Competitive CSGO is back and four of the best teams in the world battled it out in the opening weekend of the BLAST Premier Spring Series in the bid to secure a spot in the Spring Finals.
FaZe Clan cruised the upper bracket and booked themselves a ticket to Moscow after beating Team Liquid, while MiBR and NiP fell in the lower bracket after some shaky performances.
There was plenty to take away from Group A: Here are some of the things we learned from the first weekend of competition in London.
Feeling the nerves
It's been over a month since all of the teams competed in an S-Tier tournament on stage. Both MiBR and NiP came into the competition with new rosters which meant it was somewhat expected for the players to feel nervous. But even Team Liquid, who were the second best team in 2019, cited nerves as one of the reasons that affected their performance.
The North Americans were the strong favourites heading into their opening match against MiBR, but, despite eventually getting the upper hand in the best of three, there were some clear issues as MiBR took them to double overtime on Vertigo.
Jake "Stewie2K" Yip, who got the most assists across both Vertigo and Inferno, explained why they didn't look as crisp as usual on stage.
"It was a bit of a rough start," Stewie2K said. "I'm glad we won 2-0 but it's clear that map one was difficult. We were just pretty tired. We're still pretty jetlagged and we're just trying to shake off the on-stage nerves and get used to being back on LAN again."
MiBR came very close to winning the first map, which could have made a huge difference, while dealing with their own issues regarding nerves.
"We were doing well in our 15, 16 days of bootcamp," Epitacio "TACO" de Melo said. "But when the real time came, it's a totally different environment compared to what you do in practice. This is still our new lineup so of course we'll feel a little bit nervous especially in the beginning of the game.
"We didn't keep calm towards the end of the first map, we knew what to do but in some moments we got unlucky and then changed our plan. That happened because we felt nervous."
New rosters need time to adjust
Both NiP and MiBR came into the tournament with new rosters, while the absence of Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg was the most notable one. After nearly eight years of service at NiP, f0rest made the move to Dignitas just days before BLAST and was replaced by Tim 'nawwk' Jonasson.
NiP struggled in their first match against FaZe, losing 16-7 on Overpass and 16-8 on Mirage. Nawwk had an underwhelming on-stage debut. But NiP somehow managed to turn things around when they faced MiBR in the lower bracket.
Despite losing to Team Liquid, it's clear that this NiP roster needs time to gel and adjust to playing together -- a sentiment echoed by Simon "twist" Eliasson.
"We've been good in practice so I'm confident in my team but we are a new team and we're going to make mistakes. I believe with time it's going to get better and better."
Indeed, even though the results didn't go their way, there were plenty of positives to take away for NiP who simply need more experience on stage to find their rhythm.
FaZe finally beat Team Liquid
It took 10 months, but FaZe finally beat Team Liquid on-stage and it was as if FaZe couldn't get enough of taking down the second best team of 2019 -- they beat them twice and without dropping a single map.
The two sides first met in the upper bracket final where FaZe quickly picked Dust II after banning Vertigo, leaving Inferno free for Team Liquid. But Liquid couldn't quite capitalise on either maps and looked sluggish compared to an energetic FaZe.
After dropping down to the lower bracket, Team Liquid clawed their way back into the Group A final by eliminating NiP before slumping 16-9 on Mirage and 16-2 on Dust II.
The lack of cohesion, however, could be down to poor preparation.
"We didn't actually bootcamp before this tournament," Stewie2K said. "We just played online. Everyone wanted to play online so we decided to bootcamp before Katowice instead."
FaZe, on the other hand, had a very different approach going into the tournament.
"We did a five-day bootcamp in Belgrade and changed up a couple things," Havard "Rain" Nygaard said. "It was very productive and we feel like people will be surprised with our new changes and playstyle."
In this case, it was clear that the team with the better preparation came out on top. Despite losing the Group Final, Team Liquid still qualified for the BLAST Premier Spring Final and will get a chance to prove themselves again -- hopefully with a better game plan.
Brazil's hopes didn't die with MiBR
MiBR couldn't quite fly the flag for Brazilian fans after they became the first team to be relegated to the Spring Showdown after losing to NiP.
However, Marcelo "coldzera" David, who moved to FaZe Clan after getting benched by MiBR, looked exceptional on stage and could be the last remaining Brazilian player in the tournament.
Taking 49 kills in the upper-bracket final against Team Liquid followed by 36 in the group final, coldzera made his presence known both in and out of the game. The 25-year-old was full of energy and silenced a studio full of Liquid fans multiple times after some serious clutch plays.
"I wanted to create some hype for both myself and the team, you know?" coldzera said after beating Team Liquid the first time. "I felt like we were playing good CS and we came into this with a completely different mentality. Everyone is being positive and we're just out here having fun!"
Despite leaving MiBR, coldzera is still undoubtedly a beloved player amongst Brazilian fans. Now paired with the new and improved FaZe, he's offering his home supporters something better to cheer about.
Which team looked the strongest?
The answer is undoubtedly FaZe Clan, who didn't just win their group but went undefeated throughout the entire weekend and came out on top on four different maps.
While other teams looked shaky and got off to slow starts, FaZe found their stride very quickly especially in comparison to some of their performances last year. In game leader Nikola "NiKo" Kovac has credited a change of mindset to their success in London.
"We have been working on everything," NiKo said. "From personality, mentality to our approach to the game itself. Everything is just way better this year compared to last year. We had a lot of talks because it's very important for everyone on the team to be on the same page.
"We've worked on trying to keep up the energy, the good mood and making a point of celebrating every round because it's very hard to gain momentum when you don't do that. Last year, we were just playing but not really celebrating anything. It didn't feel like we were having too much fun but now it's clear that we are having fun when we're playing."
Helvijs "brocky" Saukants, 18, was also one of the standout players for FaZe, and NiKo had nothing but praise for the youngest member of his team.
"He has been amazing this event," NiKo added. "He was good before but his role didn't really fit him which is why we switched him around with olofmeister. He seems to be much more confident right now than he was on the lurker role.
"He's very young and it's insane how much he understands the game at his age. The only thing that's missing with him is experience which he'll get once he starts playing in big games and finals. We can say with confidence that we're very happy with the choice to pick him up from last year."
We're just one month into 2020, and FaZe have already established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Astralis, Team Vitality, Na'Vi and Complexity will have a chance to raise the bar in Group B of BLAST Premier next weekend followed by 100 Thieves, G2, Evil Geniuses and OG the weekend after.