Field Level Media
10 Jun 2023, 06:49 GMT+10
Team Vitality and Imperial Esports both fought off early challenges in sweeping quarterfinal victories on Friday to advance at the BLAST Premier Spring Final in Washington.
Vitality defeated FaZe Clan 2-0, with a two-point overtime win on the opening map. Imperial also earned a 2-0 sweep over Complexity, buoyed by a hard-fought win by two points on the first map.
Each victorious squad moved on to Saturday's semifinals. Vitality will oppose G2 Esports, who won Group A earlier this week. Imperial will take on Heroic, the Group B winner.
The eight-team Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with a double-elimination group stage, with the field split into two groups of four teams.
All matches were best-of-three as winners of each group advanced to the playoff semifinals. Runners-up of each group moved on to the quarterfinals of the playoffs as high seeds, while third-place finishers headed to the quarterfinals as low seeds. All playoff matches are also best-of-three in the single-elimination bracket.
The grand final is scheduled for Sunday, with the winner taking home $200,000 of the $425,000 prize pool. A victory in the grand final also grants qualification to the $1 million BLAST Premier World Final, which will be held Dec. 12-17 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
On Friday, Vitality survived a wild opening map, winning 19-17 on Anubis in a battle featuring four lead changes. Vitality cruised from there, winning 16-8 on Mirage to eliminate FaZe.
Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut of France and Lotan "Spinx" Giladi of Israel each had 48 kills to lead Vitality, with ZywOo sporting a team-high plus-13 kills-to-deaths differential. Canada's Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken topped all players with 56 kills and a plus-17 K/D ratio.
Imperial blew an 11-4 lead before taking the decisive two points in a 16-14 win on Vertigo. Complexity proved no match on the second map, as Imperial triumphed 16-6 on Overpass to reach the semis.
Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian led Imperial's all-Brazilian unit with 40 kills and a plus-11 K/D differential, while American Ricky "floppy" Kemery led Complexity with 34 kills.
BLAST Premier Spring Final prize pool and points distribution
1. $200,000, 3,000 BLAST Premier points, berth in BLAST Premier World Final
2. $85,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $40,000, 1,200 BLAST Premier points
5-6. $20,000, 500 BLAST Premier points -- FaZe Clan, Complexity
7-8. $10,000, 300 BLAST Premier points -- Cloud9, Astralis
--Field Level MediaGet a daily dose of Iraq Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Iraq Sun.
More InformationWASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he believed God was behind his election loss in 2020, even though he has...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Passenger numbers at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey have dropped sharply, according to...
BRUSSELS, Belgium: European Union antitrust regulators are examining fees imposed by payment giants Visa and Mastercard, Bloomberg...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. Army plans to change the records of transgender soldiers to list only their sex at birth, according to a...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said this week that it will require airlines to reduce the number of flights...
GAZA - The home of a doctor working in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza was struck by Israel Air...
GAZA - The home of a doctor working in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza was struck by Israel Air...
New Delhi [India], May 27(ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has chargesheeted three more accused in a case relating to...
RAS AL KHAIMAH, 27th May, 2025 (WAM) -- Faraday Future (FF), a California-based global AI electric vehicle manufacturer, is launching...
Doha [Qatar], May 27 (ANI): The all-party delegation led by NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule departed from Doha to South Africa's Johannesburg...
DUBAI, 27th May, 2025 (WAM) -- The UAE has secured the top global ranking in the telecommunications infrastructure index, the institutional...
Kuwait City [Kuwait], May 27 (ANI): An all-party delegation led by BJP MP Baijayant Panda met with the Indian diaspora in Kuwait, highlighting...