G2 Esports got off to a strong start in the first day of action at the 2022 BLAST Premier Spring Groups event Friday, capping a three-win performance with a 22-19 overtime win over Ninjas in Pyjamas.
With their 3-0 day, G2 claimed the top seed in Group A for next week’s best-of-three Play-In Stage, along with byes for the first two rounds of the stage.
In the best-of-one group stage, G2 began their day by nearly blowing a 15-7 lead against Complexity before securing a 16-12 victory on Nuke. G2 followed by routing NiP 16-6 on Inferno, but had to dig deep in winning the extra-time rematch on Mirage.
All five G2 starters produced positive kill-to-death differentials combined over their three triumphs, with Nikola “NiKo” Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina topping G2 with 74 kills and a plus-24 K/D differential over the three matches. Bosnian Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac scored a match-best 30 kills in the clincher. Three NiP players each totaled 29 kills in the final match.
NiP also won their opener Friday by a 16-12 margin against BIG on Overpass, though they were forced to rally from an early 6-0 deficit. After their second-round loss to G2 bounced them to the losers’ bracket, NiP again bested BIG 16-9, this time on Nuke, to set up the G2 rematch. Sweden’s Hampus “hampus” Poser posted a team-high 93 kills over the four matches.
This is the initial phase Global Offensive BLAST Premier Spring competition. Twelve teams have been split into three double-elimination, best-of-one groups competing to qualify for the seeded Play-In Stage, which features best-of-three matches. At stake will be the top six spots earning berths in the $425,000 Spring Finals in June, with the bottom six teams falling to the Spring Showdown.
The winners of each group stage will earn byes for the first two rounds of the play-in stage, leaving them just one win from qualifying for the Spring Finals.
Saturday’s initial Group B matches include:
Natus Vincere vs. MIBR
Astralis vs. OG
BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022 prize pool:
1-3. TBD — $27,500, 2,400 BLAST Premier points (Spring Finals)
4-6. TBD — $17,500, 1,200 BLAST Premier points (Spring Finals)
7-9. TBD — $8,500, 900 BLAST Premier points (Spring Showdown)
10-12. TBD — $5,666, 600 BLAST Premier points (Spring Showdown)
–Field Level Media
