Team Vitality and Eternal Fire swept to victories on Monday at the BLAST Open Spring in Copenhagen, Denmark, winning their respective groups and earning berths in the playoff semifinals.
Vitality got past MOUZ to win Group A, and Eternal Fire downed Natus Vincere to prevail in Group B.
In the lower-bracket finals, Team Spirit advanced out of Group A with a 2-0 victory over Virtus.pro, and G2 Esports posted a 2-0 win over The MongolZ to qualify out of Group B.
The playoff quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday. Natus Vincere will oppose Spirit for the right to face Vitality in the semis, and MOUZ will clash with G2 Esports to determine Eternal Fire’s semifinal foe.
The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, with the grand final to follow on Sunday.
The $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with the 16 teams divided into two groups for double-elimination play. All group-stage matches were best-of-three.
In the single-elimination playoffs, to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, all matches are best-of-three until the grand final, which will be best-of-five. The winning team will earn $150,000.
On Monday, Vitality squeezed past MOUZ 13-11 on Mirage, 13-11 on Dust II. France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut registered 42 kills and a plus-14 kill-death differential for Vitality. Finland’s Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo logged 37 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential for MOUZ.
The all-Turkish Eternal Fire squad dumped Natus Vincere 13-9 on Inferno, 13-5 on Dust II behind 42 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential from Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalcin. Lithuania’s Justinas “jL” Lekavicius and Romania’s Mihai “iM” Ivan each amassed 29 kills for Natus Vincere.
Spirit put up a pair of 13-9 wins over Virtus.pro, on Ancient and Anubis. Russia’s Danil “donk” Kryshkovets notched 43 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential for Spirit. Russia’s Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev finished with 30 kills and a minus-1 K-D differential for Virtus.pro.
G2 Esports nipped The MongolZ 13-11 on Ancient, then sealed the match with a 13-4 blowout on Dust II. Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov wound up with 38 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for G2 Esports. Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren recorded 30 kills and a plus-1 K-D differential for the all-Mongolian MongolZ.
BLAST Open Spring prize pool
1. $150,000
2. $60,000
3-4. $40,000
5-6. $20,000
7-8. $10,000 — Virtus.pro, The MongolZ
9-12. $7,500 — Team Falcons, FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, M80
13-16. $5,000 — The Huns Esports, Astralis, Imperial Esports, FURIA
–Field Level Media
