Blast Bounty S2 day 1 recap: “Had y’all shook though”

There’s no shame in missing Blast Bounty games, especially in this first stage. Online CS is obviously not the most thrilling prospect; now add on the fact that it’s during the working day, and you’re likely to miss out. But have no fear, we’re here to catch you up on everything that’s happened after every day of the event.

We’ll admit, today was a rough watch at times; it doesn’t help that all the results were basically expected.

None of the potential upsets took place, even though both Nemesis and Nuclear TigeRES had their opponent shook; they failed to convert. Though in very different ways, and not necessarily how the scores would make it seem. Curious? Well, stick with us, as we’re about to discuss every game of the day.

Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 M80

No offense, but this felt like a CCT game.

Whether it was the webcams, the quality of the gameplay, the teams involved, or anything in between, it just wasn’t that interesting. The series started on Inferno, which didn’t help the entertainment, but at least it was close. The first half ended 6:6 before ultimately turning into a 13:10 for NIP. We’d argue M80’s biggest problem on Inferno was simply x-factor. No one quite swung the game the way stavn managed with his big green; they were all solid, but no one took them over the line.

Map 2, Ancient, was a remarkably similar story.

The first half was 6:6 again, and M80 had Swisher, Lake, and a pistol round win to thank for that, because NIP started firing on map 2. xKacpersky and stavn both played very well and provided exactly the type of x-factor we talked about last map. xKacpersky was especially vital on their CT-side, enabling NIP to shut M80 out, and close 13:8 in the end.

A good performance for NIP, who seem to be vindicated in adding stavn as their AWPer.

Astralis 2-1 Nemesis

Nemesis, you looked so good, and yet here you are.

We were genuinely impressed by what Nemesis did on their pick of Nuke. They were the better team throughout, despite what the 13:11 scoreline might tell you. Astralis won most of their rounds after Nemesis hit 12, making the scoreline flatter to deceive. mag1k3Y especially bodybagged Astralis on map 1; he was a man possessed, dropping 25.

Unfortunately, that’s where it peaked for Nemesis.

Map two was close, but Astralis picked Ancient for a reason. They had a comfortable T-side half, winning seven rounds with jabbi looking absolutely electric. The only member of Nemesis who tried fighting back was Sdaim, but it wasn’t enough. There were some very decent rounds from the CIS side, but Astralis’ talent shone brightest throughout. The gap between the two teams started to show itself here.

Map three was the logical extreme of this.

CT-side Cache was all about jabbi again, and his exploits in holding A. Nemesis kept feeding him for some reason, giving him frag after frag, and clip after clip. He finished the CT-half with 17 kills and 8 deaths, on a near 2 rating. Incredibly productive.

When sides switched, it was phzy’s turn.

Voo gave the guy a lot of stick on stream, so naturally the Swede played an outrageous second half of Cache. 13 kills in 8 rounds, 2.9 HLTV rating, 100% KAST, etc. Of course it’s a tiny sample size, but it’s only tiny because Astralis closed out the map. Phzy’s main highlight of the map, though, came in the form of a lovely 1v4, which you can find here.

Astralis might have won, but at least Nemesis can walk away and say “We had y’all shook though.”

MOUZ 2-1 Nuclear TigeRES

In honesty, It’d probably be unfair to call MOUZ shook, but they were lightly vibrating for sure.

Map one was pretty comfortable for Torszi and co. A solid 13:6 win with a 7:0 flawless T-side half on the second half to close out. No one on MOUZ had a rating below 1.1 either, which is the potential superpower of this MOUZ roster if it works out. A squad of five players who can all be plus value in their roles.

Map two proved that it’s not quite that simple.

The TigeRES had a decent CT-side on Nuke; they had a good grip on MOUZ in their reads, and z1k4 shone again on the defensive end. The T-side almost seemed to be more of the same; they lost pistol, but won the force, and chained three rounds together. Their lead got up to 10:6, then 11:7, but that’s where it ended. MOUZ locked in and chained six in a row at the end to close this out, crushing any hope the CIS mix might have built.

Oh, and before we forget, for some reason the HUD broke during this map, best seen in this clip.

We thought XSE Pro League ended two weeks ago.

Wildcard 2-0 Alliance

No offense, but this felt like a CCT game. Wait, do you have déjà vu too?

Okay, we’re being cheeky, but this is definitely a matchup you’d see more often in tier 2; even the event’s seeding would admit as much. These two sides were seeded #16 for Wildcard and #19 for Alliance; they were both very much in the middle of the pack. Which is why we were surprised that Wildcard dominated Alliance.

Map one especially was a complete shutout.

Alliance got stomped on their own map pick, 13:3, and they looked entirely outmatched. The Wildcard boys looked like by far the better team throughout, mechanically and tactically. HexT and Cxzi both ate Alliance alive; The latter especially was a monster on the defense. There was basically no fight from the Swedish team here; maybe their minds started wandering to map two early.

If so, it did work out for a bit… a very tiny bit.

Alliance still lost 13:7, but Wildcard had a few more slipups; the main difference was that bobeksde woke up and gave Wildcard a fight. The only clips from the Swedish corner in this series were bobeksde clips separated by a few rounds, first a ninja defuse that won Alliance their fourth on CT, and then a pistol ace to open up the second half.

It’s a shame because no one else on his team even remotely played well; if someone had a good map, maybe this would have been a game. Instead, it was a straightforward way to finish the day. We’re not complaining; at least we’re going to bed on time.

That means we’ll be well-rested to watch all of tomorrow’s CS, and catch you up when the day is over.

See you then!