Team Vitality and PARIVISION advanced on Saturday to the Group B upper-bracket final at the BLAST Open Spring event in Copenhagen, Denmark and Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that are contesting a pair of double-elimination brackets. The top three finishers in each bracket will advance to the six-team playoffs. All matches will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on March 29.
The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.
On Saturday, Team Vitality swept The MongolZ 2-0 in a Group B upper-bracket semifinal, winning 13-4 on Mirage and 16-13 in overtime on Overpass. Shahar “FlameZ” Shushan had 58 kills and a plus-31 kill-death differential.
PARIVISION swept Team Spirit in the other Group B upper-bracket semifinal with victories of 13-3 on Anubis and 13-8 on Ancient. Ivan “zweih” Gogin led the all-Russian winning team with 32 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential.
9z Team edged MOUZ 2-1 in a lower-bracket quarterfinal after dropping the first map, Dust II, 13-11. 9z drew even with a 13-8 win on Inferno, then secured the match with a 13-9 victory on Nuke.
Franco “dgt” Garcia of Uruguay posted 51 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential for 9z.
Team Liquid captured the other Group B lower-bracket quarterfinal with a 2-1 win over Ninjas in Pyjamas. After losing 13-3 on Nuke to open the match, Team Liquid responded with a marathon 19-17 win on Mirage and a 13-9 victory on Ancient.
American Jonathan “Eige” Jablonowski posted 56 kills and a plus-6 differential for Team Liquid.
Sunday’s schedule:
–Group A lower-bracket semifinal, Team Falcons vs. TYLOO
–Group A lower-bracket semifinal, FURIA vs. NRG
–Group B lower-bracket semifinal, Team Spirit vs. 9z Team
–Group B lower-bracket semifinal, The MongolZ vs. Team Liquid
Monday’s schedule
–Group A upper-bracket final, Aurora Gaming vs. Natus Vincere
–Group A lower-bracket final, teams TBD
–Group B upper-bracket final, Team Vitality vs. PARIVISION
–Group B lower-bracket final, teams TBD
BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)
1. $150,000, 3
2. $60,000, 1
3-4. $40,000, 1
5-6. $20,000, 1
7-8. $10,000
9-12. $7,500
13-16. $5,000 — FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas
–Field Level Media