The review of BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Showdown

Europe

Dignitas made nothing again, Astralis surprised

Dignitas tried to show a good result one more time, however, they were unsuccessful this time too. The team made it to the playoffs from Group B with great difficulties, having placed 4th, and lost the first match against Team Vitality in the playoffs. The team had managed to win one map against the French before it lost but it does not make the situation better for the Swedes. This time, they stopped on the 7th-8th place and received a money prize of $10,000.

Astralis whose fans had high expectations achieved the same result. By the way, the Danes, like Dignitas, held the 4th place in their group and advanced to the playoffs with big difficulties. There, dev1ce with his teammates were not able to win a map against their opponents in the first match and, having lost to mousesports with a score of 0-2, finished their participation in the championship. The only thing the viewers were able to enjoy was the first map. Overpass was long, protracted, and tough for both sides of the match. The teams needed one series of additional rounds to determine the winner.

MAD Lions and Ninjas in Pyjamas

MAD Lions were too close to their objective, however, they did not achieve it. They showed the best result among ten participants of the tournament in the group stage. They defeated Fnatic with a score of 16-10 and also fought Virtus.pro and Dignitas with results of 16-7 and 16-5, respectively. Such success allowed the team to proceed right to the final where it faced the highly-prepared and warmed-up ENCE who had managed to gain momentum before the match. On Mirage, the match was over only in the second series of overtime rounds. Unfortunately for the Danes, one of the first two invites was taken by another participant in the past final, ENCE. Now, MAD Lions have to play in Play-In.

NiP are right in the same situation as MAD Lions. The team also demonstrated the best result in its group, having beaten Astralis and sAw and made a draw with Vitality and ENCE. This allowed the team to go to the final of the playoff stage, however, the fight with VItality was lost for them. The French lost one map but achieved victory after all and earned an invite to the European finals where $500,000 will be up for grabs. NiP, just like MAD Lions, lost the final and now, they will fight the Danes in the final match of Play-In. The winner will earn $25,000 and the valuable reward in the form of the last invite to European Finals. A losing participant will place 4th in the standings and earn $20,000 and leave without an invitation.

ENCE surprised

ENCE is a pretty argumentative and controversial team. We remember some of its past achievements but the team do not show good results on long distances. At the same time, we expected the team to lose the championship but we saw the opposite thing to our expectations. The Finns placed 2nd in Group A and moved to the semi-final. There, they faced mousesports who, in turn, had surprised the public and defeated Astralis. Despite it seemed that mouz had to achieve victory over ENCE after their triumph over Astralis, allu with his teammates decided to make their own game. As a result, mouz managed to win 15 rounds in total on two maps and went to follow the tournament as viewers, having held the 5th-6th place, and ENCE advanced to the final. They were waited by MAD Lions there. Having warmed up at the tournament, the Finnish team beat the Danes and held the 1st-2nd place, like Vitality. They earned $37,500 as a reward and an invite to European FInals with the prize pool of $500,000. Did we expect such a success by ENCE? No, not at all.

Vitality predictably made it to the finals

The representatives of Vitality can be called the main killers of the intrigue for a reason. They played in the group stage well and advanced to the playoff without issues, and defeated every opponent they faced, including Fnatic and the victory over the Swedes with a score of 2-0.

By the way, the final match with NiP was the toughest one because the French were close to a loss there. The second map was over with a score of 16-14 in the favor of ZyWoo and his teammates and if the French roster had lost there, it would have gone to Play-In. Mathieu ‘ZyWoo’ Herbaut has started gaining momentum and improving his gaming shape again, so we will probably be able to watch the beautiful play by the French at the European finals.

America

In America, everything went not like we had been able to expect from this championship. MiBR performed surprisingly very well. It seems that FalleN with his teammates have found the key to improve their gaming shape. It is worth noting that absolutely all games with the participation of the Brazilians were difficult. In the group stage, the first match was over with a result of 16-13 and the last two matches were finished with a draw. Both Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses did not give up without a fight in the playoffs and won one map against MiBR. It can be said that MiBR showed themselves as the most hard-working team of the past competition.

After FURIA lost to MiBR with a score of 13-16, the team did not lose a map and received the desired invite to the American final after the won final, like MiBR.

The situation with Gen.G is darker. The team played mediocre in the group stage and proceeded to the playoffs. There, it beat Triumph, making great efforts, and it was not able to defeat FURIA Esports in the final. Having advanced to Play-In, the roster was not able to win a map against EG and lost the tournament, being one step away from receiving an invite. Evil Geniuses, by the way, showed a good start and, having headed Group B, made it right to the final. They had a tough battle with MiBR there and lost with a score of 1-2. In Play-In, as we already know, they beat Gen.G without difficulties and became the third team to receive an invitation to the Americas Finals.