G2 has just swept Team Spirit in the grand final of the BLAST Premier: World Final event in Singapore to net the $500,000 prize. In this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tournament, eight teams landed in Singapore to fight for the lion’s share of the $1 million prize pool. This event effectively marked the end of a year-long BLAST Premier schedule.
Unstoppable
G2 Esports has had a pretty good year in the Counter-Strike space, except for that blip. In June, the squad picked up the top spot at IEM Dallas, beating Vitality in the GF to win $100,000. From there, things got a little choppy.
The team won the BLAST Premier Fall Final event and scooped $200,000, and then barely one week later, the squad fell out of IEM Rio in last place after winning nothing and ending up securing a prize worth just $4,000.
And now in another switch-up, the team has won the BLAST Premier World Final and picked up half a million dollars.
If that’s not representative of the volatility of the esports business, I don’t know what is.
G2 had a nice run in the group stage, but a stellar performance from Astralis meant that the future was almost written. Astralis netted a +24 map count during the groups, which was more than three times the performance of any other team – G2 included. It fell apart in the semifinals, though, as Team Spirit forcefully ejected Astralis from the running.
In the grand final, it came down to Spirit and G2, but in a wondrous spree, the latter team produced a 3 – 0 scoreline, sweeping Spirit clean out of the competition and picking up the trophy.
That’s not it for Counter-Strike esports, though. We’ve still got the Perfect World Shanghai Major to unravel later this month, which bears a massive $1.25 million prize pool. Can G2 end the year on even more of a high by claiming the top spot there as well?
For more Insider Gaming esports, check out the news that The MongolZ won the Thunderpick World Championship
