Monte, Team Liquid and GamerLegion won their respective Round 4 High matches to advance from the Legends Stage to the Champions Stage at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 on Monday in France.
Monte defeated Natus Vincere, Liquid beat Into the Breach and GamerLegion topped Apeks — all in 2-0 sweeps — to reserve their spots in the third and final stage of the major.
The losing teams have one more shot to advance when the Legends Stage concludes Tuesday. The three teams to win Round 4 Low matches on Monday — Ninjas in Pyjamas, FaZe Clan and Fnatic — will meet them in Round 5 to determine the final three Champions Stage berths.
Monte defeated Natus Vincere 16-12 on Anubis before winning a 16-2 blowout on Nuke. Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev of Ukraine had match highs of 43 kills and a plus-21 kills-to-deaths differential for Monte.
Liquid outlasted ITB 19-17 in overtime on Overpass before claiming a 16-9 win on Anubis. American Josh “oSee” Ohm dominated, posting 61 kills with a plus-27 K-D.
GamerLegion posted wins of 16-6 on Ancient and 16-9 on Overpass. All five players scored at least 34 kills for GamerLegion, paced by Romanian Mihai “iM” Ivan’s 41.
In the Low matches, Ninjas in Pyjamas beat ENCE 2-0, earning a 16-7 result on Mirage and a 16-10 win on Ancient. Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin of Sweden led NiP with 42 kills and a plus-18.
FaZe Clan rallied to eliminate Bad News Eagles 2-1. After BNE routed FaZe 16-3 on Overpass, FaZe pulled out a 19-17 overtime win on Mirage to stay alive. The third map was Inferno, where FaZe led 12-2 before BNE surged back to tie it at 14-14. FaZe scored the final two points for a 16-14 victory. Robin “ropz” Kool of Estonia had 66 kills and a plus-16 K-D for FaZe, while teammate Helvijs “broky” Saukants of Latvia added 64 kills on a plus-14.
Fnatic also had to rally to beat G2 Esports 2-1. G2 won 19-16 in overtime on Inferno, but Fnatic countered with a 16-11 on Ancient. On the decisive map, Vertigo, Fnatic survived 16-13. Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi of Denmark (plus-13 K-D) and William “mezii” Merriman of Great Britain (plus-9) each finished with 66 kills for Fnatic.
The $1.25 million BLAST.tv Paris Major runs May 8-21, with 24 teams playing offline in Paris. The champion will earn not only a $500,000 payday and 3,500 BLAST Premier points, but also automatic qualification into both IEM Cologne 2023 and the BLAST Premier World Final.
The Challengers and Legends Stage are using the Swiss System format, in which teams are divided after opening-match results into “high” and “low” matches. Elimination and advancement matches are best-of-three, and all other matches are best-of-one. The top eight teams in the Legends Stage advance; the bottom eight are eliminated.
After the Legends Stage, the Champions Stage will be a single-elimination bracket with all matches best-of-three. The final is scheduled for May 21.
The Legends Stage concludes Tuesday with three do-or-die Round 5 matches:
–Natus Vincere vs. FaZe Clan
–Fnatic vs. Into the Breach
–Apeks vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 standings, prize pool, BLAST Premier points
1. $500,000, 3,500 points, IEM Cologne and BLAST Premier World Final
2. $170,000, 2,750 points
3-4. $80,000, 1,775 points
5-8. $45,000, 1,050 points
9-11. $20,000, no points
12-14. $20,000, no points
15-16. $20,000, no points
17-19. $10,000, no points — FORZE Esports, Grayhound Gaming, paiN Gaming
20-22. $10,000, no points — Complexity Gaming, The MongolZ, OG
23-24. $10,000, no points — MOUZ, Fluxo
–Field Level Media