Team Vitality and FaZe Clan won their respective groups Thursday at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2023 in Abu Dhabi.
Vitality swept Cloud9 in the Group A winners match and FaZe Clan rallied for a 2-1 victory against G2 Esports in the Group B winners match.
The group winners advanced to the playoff semifinals. Group runners-up Cloud9 and G2 moved to the quarterfinals as the high seeds.
Eight teams gathered at Etihad Arena in the UAE capital to compete for a $1 million purse, with the winner of Sunday’s Counter-Strike 2 grand final will ean $500,000. All matches are best-of-three.
Vitality defeated Cloud9 13-11 on Anubis and 13-8 on Inferno. Natus Vincere defeated ENCE 2-1 in a Group A elimination match to move to the quarterfinals as a low seed. NAVI sandwiched a 13-4 win on Anubis and a 13-11 victory on Nuke around a 13-11 loss on Ancient.
G2 opened with a 13-7 win on Inferno, but FaZe Clan responded with a 13-10 decision on Nuke and a 16-13 victory on Anubis. MOUZ swept Heroic in the Group B elimination match, cruising 13-3 on Nuke and 13-5 on Mirage.
Action continues Friday with two quarterfinal matches:
–Cloud 9 vs. MOUZ
–G2 Esports vs. Natus Vincere
–Final group standings with won-loss record and point differential:
Group A:
1. Team Vitality: 2-0, plus-19
2. Cloud9: 1-1, plus-5
3. Natus Vincere: 1-1, minus-3
4. ENCE: 0-2, minus-21
Group B:
1. FaZe Clan: 2-0, plus-12
2. G2 Esports: 1-1, plus-5
2. MOUZ: 1-1, plus-13
4. Heroic: 0-2, minus-30
–BLAST Premier: World Final 2023 prize pool:
1. $500,000 — TBD
2. $250,000 — TBD
3-4. $85,000 — TBD, TBD
5-6. $25,000 — TBD, TBD
7-8. $15,000 — ENCE, Heroic
–Field Level Media