Well, that was depressingly predictable. A four-map affair was needed to decide the Grand Final of BLAST Bounty Season 1 between Team Spirit and Eternal Fire, but really, this should have been done and dusted in three. Your winners: Team Spirit, of course, continuing where they left off in 2024 to win the first Tier 1 CS2 event of the year.
Eternal Fire fell off
Realistically, Eternal Fire needed to be at their absolute best to have any chance of winning this series. Throughout BLAST Bounty Season 1, we’ve seen an EF that were just that – consistently at their best to make this Grand Final run. But here? This was a totally different team, struggling to cope with the pressure of playing this deep into a tournament.
It all started so well too. Well, sort of. After going down 12:4 in the opening map, they secured an epic comeback to take it 16:14 in overtime. It was a choke of epic proportions from Team Spirit, who should never have let it get to that point. Then, the wheels really started to fall off. Maps two and three were total blowouts, and Eternal Fire began to sink. Then, on the concluding map, Spirit roared to a commanding lead once more, stalling again at that 12:4 scoreline.
It really seemed like Eternal Fire were going to complete another massive comeback – nope! It was a false dawn, falling at 12:8 to full pistols on the side of Team Spirit.
Frankly, I’m disappointed in Eternal Fire here. They properly fell off from their form in the rest of the tournament, on a day when Team Spirit were not unbeatable. You can’t really pin the blame on any individual, either. They all underperformed from their usual level, allowing what proved to be a Team Spirit romp.
Spirit carry 2024 momentum into BLAST Bounty Season 1
Map one catastrophe aside, I liked what I saw from Team Spirit in this Grand Final. Unbeatable? Certainly not. But for a team on the back of the winter break, it was an impressive feat to carry on in winning ways after last year’s Shanghai Major glory. Three straight maps were the route to success for Team Spirit, gathering momentum as Eternal Fire sank. It would have been nice to see Train as the Grand Final decider, but Team Spirit will be glad to have avoided that outcome here.
As always, it was that powerful duo of donk and sh1ro who made the difference in the BLAST Bounty Season 1 Grand Final. While sh1ro was solid on every map, donk struggled to begin the series. He actually bottom-fragged for Team Spirit on the opening map, looking mortal for a brief moment in time – I certainly don’t remember the last time that happened. Still, his ability to immediately bounce back from such maps has always been one of his most impressive traits in my eyes, and to have it under his belt at just 18 years old is pretty much unheard of.
As a new tournament in the competitive CS2 scene, it’s hard to say how much prestige to give to BLAST Bounty. Still, Team Spirit will be delighted to get another win under their belt, especially without coach hally behind them due to sickness. As they prepare to head to Poland to defend their IEM Katowice title, I’ve got them pegged as big favorites based on what we saw from other rosters at this event.
