Astralis and Natus Vincere advanced to the grand finals of their respective groups Tuesday on the second day of the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024 event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Astralis defeated Team Vitality 2-1 in the upper-bracket final of Group A and NaVi outlasted G2 Esports 2-1 in the upper-bracket final of Group C.
Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams are competing this week in four groups. The four group winners will advance to the $425,000 Spring Final in London from June 12-16. The four second-place teams will meet in Sunday’s play-in stage, with the two winners advancing to the Spring Final. All matches are best-of-three.
The competition started on Monday in Groups A and C. Groups B and D will begin play on Wednesday.
Astralis opened with a 13-10 win on Mirage before Vitality answered with a 13-6 result on Vertigo. But Astralis cruised to a 13-4 victory on Overpass to decide the match and send Vitality to the group’s lower-bracket final. Martin “stavn” Lund of Denmark led Astralis with 51 kills and a plus-14 kills-to-deaths differential.
In the Group A lower-bracket semifinal, Falcons swept OG 2-0, with a 13-2 rout on Ancient and a 13-11 squeaker on Vertigo. Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas of Jordan had 44 kills on a plus-21 K-D, and Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia of Spain had 39 kills on a plus-26 for Falcons.
In Group C, Natus Vincere beat G2 16-12 in overtime on Overpass, but G2 replied with a 13-10 win on Inferno. The final map was Anubis, where NaVi prevailed 13-9. Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov of Ukraine led the victors with 59 kills and a plus-22.
In the lower-bracket semifinal, Ninjas in Pyjamas beat Complexity 2-0, with a 13-9 triumph on Vertigo and a 13-5 win on Ancient. Denmark’s Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke led NiP with 39 kills and a plus-16.
The group stage continues Wednesday with four matches:
–FaZe Clan vs. GamerLegion (Group B upper bracket)
–Team Spirit vs. Team Liquid (Group B upper bracket)
–Virtus.pro vs. BIG (Group D upper bracket)
–Cloud9 vs. Heroic (Group D upper bracket)
–Field Level Media
