본문 : DOT ESPORTS - Owen Harsono

Tenth time's the charm, right?

Photo by Igor Bezborodov via ESL Gaming

The G2 squad has slayed their demons and ended a nine-match losing streak against NAVI at the CS2 BLAST Fall Final. After taking down the world’s number one team, G2 lifted their first trophy since the formation of their new roster.

Aleksib had read his former teammates like a book throughout the entire 2024 season, as G2 could not snag a single series against him, so the Fall Final was sweet revenge for defeats at the Copenhagen Major, the Esports World Cup, and ESL Pro League Season 20, all of which saw NAVI defeat G2. This time, after two close map wins on Ancient and Dust 2, not even a massive comeback on Mirage could derail the G2 train as they ended up winning the series 3-1 after a convincing showing on Inferno.

The newest G2 recruit, Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa, caught a lot of flack for being one of the lowest-rated players throughout the Fall Final group stage. However, despite his lack of experience, he stepped up big time in the playoffs and was a driving force to push G2 to win the entire event.

This victory at BLAST would be his first LAN tournament triumph, and he has also become the first Guatemalan to win a top-tier Counter-Strike event. In a post-game interview, he motivated the people in his home country, saying, “Gaming is possible. If I can make it, everyone can make it.”

Snax is a household name in Counter-Strike, one of the best players in the game’s history, but that was ten years ago when he was donning the Virtus.Pro jersey. This BLAST trophy marks the Polish in-game leader’s first tournament win in six years, with his last one being ESL One: New York 2018 with mousesports. Today also marked the five-year anniversary of huNter’s signing with G2, making for a memorable anniversary.

Throughout the grand final match, it looked like G2 was riding waves of momentum, and the man who started it all was NiKo. The Bosnian displayed an inspiring performance in the semifinal match against Vitality, and the entire team was slamming desks to release their emotions throughout the series against NAVI.

NiKo was the second highest-rated player on the final day, with m0NESY claiming the tournament MVP award. The 19-year-old had a stellar start to the season and was in the running for the number one player of the year, but his form dropped off in recent months. The prodigy held up an average rating of 1.33 throughout the event, turning things around once more.

Despite the spirited fightback on Mirage, NAVI couldn’t bring jL a present for his birthday. Despite being the best team in the world at the moment, Aleksib and company must go back to the drawing board.