BL4ZE started 2021 on a high note as they took down 2ez (Overpass 14-16, Dust2 16-13, Inferno 16-7) to win the ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 – South Asia.
eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 South Asia featured the top eight South Asian teams over the weekend of January 29-31. The event used a single-elimination best-of-three (BO3) system for all the matches. The tournament’s open portion took place in the middle of January, with approximately 83 teams taking part. US$1,500 was up for grabs, with the prize pool distributed amongst the top two winners.
BL4ZE Esports, Reckoning Esports, 2ez Gaming, and Wicked Gaming are among the teams invited to the annual tournament. Meanwhile, Wasted Potential, Headshot Esports, VIBE, and Fit For Esports secured their berth in the playoffs after coming out on top of the open qualifier. Eight of these teams are the same teams participating at the local ESL India Premiership – Winter 2020, which is on-going, from January 22 to March 14.
The first finalists, BL4ZE, headed to the final stage after defeating Wasted Potential with a quick 2-0 (Overpass 16-8, Dust2 16-9). Wicked Gaming made BL4ZE Esports sweat in a nail-biting finish to their three-map series, which saw Nuke as the map decider went the full distance with two OTs (Vertigo 16-7, Inferno 14-16, Nuke 22-20). Meanwhile, 2ez Gaming defeated Fit For Esports in the first round in a close fight (Mirage 16-12, Dust2 13-16, Inferno 16-11), and advanced to the grand final, beating Reckoning Esports 2-0 (Mirage 16-12, Dust2 16-13).
The Grand Final – BL4ZE Esports vs 2ez Gaming
See Also: d4v41 & alecks on Paper Rex winning eXTREMESLAND, and 2021
BL4ZE Esports started the series off on the right foot as Rishi “RvK” Vijayakumar ran rampant over 2ez’s defenses with three kills of his own, securing the next eco round. The rest of the first half was trading rounds back and forth, with Agneya “Marzil” Koushik’s sides closing out the first half with an 8-7 scoreline. BL4ZE shortened the distance on the scoreboard by winning the first two rounds of the second half. 2ez were close to winning various rounds but could not deliver the finishing blow, especially facing RvK’s monstrous performance. It was a turnover point for 2ez after Kasif “PaRaDoXks” Sayyed, and Omkar “Omkar09” Thube picked up double kills each in the 20th round to grant their side a victory and to further things up all the way to the end 16-14.
Dust2 began with a flawless performance by 2ez, hopping out a 5-0 lead. However, BL4ZE were in control after SKwow from 2ez Gaming had a technical problem, catching up the score to 5-5. After the problem was resolved, 2ez Gaming thwarted all of the BL4ZE offense and dominated proceedings for the rest of the half for a 10-5 lead. The second half looked promising for BL4ZE as their tightened up their defense and only giving up three rounds to the enemy as they carried the momentum and ran away with the game 16-13.
The final map, Inferno, was another back-and-forth rounds until BL4ZE Esports won the 11th round to reset 2ez’s economy. The round costs Mohit “SpawN” Wakle and co. having BL4ZE Esports to close out the first half 9-6. The second half saw BL4ZE Esports leave no opportunity for their Indian compatriot to get into the map. BL4ZE managed to maintain control and claim victory 16-7 to take the series.
eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020 South Asia Playoffs final standings:
| Place | Team | Prize |
| 1st | 🇮🇳 BL4ZE Esports | US$1,000 |
| 2nd | 🇮🇳 2ez Gaming | US$500 |
| 3rd-4th | 🇮🇳 Wicked Gaming | – |
| 3rd-4th | 🇮🇳 Reckoning Esports | – |
| 5th-8th | 🇮🇳 Headshot Esports | – |
| 5th-8th | 🇮🇳 Wasted Potential | – |
| 5th-8th | 🇮🇳 Fit For Esports | – |
| 5th-8th | 🇮🇳 VIBE | – |
CSGO2ASIA is an official Global Media Partner for the ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Festival 2020.
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Cover photo by BL4ZE
