The first professional match of the 2020 CS:GO season concluded earlier today with FaZe Clan taking down NiP in a best-of-three at BLAST Premier Spring Series.
FaZe are trying to improve their tactical depth considering star player Nikola “NiKo” Kovač is carrying the in-game leading duties from last year. In contrast, NiP recently lost CS:GO veteran Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg earlier this month and signed Tim “nawwk” Jonasson as his replacement. F0rest joined Dignitas on Jan. 21 alongside former NiP players Richard “Xizt” Landström, Adam Friberg, and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund.
Although FaZe have struggled recently, the European squad tightened up their offense, especially on the Counter-Terrorist side. This was the downfall of NiP in the first map. NiKo called for aggression in the first half, granting FaZe a huge lead going into the second half.
And the momentum didn’t stop there. FaZe dominated the Terrorist side to equal effect by using brute force combined with executes on both bombsites. NiP lost Overpass, their map pick, 16-7.
FaZe continued to impress on their map pick, Mirage. The European side dominated NiP with continuous aggression and the ability to find frags without being punished. FaZe had effective trades and used different positions to crush NiP, taking the second map 16-8.
Typically, NiKo and rifler Marcelo “coldzera” David are incredibly strong on Mirage considering it’s a relatively tight map, which allows for gunfights and individual skill to shine rather than solely relying on executes. But it was Latvian hybrid player Helvijs “broky” Saukants who displayed his AWPing prowess, finishing with 21 kills.
The second match of the BLAST Premier Spring Series is set to get underway later today with Brazilian side MIBR taking on Team Liquid. Both teams have struggled recently but the North American team will likely be the favorites to take the series.
