The Failure Of HooXi And the Breakthrough Of Degster: How new players performed at BLAST Fall Groups?

BLAST Premier Fall Groups have ended, six teams have received slots in the BLAST Premier Fall Final, and the remaining six teams will play in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown. Before the tournament, there was a big reshuffle in the professional scene. As a result, half of the event participants changed their line-ups. So how did the newcomers perform?

HooXi and the new G2 roster

The most resonant performance at this tournament was the performance of the G2 team. During the transfer window, the team signed HooXi and jks. Even during the announcement of the new roster, analysts began to have doubts, and at this tournament, they were justified. Both newcomers ended up in the last twenty. According to statistics, HooXi became the worst player in the tournament. The Dane's rating was 4.6, which is a fantastic anti-record. The worst match for HooXi was against Liquid, which he finished with a rating of 3.9, and the only game in which his rating exceeded 5 was the meeting with Natus Vincere, which G2 lost. I especially remember HooXi's performance at Inferno against Vitality. On this map, the captain made only two frags and scored a rating of 2.8. Jks didn't have high stats either. His average rating at the tournament was 5.7, which definitely can't be considered a good result, considering that jks was signed in G2 as an intense shooter.

However, despite these failures, G2 still successfully made it to the BLAST Fall Final, beating Vitality in the Last Chance Stage. Before the tournament started, HooXi talked about how even if he didn't shoot, G2 would still win tournaments. And it turned out to be not far from the truth. Although the team experienced difficulties, it still made it to the BLAST Fall Final, and not only HooXi but also jks failed. It is quite possible that HooXi's low statistics will not prevent G2 from winning, and the problems that the team experienced at this event are connected only with the Australian's uncertainty. G2 already has three good shooters, and HooXi's leadership can lead these stars to victory. Therefore, if jks can gain confidence, G2 has a great chance to impose a fight on the best teams in the world.

Spinx and Vitality

Spinx in Vitality caused a massive amount of discussion. Rifler was a superstar in ENCE. He always managed to get his team out of difficult situations and showed a great game in any confrontation. In addition to excellent individual performance, Spinx also suited Vitality in roles, which was immediately reported by apEX upon his signing. This transfer looked like a perfect replacement, but something went wrong again. As a result, Vitality didn't make it to BLAST Fall Final. And the most exciting fact is that Spinx is not a problem. According to personal statistics, he breathes down the back of ZywOo, being the top 2 Vitality player in the tournament and showing decent statistics even in lost matches. Rifler plays his role perfectly and does everything that is required of him.

Vitality's problems have been going on since the reshuffle at the beginning of the year. At that moment, the team left the French mono-ethnic composition and switched to English within the team. And the problem is not even in the language, but in the style of the game, which was comfortable for all the players in the previous squad. The captain of the team has not changed, and Vitality still cannot find their game in the new roster. Therefore, substitutions, in this case, will no longer help. Vitality needs to continue to train and seek mutual understanding in the team. And Spinx performed well in the first tournament for the team, finishing it with an average rating of 6.3.

Degster and OG

This is the first degster's tournament in the roster of OG, but he already played for the team at the BLAST Premier Spring Final and was impressed as a star player, after which he was signed to the team. And at BLAST Fall Groups, the sniper showed an amazing game again. His average rating for the tournament was 6.6. Thanks to it, he got into the top 6 of the event. At the start of the game, OG failed, taking the last place in the group, but they rehabilitated themselves in the Knockout Stage, proving that they can become one of the best teams in the world, and degster will help them with this. The brightest match of the Russian was the meeting with Complexity, in which he finished with a rating of 8.1. OG made a very successful replacement.

YEKINDAR and Liquid

YEKINDAR has also already managed to play for Liquid as a stand-in at IEM Cologne and continues to play for the team in this status. And the Latvian turned out to be the reinforcement that the American team needed. Liquid failed throughout the first half of the year, and at BLAST Premier Fall Groups they lost only to Natus Vincere, without losing maps to other teams. This is largely the merit of YEKINDAR because his average rating was 6.9, making him the top 2 player in the tournament. With such a roster, Liquid has every chance to return to the top and perform well at the IEM Rio Major.

NeaLaN and Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses became the worst team in BLAST Premier Fall Groups. During the reshuffle, the club signed neaLaN and HexT. At the same time, neaLaN was signed to the role of IGL, the only player in the roster for whom English is not a native language. The result was a failure, and one won map against NIP. Previously, Evil Geniuses also failed and took last place, but this time their game looked better, even though neaLaN finished the tournament with an average rating of 5.2 and HexT - 5.5. Perhaps, after adapting the new IGL to the English-speaking team, the team will be able to return to the middle of the world ranking because progress in this direction is already visible. However, this tournament can again be considered a failure, as was the case with all EG events in the year's first half.

Outcome

As a result, the best squads were those that first played with a new player as a stand-in and those who managed to try a newbie before Player Break. These teams were OG and Liquid, who added degster and YEKINDAR to their rosters, and it was these players made it to the top 6 at the end of the tournament. OG and Liquid have had the most successful substitutions, and they have every chance to get into the top 10 best teams this season.