G2 Esports came from behind to beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in a first-round match at the $1 million BLAST Premier World Final on Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Next up for G2 will be an upper-bracket semifinal match against Team Vitality, who swept Astralis 2-0 on Wednesday.
Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis fell into the lower bracket, where they will face off Thursday in an elimination match. The first lower-bracket match was played Wednesday, and Natus Vincere knocked out Heroic 2-0.
Eight teams are competing in a double-elimination bracket for the season-ending championship. All matches are best-of-three, and the winning team will receive $500,000.
Ninjas in Pyjamas opened with a 16-11 win on Nuke, but G2 recovered to claim Dust II 16-11 and Inferno 16-14.
Bosnia’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovac paced G2 with 82 kills and a plus-27 kill-death differential. Denmark’s Patrick “es3tag” Hansen led Ninjas in Pyjamas with 63 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential.
Meanwhile, Vitality cruised past Astralis 16-4 on Nuke, 16-6 on Mirage.
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut posted 52 kills and a plus-39 K-D differential for Vitality’s all-French roster. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer topped Astralis’ all-Danish squad with 26 kills and a minus-7 K-D differential.
NaVi got past Heroic 16-6 on Mirage, then 19-15 in overtime on Nuke.
Russia’s Denis “electronic” Sharipov amassed 60 kills and a plus-25 K-D differential for NaVi. Casper “cadiaN” Moller had 44 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential for the all-Danish Heroic team.
The tournament continues Thursday with three matches:
Team Liquid vs. Gambit Esports, upper-bracket semifinal
G2 Esports vs. Team Vitality, upper-bracket semifinal
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Astralis, lower-bracket round 1
BLAST Premier World Final prize pool:
1. $500,000 — TBD
2. $250,000 — TBD
3. $120,000 — TBD
4. $50,000 — TBD
5-6. $25,000 — TBD
7-8. $15,000 — Heroic, one team TBD
–Field Level Media