Vitality narrowly survive at BLAST Premier: Spring Euro Finals

Team Vitality pulled off a stunning reverse sweep of Natus Vincere on Saturday to stay alive at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals online event, advancing to the lower-bracket final and moving one win from the grand final.

Team Vitality pulled off a stunning reverse sweep of Natus Vincere on Saturday to stay alive at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals online event, advancing to the lower-bracket final and moving one win from the grand final. Vitality will face FaZe Clan in that lower-bracket final on Sunday. The winner will face Complexity Gaming in the grand final later in the day.

The BLAST Premier Spring Finals, a $750,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, was originally scheduled to be played in Moscow, but it was moved online and split into two regions due to the coronavirus pandemic. The eight-team, $500,000 European region features a double-elimination playoff bracket with all matches best-of-three. The champion will claim $335,000, and the top two finishers will secure spots in the $1.5 million BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 in January.

The four-team, $250,000 American region began play Tuesday, with one Global Final berth up for grabs. On Saturday, Vitality opened with what looked like a disastrous first map on Inferno. After grabbing a 10-5 lead over Na'Vi at the half, Vitality failed to score a point in the second half, getting outscored 11-0 and losing 16-10. But Vitality responded on Overpass, scoring the first four points in the map and grabbing a 12-3 lead at the break en route to a 16-6 win.

Vitality was on fire in the early going of the deciding map, Nuke, scoring the first 11 points. But Na'Vi then scored eight of the next nine points to close within 12-8; however, Vitality held on for a 16-11 win. Dan "apEX" Madesclaire of France led Vitality with a match-high 64 kills and match-best plus-20 kill-death differential. Earlier in the day, Complexity advanced to the grand final with a sweep of FaZe Clan in the upper-bracket final. After falling behind 3-0 on Nuke to open the match, Complexity scored nine of the next 11 points and went on to win 16-11. In the second map, Dust2, Complexity dropped the first point then scored the next nine before FaZe clawed back. But with FaZe within one at 15-14, Complexity scored the map's final point to win 16-14.

American Owen "oBo" Schlatter led Complexity with 43 kills and a plus-16 differential. Teammate Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke of Denmark was close behind with 42 kills and a plus-12. BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals prize pool, with money and BLAST Premier points:

1. $335,000, 2,400 points 2. $65,000, 1,200 points

3. $30,000, 900 points 4. $20,000, 600 points -- Natus Vincere

5-6. $15,000, 300 points -- G2 Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas 7-8. $10,000, 150 points -- ENCE, OG

--Field Level Media