BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022 NA preview

BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2022 North America starts today with an opening match between Complexity and Sharks at 04:30PM.

After some time spent in Europe for most of the teams in this competition, it's time for them to come back home. In VERTEX's case, they will be taking their first competitive trip in four months, after winning the Fortress OCE Masters Fall 2022 Finals.

So, before any team hits the server, here are some storylines to be looking out for during this qualifier for the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2022.

Both Complexity and Evil Geniuses had an unsuccessful BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 and that's what led them here. The teams come from an IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR with different results. EG surprised most analysts and spectators by claiming a spot in the Rio Major and doing it with a 3-0 record, only losing to Liquid in the game to decide who would take the Legends spot. Complexity, on the other hand, fell short of their expectations after being eliminated on the very last series of the RMR against Imperial, despite their good 2-0 start.

Can Evil Geniuses continue their good form and clinch a spot for the BLAST Fall Finals? Will they feel the pressure to perform? This will probably be the first competition where the team comes as one of the top dogs, after having spent some time being deprecated by the community. This is the time for that roster to show everyone that they were wrong for discrediting them. As Dust2.us showed on Twitter, the additions of Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov and Jadan "HexT" Postma have played a crucial role on EG's rise from the ashes. The young players have brought a new life into this roster and are looking to continue strong throughout BLAST all the way to Rio.

For Complexity this is the time for a leap in performance. The team had some pretty good showings during ESL Pro League Season 16 and during the Americas RMR. Despite the quality of their game, the results are not coming. EPL S16 saw them falling on their feet against FaZe, while, as previously mentioned, they missed out on an opportunity to play in Rio de Janeiro after losing to Imperial. Is this the moment Complexity shows everyone they are here to stay or are they going to need more time to unravel their true value?

Brazilian teams are coming in force to this tournament, as they have five representatives out of eight teams.

00 NATION are coming straight from Stockholm, where they granted their presence at the Rio Major. The Americas RMR was their first outing since the end of August. Having spent a month preparing for the major qualifier, the team showed a lot of potential and is coming into this BLAST tournament with hopes of making it into the Fall Finals. Marcelo "coldzera" David and Epitácio "TACO" de Melo are the two members of the team with the lowest rating, but that says more about their roles than their performances. The Brazilian legends are taking a hit on their numbers in order to shift the spotlight to the teenagers of the team, and it is working in their favor.

MIBR is another one of the invited teams. The Made In Brazil tag is legendary, but it has had its ups and downs. Lately, it is looking like it's another down for the team. The roster lost its IGL Adriano "WOOD7" Cerato and hype man Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes and it seems like it hasn't been able to recover from that. An abysmal 1-3 record at the Americas RMR and a tough loss against 9z in the Flow FiReLEAGUE are MIBR's latest results. Will they be able to show up at the Fall Showdown with a new face?

Fluxo's case is a tough one. The team has won six out of all 11 tournaments it participated in, since its debut in August. All six wins come from domestic competitions but only two had the likes of 9z, 00 NATION, and paiN. The remaining events, the ones they didn't win, except two, featured teams on the level of the previously mentioned rosters. What does this mean? On one hand, Fluxo is the king of South America. On the other, they are only kings when the bigger names are competing in another continent. The roster is still recent, it's natural to show some inconsistency during the first months but this Fall Showdown is the opportunity for Fluxo to make a name for themselves. Can they be competitive in their second tournament among some big international names?

oNe is another team like Fluxo. During the last 3 months, the team has won five out of eight qualifiers but when they reach the competition itself, they don't show up. Sometimes literally, like with the Flow FiReLEAGUE Global Finals, and most often, metaphorically, like during the ESL Challenger Rotterdam. The squad is very reliant on Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa to perform. The 20 year old has had a 1.19 rating ever since joining the team and if you analyze closely, you will see it is rare for oNe to win when malbsMd has a bad game. In fact, they only won six times out of 48 maps wins when malbsMd scored a rating below 1.05. That's a 12.5% win rate when the team's star is not performing. Can the rest of oNe come together and help the young rifler?

Sharks is the lowest-seeded team in the whole tournament and is the last invited team on the list. The squad is going through some changes, having lost its stars some time ago. Sharks have been mainly participating in domestic competitions but never won one with the new roster. This is a chance for the players to get some experience against a well-established team, as it is not expected for them to overcome Complexity. Can they surprise everyone and get a win in the international debut of this roster?

Last but not least, VERTEX. The Aussies are coming to North America with hopes of showing some good Counter-Strike and keeping their win streak alive. The team is coming to the Fall Showdown with nine straight wins and a 71.4% win rate during the last three months. The #2 team from Oceania last played against intercontinental teams during the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2022, where they didn't manage to find a win. They are looking to get revenge on Brazilian teams as they take on 00 NATION in their debut. Will the Australians be able to celebrate a win in NA?

The bracket for this BLAST Premier Fall Showdown North America is:

BLAST Premier Fall Showdown starts today at 04:30PM with Complexity vs. Sharks.