BIG and Complexity are the latest CS:GO squads to be eliminated from the $425,000 BLAST Premier Spring Final, joining FaZe Clan and Evil Geniuses, who dropped out yesterday.
The German team fell short 2-0 to Ninjas in Pyjamas (16-10 on Dust II and 16-12 on Inferno), while Complexity were reverse swept by G2 (16-11 on Vertigo, 16-9 on Nuke, and 16-11 on Mirage). With this result, NiP and G2 will play an elimination series themselves tomorrow at 11:30am CT and the winner will proceed to the consolation final where the loser of Gambit vs. Natus Vincere will be waiting.
Today’s results weren’t upsets and the teams going through a better phase right now remain alive in the BLAST Premier Spring Final. NiP and BIG were the first match of the day and the 18-year-old Linus “LNZ” Holtäng, a player who came from the Ninjas’ academy project and will play at IEM Cologne as well, had his best performance since he started playing for the main team earlier this month. He finished the series with a 1.30 rating and 43-28 K/D, above some of NiP’s heavy hitters such as Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Nicolas “Plopski” Zamora.
“I feel very confident,” LNZ said in the post-match interview after putting great numbers. “If you get the chance and don’t feel confident, you will not make it.”
In the second elimination game of the day, Complexity dominated G2 on Vertigo but couldn’t replicate the formula on Nuke and Mirage, especially in the second half of those matches. The international squad had a 9-6 advantage on Mirage but only scored two rounds on their T-side.
G2 couldn’t have completed the reverse sweep without François “AmaNEk” Delaunay’s brilliant showings. The French rifler turned AWPer in the last few weeks had 30 frags on Nuke and 25 on Mirage, top fragging for G2 on those maps and in the series in general (1.33 rating and 70-44 K/D).
“[AmaNEk] is finally activated and, honestly, all the teams should be scared now that they’re going up against him,” G2’s in-game leader Nemanja “nexa” Isaković said during the post-match interview. “It’s him hitting his shots and it’s him doing the proper rotations, blocking key areas on proper timings. Honestly, that’s all him and all the hard work he put in.”
The BLAST Premier Spring Final action will resume tomorrow at 8:30am CT with a CIS derby between Gambit, the best CS:GO team in the world, and Na’Vi, the home of Ukrainian superstar Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. G2 and NiP will face off right after that at 11:30am CT—and this time, one of them will be sent home.
