On December 14, Natus Vincere suffered an unexpected defeat at the BLAST Premier World Final, losing to Liquid with a score of 1 – 2. This significantly diminished NAVI's chances of ending the year with a third impressive win, as Alexander «s1mple» Kostylev's team will now face a tough road to the finals in the lower set of the tournament. NAVI will need five consecutive victories to advance to the championship's top trophy.
For American Liquid, participation in the BLAST Premier World Final – is the last appearance in the current lineup before the big changes that await the team in 2022. She has now managed to qualify for the top set of the tournament. It will face Gambit in the semifinals, which will take place on Thursday.
The match between Natus Vincere and Liquid was played on three cards. On the first one (Overpass) Liquid was able to prevail by a small margin (11 – 16). On Dust2, selected by NAVI, the CIS team regained the lead, ending it with a score of 16 – 7. The fate of the match was decided on Inferno: after losing the first round, Liquid players dominated the map, and NAVI failed to build a solid defense. At one point, the score reached 1 – 15 in Liquid's favor. Their opponents only played a few rounds, and the card draw ended with a score of 7 – 16.