Image: G2 Esports
The first top-tier CS tournament hosted in Southeast Asia saw G2 Esports claim their third trophy of the year in front of a jubilant crowd.
G2 Esports have claimed the championship of the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 – the last-ever BLAST World Final – after they soundly swept 
Team Spirit, 3-0, in the best-of-five grand finals in front of a rowdy crowd in the Resorts World Convention Centre in Sentosa, Singapore on Sunday (November 3).
With this victory, G2 claimed the grand prize of $500,000 out of the tournament's $1 million prize pool. This also marks the team's third championship this year, adding to their trophies won from Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024 in June and the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 in September.
Meanwhile, Spirit settled for second place and $250,000 in consolation. This result is the team's second runners-up finish this year after BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #1 in May.
Both G2 and Spirit were seeded into Group A for the tournament's Group Stage, winning their respective Opening Matches against Team Liquid and Team Vitality and guaranteeing themselves spots in the Playoffs. In their first encounter of the event in their group's Winners Match, G2 scored a 2-0 sweep over Spirit to earn a direct berth to the semifinals. This particular result also improved G2's record over Spirit this year to 4-1, with Spirit's lone win dating back to the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024 in June.
As the second seed of Group A, Spirit had to start the Playoffs from the quarterfinals, bouncing back from their previous loss by soundly sweeping FaZe Clan to advance to the semifinals.
The semifinals then saw G2 take down defending BLAST World Final champions Team Vitality, 2-1, to become the first team in the grand finals. Spirit followed suit by overcoming Astralis in another three-game series, forcing a rematch with G2 for the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 championship.
0-3
G2 EsportsThe grand finals opened in Mirage, where Spirit on the CT side won the first two rounds before G2 answered with four round wins of their own. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets then sparked a five-round run for Spirit with four Deagle kills in round 7, giving his team a 7-5 lead by halftime.
While the first half seemed close, the second was absolutely one-sided in favour of G2. Excellent plays from Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, and Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa sparked a fiery eight-round streak for G2 that gave them their first win of the grand finals.
M0NESY topped the frag charts for G2 in Mirage with 18 kills and nine assists on 13 deaths. MalbsMd added 17 kills and six assists on 13 deaths while NiKo had 15 kills and seven assists on 14 deaths.
Game two in Anubis followed a similar script to that of Mirage, only this time it was G2 on the T side that led after the first half. MalbsMd kicked things off with a Glock 4K in round 1, sparking a 4-1 run for G2 in the first five rounds. While Spirit managed to rally in the closing rounds of the half, G2 still held the lead at 7-5 heading into the side switch. And just like in the second half of Mirage, G2 put on a masterclass to close out Anubis and racked off six straight rounds as NiKo and m0nesy got cooking.
NiKo showed out in game two with 23 frags and eight assists on 13 deaths while m0NESY pitched in with 16 kills and nine assists on eight deaths. Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski notably had 15 kills and two assists on eight deaths, which finally broke a long-standing streak of finishing maps with a negative KDA for G2's in-game leader.
The grand finals came to a close in Dust2, with G2 on the T side blowing the map wide open with six straight wins to start the first half. While Spirit would answer with a three-round run of their own, G2 still headed into halftime with an 8-4 lead and all the momentum in the world.
The final half of the tournament then saw m0NESY continue to make his case for the best CS2 player in the world right now. After G2 won the first two rounds, Spirit showed signs of life by stringing together a 3-1 run that trimmed their opponents' lead down to 11-7. However, some godlike AWP flicks from m0NESY in round 19 helped to secure series point for G2, with a seemingly demoralised Spirit left powerless to stop them from securing the 3-0 series sweep in the next round.
But while m0NESY definitely had some show-stopping moments in the closeout map, it was Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač that carried G2 across the finish line as his cousin NiKo didn't have much impact. HuNter finished Dust2 with 27 kills and five assists on 11 deaths while m0NESY added 18 kills and one assist on 10 deaths.
Both huNter and m0NESY notably topped the total frag board for G2 in the grand finals with 52 kills apiece. NiKo and malbsMd were also tied in total frags at 42 while Snax put up 32 takedowns of his own. M0NESY also bagged the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 MVP award for his excellent play all throughout the tournament.
The BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 featured eight of the best CS2 teams in the world fighting for their cut of a $1 million prize pool 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.
