The second week of the BLAST Premier had four of the best teams in the world compete against one another for a spot in the Spring Final. Astralis was the favorite to win in the group of death but was swiftly eliminated by the group underdog. Na’vi had to fight tooth and nail to make it through the weekend and ultimately emerged as the winner of Group B.
Na'Vi make it out of Group B to advance to BLAST Premier Spring Finals. (Photo courtesy BLAST)
Na’vi’s tough start
Vitality started off the weekend with a swift victory against Na’vi who could not keep up with the French powerhouse. Na’vi had a slight edge over Vitality as they had more recent competitive experience at ICE Challenge earlier in the week. Vitality had not played an official competitive match in over two months but were still able to dominate their opponent.
Vitality came out strong on Inferno and secured a five round winning streak. Natus Vincere’s in game leader Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov did not go down without a fight however and secured 23 kills and helped Na’Vi win seven rounds in the first half. Vitality still maintained a lead in the second half and achieved a 16-12 victory.
Na’vi secured early rounds on Dust2 but ultimately fell short in the late game. The number one player in the world, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut had a fantastic performance in the second half and helped secure a 16-19 and 2-0 victory for Vitality.
An Unexpected Defeat
One of the biggest upsets in CS:GO history occurred when Complexity beat Astralis 2-0 in the second match of the weekend. Astralis is the number one team in the world and was predicted to beat Complexity with ease.
Complexity removed Astralis’s preferred map, Nuke, and selected Dust2 for the first game. Astralis started off with a five-round lead as expected, but Complexity did not give up. The 44th ranked team continued to score kills against Astralis and forced re-buys from the number one team. A 2v1 clutch from Owen “oBo” Schlatter completely destroyed the Astralis economy and helped turn the game around in Complexity’s favor.
The change in momentum allowed Complexity to secure nine more rounds in the first half. They continued their domination in the second half and secured a 16-11 victory against Astralis. Complexity would go on to beat Astralis 16-12 on Vertigo and secured an unexpected victory over the #1 team.
The Champion is Eliminated
Astralis faced Na’vi in the first match of day two and had a chance to redeem themselves. The champions could not recover, however.
The Danish team secured a victory over Na’vi on Train and seemed to be back in their groove. Na’Vi managed to regroup and secure a win on the second map Nuke thanks to a stellar performance by the Russian team.
