Team Vitality and Heroic both earned 2-1 wins on Saturday to advance to the grand final at the BLAST Premier Spring Final in Washington, D.C.
After losing 16-11 on Anubis, Team Vitality won 16-9 on Inferno and 16-12 on Nuke to dispatch G2 Esports, while Heroic sandwiched victories on Overpass (16-13) and Nuke (19-17) around a 16-11 setback on Inferno to oust Imperial Esports.
The eight-team Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with a double-elimination group stage, with the field split into two groups of four teams.
All matches were best-of-three as winners of each group advanced to the playoff semifinals. Runners-up of each group moved on to the quarterfinals of the playoffs as high seeds, while third-place finishers headed to the quarterfinals as low seeds. All playoff matches are also best-of-three in the single-elimination bracket.
The grand final is scheduled for Sunday, with the winner taking home $200,000 of the $425,000 prize pool. A victory in the grand final also grants qualification to the $1 million BLAST Premier World Final on Dec. 12-17 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Israel’s Lotan “Spinx” Giladi propelled Vitality to victory, posting 61 kills along with a plus-13 kills-deaths ratio. Nikola “NiKo” Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina finished with a match-high 63 kills to go with a plus-12 ratio.
Heroic, an all-Danish squad, was led by Martin “stavn” Lund, who amassed 68 kills. Jhonatan “JOTA” Willian paced the all-Brazilian Imperial Esports with 66 kills.
The BLAST Premier Spring Final concludes on Sunday with the grand final:
–Team Vitality vs. Heroic
BLAST Premier Spring Final prize pool and points distribution:
1. $200,000, 3,000 BLAST Premier points, berth in BLAST Premier World Final
2. $85,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $40,000, 1,200 BLAST Premier points — G2 Esports, Imperial Esports
5-6. $20,000, 500 BLAST Premier points — FaZe Clan, Complexity
7-8. $10,000, 300 BLAST Premier points — Cloud9, Astralis
–Field Level Media