The latest major tournament on the Counter Strike: Global Offensive circuit - the BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2022 - reaches its conclusion on Sunday and it is a Grand Final not to be missed.
The S-Tier event taking place in Copenhagen in Denmark began with eight teams, six of which qualified for the tournament via the BLAST Premier Fall Groups with the other two qualifying from the European and American showdowns.
Danish side Heroic were one of the showdown winners and will lock horns in a potentially gripping final with CS:GO juggernauts FaZe Clan.
One side has home advantage, the other has tournament pedigree behind them and they look tough to separate.
The winners will take home $200,000 in prize money and qualify directly for the BLAST Premier World Final, which begins in Abu Dhabi in December and has a prize pool of $1million.
What: Heroics vs FaZe Clan, CS:GO BLAST Premier Fall
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
When: 16.30, Sunday 27th November 2022
How to watch: BLAST Premier Twitch channel & bet365 Live Streaming
Odds: Heroic 11/10, FaZe Clan 4/6
FaZe Clan put together resurgent run
FaZe Clan will always be one of the most iconic outfits in the world of CS:GO but it has been a tumultuous year for them and not many would have rushed to back them to make the final of the BLAST Premier Fall Finals.
The Clan enjoyed a fine start to the year with titles won at the IEM Katowice and the PGL Major Antwerp by May time, while they also came out on top in season 15 of the ESL Pro League.
But after winning the SteelSeries Nova Invitational back in August, things started to fall apart slightly for FaZe, who made it to the playoffs of season 16 of the ESL Pro League but were dumped out by Cloud9 in the quarter-finals.
Their rivals Natus Vincere were dumped out at the same stage by G2 Esports and there was a feeling that it was time for a changing of the guard in CS:GO.
That rung true again at the most recent major tournament - the IEM Rio Major in Brazil - as FaZe Clan crashed out in the Legends Stage with three defeats from three games.
But they would not be kept down for long and have been superb in the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, topping Group A with a 2-0 record before a semi-final win over Ninjas in Pyjamas.
And they are 4/6 to complete the job by beating Heroic in the final.
Heroic look to make home advantage count
Heroic are marginal underdogs in this Grand Final, but form is on their side.
Whereas FaZe Clan will have wanted to put their IEM Rio Major campaign behind them as quickly as possible, Heroic have clearly drawn confidence from it.
They won three of their four matches in the Legends Stage, qualifying for a quarter-final berth, and they proceeded to knock out both Team Spirit and home favourites FURIA on their way to the Grand Final.
They ran out of steam at the end and were beaten 2-0 by Outsiders, but that will likely make them more motivated to get the win against FaZe Clan, now that they know what it feels like to finish as runners-up.
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Tournament form on the side of the Danes
FaZe have come on leaps and bounds in this tournament, winning key gun duels again, and they will take confidence from the fact they beat Heroic in the group stage of the tournament.
But it is difficult to place faith in the team after their performances in the last few months and their semi-final victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas was not the most convincing.
They started slowly in the semi-finals, going down 16-11 on Overpass and they only just survived on Nuke, eventually prevailing 19-17 in overtime before taking the initiative to win 16-8 on Mirage.
Coming through that match was not easy but they also showed a lot of vulnerability and may struggle to start sharply against Heroic following that performance.
Heroic have a home crowd behind them and although that did not pay off for FURIA in Brazil, Heroic look a more naturally talented side with their in-game leader Casper "cadiaN" Moller made for this kind of occasion.
With all that considered, Heroic are definitely worth consideration to win this at 11/10.
Alternatively, another way to support them is to back them at +2.5 on the rounds handicap on map one at 8/13, while over 2.5 maps looks a wise move at 5/6 as well.
