Image: BLAST
Despite their valiant efforts, MOUZ and FaZe Clan have been knocked out in 5th-6th place.
The Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 kicked off its Playoffs in the Resorts World Convention Centre in Sentosa, Singapore on Friday (November 1), marking the first time that a top-tier CS tournament was played in front of a Southeast Asian audience.
To the delight of the crowd, 
Team Vitality and 
Team Spirit advanced to the semifinals after they swept 
MOUZ and 
FaZe Clan, respectively, in the quarterfinals. The day's victors will next face 
Astralis and 
G2 Esports for the the two spots in the grand finals.
Here's how all the action went down on the opening day of the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 Playoffs:
0-2
Team VitalityVitality were a big question mark coming into the tournament as William “mezii” Merriman had to skip the event in order to be present for the birth of his child, with Audric “JACKZ” Jug tapped as his stand-in. The team had a poor start after getting swept by Spirit in their Opening Match in Group B of the Group Stage, but they bounced back with a 2-1 victory over Team Liquid in their group's Elimination Match to qualify for the Playoffs.
Meanwhile, MOUZ started strong with a 2-0 sweep over FaZe in their Group A opening match to quickly lock in a Playoff spot. However, they fell short of a direct berth to the semifinals as they were soundly swept by Astralis in their group's Winners Match.
MOUZ entered the series with all guns blazing, with Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek kicking off the action in Dust2 with a round 1 Ace and helped his team win the first three rounds as the CT side. However, Vitality responded with a five-round streak from rounds 7 to 11 that gave them a 7-5 lead by halftime.
Vitality then continued rolling after the side switch, racking up four straight rounds before MOUZ could answer in round 17. From there, Vitality clinically won the next two rounds to secure the 13-6 win in Dust2.
It was Vitality's turn to have a fiery start in Mirage, with Shahar "flameZ" Shushan and Lotan "Spinx" Giladi recording Aces of their own in rounds 2 and 10, respectively, that fueled their team's march to a 8-4 first half lead as the CT side. Despite their best efforts to mount a comeback, MOUZ could do little to stop Vitality from grabbing another 13-6 win to advance to the semifinals.
Spinx led the way for Vitality in the series with 35 total kills on a series-best 14 total deaths. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut added 34 kills on 18 deaths while flameZ had 29 kills on 20 deaths.
2-0
FaZe ClanThe second series of the day was an absolute banger, as Spirit overcame a feisty FaZe squad in a very competitive 2-0 sweep, which included a double overtime thriller in game two.
Spirit were a bit of a mixed bag heading into the Playoffs. While they swept Vitality in their Group B Opening Match, they were in turn swept by G2 in the Winners Match to get forced into a quarterfinals start. In contrast, FaZe had a poor start in Group A after getting swept by MOUZ in their Opening Match, but recovered well by knocking out tournament favourites Natus Vincere in the Elimination Match and punching their tickets to the Playoffs.
While FaZe drew first blood in Mirage by winning the first two rounds as the T side, Spirit responded with four straight round wins behind strong performances from their star duo of Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov. Both teams then traded two-round streaks until the first half ended with a 6-6 deadlock.
Spirit woke up in the second half with a 4-1 run that eventually allowed them to get within map point at 12-9 by round 21. While FaZe threatened to force overtime by winning round 22, Spirit shut the door on their opponents in the next round to claim the 13-10 win in Mirage.
Game two in Anubis then saw Spirit win the first two rounds as the CT side, only for FaZe to catch fire and win five straight rounds. Even so, Spirit managed to minimize their losses and keep their opponents' lead at a reachable 7-5 by halftime.
Spirit then regained their momentum to start the second half, winning four rounds to take a 9-7 lead. However, veteran Finn “karrigan” Andersen showed flashes of his prime world-beating form as he led FaZe on a five-round streak to get them within one round of forcing the series to game three. Sh1ro and Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov then pulled off their own heroics to spark a three-round run for Spirit that forced Anubis into overtime.
In arguably the craziest sequence of the tournament so far, Spirit and FaZe went blow-for-blow, resulting in a second overtime period to decide a winner. FaZe had a good start by winning round 31, but Spirit responded with three straight wins to get within series point. A defiant FaZe squad won round 35 in the hopes of forcing a third overtime, but Spirit locked up the next round to secure the 19-17 Anubis win and the 2-0 series sweep.
Sh1ro spearheaded Spirit's march to the semifinals by racking up 53 kills and nine assists on a series-best 32 deaths. Donk and Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotja also added 48 kills apiece and combined for 25 assists, though zont1x only had 39 deaths compared to donk's 43.
With the day's results, Vitality and Spirit have secured themselves at least a 3rd-4th place finish as well as $85,000 in winnings. The semifinals on Saturday (November 2) will next see Vitality take on G2, and Spirit face off against Astralis for the two spots in the grand finals.
Meanwhile, MOUZ and FaZe bow out of the tournament in 5th-6th place and will take home $25,000 in consolation.
The BLAST Premier World Final 2024 features eight of the best CS2 teams in the world fighting for their cut of a $1 million prize pool, taking place from October 30 to November 3 at the Resorts World Convention Centre in Sentosa, Singapore. For everything you need to know about the BLAST Premier World Final 2024, check here.
