Imperial Esports blanked paiN Gaming in the grand final of the BLAST Premier: Spring American Showdown 2023, taking home $20,000 and qualifying for the Spring Final.
Imperial, which also picked up 1,000 BLAST points, lost only one map in winning their three matches this week. paiN Gaming settled for the second-place prizes of $12,500 and 600 BLAST points.
The $67,500 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began Wednesday and featured eight teams competing in a single-elimination bracket.
Imperial survived paiN’s comeback attempt on the first map, Inferno. They won the first five rounds, still led 8-5, built the lead back to five, and saw the cushion narrowed to 15-14 before winning 16-14.
On Mirage, paiN bolted to a 5-0 lead, only to see Imperial climb within 8-6. That’s when Imperial took nine straight rounds and won 16-9.
Both teams fielded all-Brazilian lineups. Jhonatan “JOTA” Willian led Imperial with 44 kills and a plus-14 kills/death difference. Rodrigo “bizguzera” Bittencourt finished with 38 kills and was the paiN player with a K-D in positive territory at plus-1.0
BLAST Premier: Spring American Showdown 2023 prize pool and points pool
1. $20,000, qualification to Spring Final, 1,000 BLAST points – Imperial Esports
2. $12,500, 600 BLAST points – paiN Gaming
3-4. $7,500, 375 BLAST points — Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses Black
5-8. $5,000, 112.5 BLAST points — MIBR, Noun Esports, Complexity Gaming, FURIA Esports
–Field Level Media
