Natus Vincere came from behind to beat Team Falcons 2-1 on Friday and advance to the Group A upper-bracket final at the BLAST Open Spring event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Next up for Natus Vincere will be Aurora Gaming, who swept FURIA 2-0 in the other upper-bracket semifinal.
Group A lower-bracket action also got underway on Friday. TYLOO edged FaZe Clan 2-1, advancing to meet Team Falcons, while NRG blitzed B8 to earn a matchup with FURIA.
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 Friday, Team Falcons opened with a 13-9 win on Mirage before Natus Vincere rebounded to take Inferno and Dust II, both by 13-9 counts. Kosovo’s Drin “makazze” Shaqiri paced Natus Vincere with 51 kills and a plus-7 kill-death differential. Denmark’s Rene “TeSeS” Madsen wound up with 54 kills and a plus-21 K-D differential.
Aurora Gaming needed overtime to top FURIA 16-14 on Dust II before sealing the series with a 13-6 rout on Inferno. Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalcin registered 42 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential for the all-Turkish victors. Brazil’s Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato wound up with 37 kills and a plus-4 K-D differential for FURIA.
TYLOO posted a pair of 13-11 wins, on Mirage and Overpass, sandwiching FaZe Clan’s 13-8 victory on Ancient. Yi “JamYoung” Yang amassed 52 kills and a plus-5 K-D differential for all-Chinese TYLOO. Slovakia’s David “frozen” Cernansky keyed FaZe Clan’s effort with 51 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential.
NRG cruised past B8 13-6 on Inferno, 13-9 on Ancient behind 42 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential from the United States’ Michael “Grim” Wince. Artem “kensizor” Kapran totaled 30 kills and a minus-2 K-D differential for all-Ukrainian B8.
The Saturday schedule:
–Group B upper-bracket semifinal — Team Vitality vs. The MongolZ
–Group B upper-bracket semifinal — Team Spirit vs. PARIVISION
–Group B lower-bracket quarterfinal — 9z Team vs. MOUZ
–Group B lower-bracket quarterfinal — Team Liquid vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
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, two teams TBD
–Field Level Media
