Following defeats to Liquid and G2, the IEM Rio Major champions, Outsiders, are the first team eliminated from the BLAST Premier World Final. The Russian-Kazakh team’s miserable journey in Abu Dhabi comes to an end with a 1-16 loss to G2 on Mirage, adding salt to their injury.

It was Outsiders‘ final performance in 2022 and their first performance since their victory in Rio. After three different teams won the three Big Events that were contested in the second half of the year, their early exit from BLAST has caused confusion in the standings of the top teams.

After winning the BLAST Premier Fall Final and the ESL Pro League, Vitality and Heroic are the only two teams left that might double up. Heroic was playing with Kristian #k0nfig Wienecke in place of Martin #stavn Lund.

The losing team from the match between OG and Vitality will be the second-placed team from Group B when G2 plays them in the quarterfinals in Abu Dhabi. Friday’s quarterfinal matches will begin at 16:00 with G2 taking the second spot.

Ilya #m0NESY Osipov was a key player in G2’s victory on the series’ opening map, Inferno. On the first pick, the youthful sharpshooter recorded 34 kills, frequently landing multiple kills and clutches at crucial times. His triple in the pistol round was the beginning of it, and it lasted throughout the first half as his Scout play and two 1v2 clutches led his team’s 11-round offense.

At the start of the second half, Outsiders helped themselves by m0NESY accidentally releasing the defuse with 0.5 seconds left in the pistol round in a rare error. The difference was soon just three rounds when David #n0rb3r7 Danielyan’s 1v3 clutch prevented a forcebuy back-and-forth, but steadily but gradually G2 inched closer to the win. They finally succeeded thanks to a few B defenses and increased personal brilliance from m0NESY.

Once again, G2 jumped off to a commanding lead on Mirage and didn’t let up. Outsiders weren’t even able to detonate the bomb until round 11 because to the outstanding defense of Nikola #NiKo Kova and crew.

Although Dzhami #Jame Ali’s squad managed to reach the bombsite three times in the final five rounds, G2 consistently completed a successful retake, even in an almost hopeless scenario in round 14 where m0NESY’s quad-kill proved to be the deciding factor.

The 16-0 dream ended when Outsiders reversed the pistol in a 3v5 encounter, defusing the bomb behind smoke, but their demise had already been predetermined. G2 wasted no time in forcebuying the match right there in the second round.