few questions. Below are some interesting highlights.
FaZe at the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown
It's unusual for FaZe Clan to find themselves needing to qualify for the BLAST seasonal finals through a Showdown tournament. What are karrigan's thoughts on this path to the Fall Finals 2024?
“We should have it done already in the BLAST Groups. But it is what it is. […] Obviously, the goal is to qualify. But there also are some good teams in our bracket, so [I] just look forward to playing some Counter-Strike online and trying to improve our game.”
Playing online
Competitive games feel different online and offline. As FaZe is playing at the top-level tournaments, their experience has been mainly offline as of late. How does karrigan feel about playing at the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, which is an online tournament?
“We played at one CS2 event online last year, so it’s [hasn't been] that long since we played at an online tournament. […] I think the most important thing is to get comfortable at play. We are in a situation where if we win, it will be helpful for us. We have to use this tournament as a booster, in that sense. But first of all — we have to win. It’s the main goal.”
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Post-Cologne feelings
FaZe Clan finished 5th-6th at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024. They lost to SAW in the Playoffs quarter-finals. What does karrigan say about not reaching as high as expected at that tournament?
“I think, making it to the Playoffs was a goal. And we reached that goal. After that game, I felt a little bad as we didn’t manage to beat SAW, but they played really well against us. I believe we did everything we could in the situation we were in. […] It is just an acknowledgment and acceptance that we are not competing right now for titles, but in two weeks, we can. Let’s build up a good foundation and build up some confidence leading to the rest of the season.”
FaZe vs Rare Atom
The teams started on Inferno, the pick of Rare Atom. They had a surprisingly good start on the T side — Rare Atom kept the score even for quite a while. But after switching sides, the experience and better strategic thinking of FaZe Clan became obvious. They got a few good rounds and won the game.
On the second map, Ancient, Rare Atom managed to get a score advantage. The player looked well individually, and FaZe made some mistakes to let that happen. But again, their opponents fell just short of converting it into a final victory.
FaZe Clan won against Rare Atom 2:0 — 13:8 and 13:9.
The stream
The VOD of this match is embedded below. FaZe vs Rare Atom was the first match of CS2 BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024 Day 1.
Who are Rare Atom?
While there is no need to introduce FaZe Clan, Rare Atom is a new team in top-level play.
The players are from China. They won the C-tier tournament 5E Arena Asia Cup Fall 2024 to qualify for the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown. Another event they won recently is Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024: Asian Qualifier.
The team is out of the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024, but we may meet them again.
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