FaZe Stun Liquid - NiP Overcome MiBR
FaZe and MIBR booked their spots in the BLAST Spring Finals and Spring Showdown respectively on an exciting second day, with the two sides being on the giving and receiving ends of crucial victories in London, setting up an intense final day of action tomorrow.
NiP fight back to take down MIBR
After a tough 16-9 loss on Train, where a 1v2 from Lekr0 was just about all they had to celebrate, Ninjas in Pyjamas took down FalleN’s side in two successive maps to force the Brazilians down to the Spring Showdown, with the Swedes fighting for their Spring Finals spot against Team Liquid tomorrow.
Things looked disastrous for NiP on Train, as they lost the CT half of their own pick 11-4. After losing the second pistol round, they looked down and out before five out of the six next rounds put them back on track. In the end, it wasn’t enough as MIBR closed out the map shortly afterward.
Up next was Vertigo - MIBR’s pick. In what should’ve been a struggle for the Swedes seeing as they’d only played the map twice in competitive play, NiP brought the game back to their opponents, picking up nine consecutive rounds in the middle of the map to put themselves in a dominant position. Despite a lovely triple kill hold from TACO, Lekr0’s side pushed the series to a deciding map on Inferno.
NiP continued their momentum on the final map, storming into a 4-0 lead before MIBR were able to find their footing. However, the Swedes didn’t stop there, pushing on to end the map with a 10-5 lead. By then MIBR’s own momentum had ground to a halt, as they took a measly three CT rounds and NiP booked their spot in the Losers’ Final with a 16-9 victory.
FaZe stun the North American titans
The upper-bracket final saw a surprising result as Team Liquid was sent to the lower bracket by European all-stars Faze Clan in a 2-0 sweep.
The series started off with Dust2, where Liquid secured a perfect start as they sailed into a 5-1 lead, partially thanks to a wonderful 3k and 4k from Stewie. However, after the first six rounds, the first half was dominated by Faze as they picked up nine rounds in a row. Liquid retaliated at the start of the second half, but once FaZe won their first round of their CT side they quickly picked up where they had left off, taking the map in a 16-12 scoreline.
Unlike MIBR, FaZe carried their momentum into the second map - Inferno - despite it being Liquid’s pick. Some impressive plays from all of the FaZe players put them into a commanding 15-5 lead, and they were able to close out the map and book their spot in the Spring Finals in a dominant 16-5 scoreline.
Tomorrow sees Liquid and NiP facing off to see who takes the second Spring Finals space, with the winner of that series earning a rematch against FaZe in the Group A Grand Final.
Image via BLAST / Jak Howard