Day 1 of the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals saw Complexity take on a fresh Ninjas in Pyjamas roster, while Evil Geniuses had to face against the world number one, Gambit.
Gambit 2-0 Evil Geniuses
The opening match of the tournament greeted everyone with what seemed like a surprisingly intense matchup between the underdogs from NA and the world’s best.
The first map was Inferno, the map choice of EG. With their map pick, EG showed that they definitely came prepared. They put up an unexpectedly competitive fight, with rounds going back and forth between the two. The entire map would continue to be neck and neck, needing more than 30 rounds after EG forced overtime on the final round of regulation with a partial buy that lacked even an M4.
The map lasted until 3rd Overtime, on round 42, when EG would fail to hold back Gambit’s A site push giving them map point at ’22-20′.
An impressive showing from the struggling EG would be followed by an outclassing from the Gambit squad, an expected result from the current number one rated in the world. Dust 2 was not without a fight, however, as EG still managed to put up a competitive first half, even taking the lead ‘9-6′. However, their struggles would lie in trying to break through Gambit’s fortress of a CT side defence. They could only manage 2 rounds in the second half, going out with a whimper ’16-11’.
Complexity 2-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas
NiP come into this tournament with a new face. As just their second official tournament with Linus “LNZ” Holtäng in the active roster, it was not clear what to expect from the team full of new faces. And despite promising performances during IEM Summer 2021, they still could not make Complexity break a sweat in their first-day upper bracket matchup.
It started out strong for the Ninjas, a quick ‘5-0’ start on Mirage made it seem that they were ready for Complexity. That ‘5-0’ lead would quickly become, ‘5-5’, and eventually ‘6-9’. Complexity gave only 1 round to NiP after their ‘5-0′ round win streak in the first half. NiP would again gain momentum at the start of the second half. They managed to close out Complexity’s lead to as low as ’10-11’. Unfortunately for the Ninjas, the juggernaut led by a great performance from Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, would take every single round from that point on. Complexity’s map pick ended at ’16-10′ in their favour.
NiP’s map pick was an interesting one, Ancient. The newest map added to the competitive pool replacing train. Although it was their choice, they started it by allowing Complexity to take the first-half lead, ’11-4′. Complexity was ready to end this series in 2 maps, and it showed following their ’16-9′ finish on the map, not even allowing NiP to get close. This is a promising start for the Complexity squad, while NiP may have to return to the whiteboard if they want to continue in the tournament.
Gambit and Complexity continue in the Upper Bracket, while NiP and EG will have to fight for survival in the lower bracket.
The Day 2 Matchups are:
- G2 Esports v.s. BIG Clan
- Natus Vincere v.s. FaZe Clan
- Evil Geniuses v.s. Ninjas in Pyjamas (Lower Bracket)
You can watch the remainder of the BLAST Premier Spring Finals live on the BLAST Twitch Channel.
