Natus Vincere rebounded from a first-round defeat to record three straight victories on Saturday and capture first place in Group B at BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2022 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The victory meant Natus Vincere received a double-bye into the finals of the Play-In Stage next week. Team Liquid, who dropped a 16-4 decision to Natus Vincere in the group final, will start in the semifinals, and fellow Group B competitors Complexity and G2 Esports will have to play in the opening round.
Natus Vincere’s Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy recorded 21 kills and a plus-10 kills-to-death differential in the group final.
Team Liquid was paced by Nick “nitr0” Cannella, who had 15 kills and a minus-1 kills-to-death differential.
Twelve teams were split into three double-elimination, best-of-one groups to determine seeding for the Play-In Stage, which will feature best-of-three matches. The top six finishers next week will earn berths into the $425,000 Fall Finals in November, with the bottom six settling for the Fall Showdown.
In the first round of Group B action, Complexity posted a 16-9 win over Natus Vincere on Overpass and Team Liquid notched a 16-12 victory over G2 on Mirage.
Team Liquid punched their ticket to the final of Group B with a 16-14 triumph over Complexity on Vertigo.
Natus Vincere returned to form with a 16-14 victory on Mirage over G2 in a lower-bracket match and avenged their earlier loss with a 16-3 triumph over Complexity on Overpass.
The group stage will continue Sunday with Group C, beginning with the following:
–FaZe Clan vs. Evil Geniuses (upper-bracket Round 1)
–Heroic vs. BIG (upper-bracket Round 1)
BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022 prize pool
1-3. $27,500, 2,400 BLAST Premier points (Fall Finals) — TBD
4-6. $17,500, 1,200 BLAST Premier points (Fall Finals) — TBD
7-9. $8,500, 900 BLAST Premier points (Fall Showdown) — TBD
10-12. $5,666, 600 BLAST Premier points (Fall Showdown) — TBD
–Field Level Media
