BLAST Open Rotterdam – CS2 Playoffs Guide

The group stages of BLAST Open Rotterdam are over, and what a few days of Counter-Strike it’s been! We’ve seen some of the craziest clips of the year so far, with Kaike “kscerato” Cerato hitting a crazy pistol 4k, and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut 1v5-ing PARIVISION – his first 1v5 in CS2, no less!

In a few days, BLAST Open Rotterdam Playoffs will be kicking off. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the opening matchups of the playoffs stage, what to expect heading into them, and a few predictions for the results.

Aurora vs The MongolZ

The first quarter-final in Rotterdam looks set to be a real slugfest, with an in-form MongolZ up against an Aurora looking to brush off the disappointment of a grand-final loss in ESL Pro League Season 23.

The MongolZ will be coming in hot, after putting a struggling Team Spirit to bed 2-0 in the Group B Lower Bracket final. Ayush “mzinho” Batbold in particular will be bolstered by his outstanding performance against Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and co, having dropped an impressive 1.85 rating across the series. This series feels like a big potential stepping stone for the Mongolian squad, as they grow stronger with new player Anarbileg “cobrazera” Uuganbayar.

Aurora have been performing well of late, with a very deep run in Pro League, and some solid victories throughout Rotterdam so far. Wins against FaZe and FURIA have seen them progress into playoffs, where Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli will be looking to call his troops through to a semi-final against the big bad boss of Counter-Strike, Vitality.

This matchup promises to be a fiery one, with both teams on form and looking to get past the quarter-final stage as a formality. Watch out for mzinho, İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch, and Özgür “woxic” Eker, who will be looking to take control of the game for their respective teams.

My prediction? A hard-fought 2-1 victory for a confident MongolZ. The winner of this game goes on to face a Vitality looking to continue their dominance.

PARIVISION vs Falcons

In our article on the BLAST Rotterdam Group Stages, PARIVISION’s game against Ninjas in Pyjamas was referred to as a clash of styles. Once more, this rings true. PARIVISION vs Falcons is another monumental clash of stylistic Counter-Strike, and one that is all but guaranteed to produce fireworks in the server. 

Falcons are probably the favorites heading into this bout, with their star-studded roster and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov having a good tournament so far. Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski will be looking to lead his team to victory against the tricky PARIVISION, to guarantee a chance to fight NAVI for a place in the Grand Final.

PARIVISION, on the other hand, are still a team looking to prove something. They have undeniably had a hot start to the year, but standing on the precipice of another deep run in a tournament like BLAST Rotterdam will truly tip them into being de facto one of the ‘teams to beat’.

Dzhami “Jame” Ali’s calculated style will be able to punish the structural weaknesses in the Falcons’ individual-heavy approach to the game. The worry for PARIVISION is that their own mistakes – more prevalent in crucial rounds of late – will feed the momentum-gaining style of the superteam.

This will undoubtedly be a clash of styles and a battle of philosophies. Falcons are the favorites, but to underestimate PARIVISION is often a risky battle. My head says Falcons will win. My heart says Jame’s style will take the day. For once, I’m going to go with my heart. My prediction for this matchup is a 2-1 victory for PARIVISION.

If you’re looking to improve at Counter-Strike whilst waiting for the BLAST Open Rotterdam playoffs to start, check out our partnership with BLAST here. Make sure you get some utility practice in, and get on the solo-queue grind!