BLAST Premier Spring Showdown: Imperial and EG shine, and Cloud9 advances to Grand Finals

The third day of the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in both the European and American regions is now history, and we have Imperial Esports and EG Black advancing to the semifinals in the American continent. At the same time, Cloud9 secured their place in the grand finals by beating NiP.

While we can see that we have teams in these definitive instances that, in theory, were favorites to win, there is no doubt that EG Black’s victory over FURIA Esports is a complete surprise. We clarify that we say it is a surprise due to the terrible first quarter that the Evil Geniuses organization had in its CS:GO division.

There is very little time left to know the two remaining teams to complete the eight that will play the Spring Final 2023 in Washington, DC, USA.

Cloud9 secures their place in the grand final by beating NiP

All CS:GO fans were expecting a high-voltage series, as we were all expecting, without a doubt, an awakening of NiP in this tournament after being left out of the ESL Pro League S17 playoffs. However, Cloud9 ratified that they are at a spectacular level of play and took the victory 2-1.

The European region semifinal between C9 and NiP was played at Ancient (NiP), Overpass (C9), and Vertigo (decider).

Ancient

Cloud9 started the series very strong on the NiP map pick and took a comfortable victory with a score of 16-8. On this map, Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov and Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov led their team to victory with exemplary performances.

It all started spectacularly for Cloud9, as they managed to win the first eight rounds on the CT side to ensure they went into the changeover ahead on the scoreboard. However, niP then tried to react and won five of the remaining seven rounds to close the score to 10-5.

In the change of sides, we saw more of the same, as Cloud9 started with five rounds won by the first six players to get ahead on the scoreboard 15-6 quickly. Finally, and without much to do about it, Cloud9 took the victory 16-8 to start on the right foot in these semifinals.

Overpass

In Overpass, we saw a great awakening by Ninjas in Pyjamas, as they started extremely strong winning the first half on the CT side with a score of 11-4. Fredrik “REZ” Sterner, Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke were in charge of nullifying each of C9’s offenses.

In the second half, Cloud9 tried to strike back until the last moment, but the round difference was too wide, and they only managed to bring the score closer to 10-16.

Vertigo

In Vertigo, we saw a spectacular display of play from both Abay “HObbit” Khassenov and Timur “buster” Tulepov as they took charge of carrying their Russian teammates in a crushing victory with a score of 16-7.

While the first half ended with a balanced 8-7 score, and we all thought the second half would be equally or much more intense, Cloud9 told us that this was impossible. HObbit (104.8 ADR and 2.19 Rating) and buster (114.4 ADR and 2.14 Rating) shredded NiP’s defense to win eight consecutive rounds and take the 16-7 victory.

With this win, Cloud9 is in the grand final, awaiting the winner between BIG and 9INE.

Imperial applies a reverse sweep to beat Complexity Gaming and remain alive

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and his boys are still alive in this BLAST Premier Spring Showdown after defeating Complexity by reverse sweep 2-1. Jhonatan “JOTA” Willian (91.8 ADR and 1.38 Rating) showed all his qualities to lead Imperial to this victory.

The quarterfinals of the European region between Imperial and Complexity were played in Inferno (Imperial), Ancient (COL), and Overpass (decider).

Inferno

Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli and Ricky “floppy” Kemery, who finished with a 1.28 rating, was responsible for leading Complexity Gaming to victory in the first map of the series. While it’s true that Imperial could win seven rounds on the T-side and had everything in their hands to take the win on their map pick, COL managed to do a lot of damage and ended up with a 16-12 victory.

Ancient

In COL’s map pick, Imperial began their comeback in the series. While the first half ended with the score very balanced (8-7), Marcelo “chelo,” Cespedes woke up the Brazilians so that on the T side, they managed to win eight of the eleven rounds they played and thus take the victory 16-10.

Overpass

In Overpass, we saw two completely different sides from both teams. In the first half, Imperial, once again with the help of Chelo, managed to take a partial victory with a score of 11-4.

However, at the change of sides, Justin “FaNg” Coakley and Johnny “JT” Theodosiou, on behalf of COL, tried to wake up the team and even put the score at 11-13, which set alarm bells ringing for FalleN and his boys.

However, the veteran and experienced Brazilians came to the fore in the final rounds and took the victory 16-11.

EG Black leaves FURIA in the dust

Finally, we have one of the surprises of this BLAST Premier Spring Showdown; EG Black, a team that had many problems in the first quarter of 2023, managed to eliminate a FURIA Esports that came from making a great impression in the ESL Pro League by reaching the Round of 12.

The European region quarterfinals between FURIA and EG Black were played in Vertigo (EG), Mirage (FURIA), and Inferno (decider).

Vertigo

FURIA started the EG map pick in the best possible way, which is also one of the favorite maps of the Brazilian team. Although the first half EG showed a great level with a partial victory 9-6, FURIA, with its characteristic aggressiveness and supported by its star, Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato, managed to overcome the result to take the victory 16-11.

Mirage

In Mirage, FURIA’s map pick, the Brazilian debacle began. After a crushing first half by Paytyn “junior” Johnson (97.7 ADR and 1.82 Rating), EG achieved an excellent 13-2 partial victory that, without a doubt, was a blow to the morale of the Brazilian team.

FURIA tried to start an epic comeback by winning the first five rounds, but, in the end, it was not enough, and they ended up falling with a score of 16-8.

Inferno

In Inferno, we witnessed a spectacular comeback by the North American team. After starting down 9-6 on their T-side and at one point being down 6-13, they won ten consecutive rounds to deal a tremendous blow to the Brazilians, who, without a doubt, looked like complete winners in this match.

Now, EG Black will have to play against Imperial for a place in the Grand Final of the Spring American Showdown 2023.

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