BLAST Premier Spring Finals will host twelve of the world’s best CS:GO teams to crown the two regional champions. But who’s destined to take the top spot?
Between the Spring 2020 regional seasons and the regional Showdowns, the teams are locked in for the Spring Finals. Eight teams will be competing for top honors in the European Finals, while four teams will go head-to-head for the lion’s share in North America.
With a combined prize pool of $750,000 split between the two regions, there’s plenty to play for. So who are the teams and players to keep an eye on between June 15-21? Together with Jason ‘Moses’ O’Toole, we delve into the competition from each region.
BLAST Premier Spring 2020: European Finals
Who are the favorites?
Given their newfound form heading into the tournament, it’s difficult not to go with G2 Esports. Alongside comfortably making the European Grand Finals in the DreamHack Masters Spring tournament, the team’s star player in Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub has found a new lease of life in recent times — with glimpses of the Kenny of old returning to the server.
Speaking exclusively with Dexerto, Moses added that G2’s Main AWP has “found a new style of play” while the addition of In-Game Leader, Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isaković and Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovač has ensured that the squad are now “finally hitting their stride” after a turbulent start to the year.
Who are the dark horses?
Meeting G2 Esports in their first match is French rivals, Team Vitality. After storming through the Playoffs in the European Showdown, Vitality are another team who seem to have picked up the pace as the year has progressed.
With Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut leading the way in the server – earning himself a positive kill swing of +103 across 12 maps – it’s no wonder why Vitality can be considered as one of the teams to watch.
In fact, Moses contests that there’s plenty of teams who can rub shoulders with Vitality as the dark horses, with the likes of ENCE and Complexity seemingly finding their stride in recent times.
Who are the players to watch?
While the majority of the teams are pretty evenly matched across the board, there are a few players who could prove to be the difference-maker… One of which is Complexity’s Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke.
While his raw talent is indisputable, his actions outside of the server have previously overshadowed the heights he can reach in-game. Under the leadership of fellow Dane, Benjamin ‘blameF’ Breme, the 23-year-old has been a pivotal cog in the well-oiled machine that is Complexity.
Alongside k0nfig, Moses believes that FaZe’s latest addition in 16-year-old, Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras, is a talent that shouldn’t fly under anyone’s radar. “The guy that I’d look out for is Bymas. He’s that new addition who’s stepping into the shoes of Olofmeister – who’s one of the greatest to ever touch the game of Counter-Strike – so he’s got a big role.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
BLAST Premier Spring 2020: American Finals
Who are the favorites?
Moving across the pond to the American Finals, Team Liquid are the only team to make it through via the Regular Season. While that alone doesn’t stand for much, their recent run of results does.
In DreamHack Masters, the all-American squad have strung together an impressive flurry of results against Gen.G, Cloud9 and 100 Thieves to net themselves a place in the Grand Finals against Brazilian team, Furia.
While Moses also supports that Liquid are the number one squad in North America going into the event, he also believes that this is a “do or die” tournament for the roster — whose current form is a stark contrast to what they were displaying almost a year ago, when they pulled together a historic run of event to bag the Intel Grand Slam.
“I think that this is a do or die moment for them, not in terms of being able to compete with Astralis (and being able to compete with the best in the world), but whether they can actually keep this roster together… It’s do or die in the sense that we know that they had some issues towards the end of last year – coming down the stretch — and those don’t seem to have been resolved.”
Who are the dark horses?
So who could spoil Liquid’s party? Well it goes without saying that Furia are hitting an all-time peak in their form of late. Under the guidance of Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan, the squad has been reaching a level that many thought wasn’t possible.
While Furia has had Liquid’s number in their previous four encounters, it’s difficult to ignore the pure potential that lies within the Evil Geniuses roster. After an incredible end to 2019, the squad haven’t quite found their stride as we moved away from LAN events.
Moses agrees that should Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz and co. find their groove once again, it will be difficult for any of the four teams to get in their way. “You could put EG as the dark horse. As a team that has looked pretty shattered coming into this, I think with their coach, Zews – who has experience taking a dysfunctional North American team to the top – at a certain point, EG’s going to have the same jump that I just mentioned Complexity will have, just because their coach is going to start figuring stuff out.”
Who are the players to watch?
Given that EG could pop off at any given time, it’s hard to ignore the raw potential that Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov holds. As EG’s Main AWP, the young Bulgarian can single-handedly turn the tide of a round in his favor in the blink of an eye.
There’s no doubt that should EG get off on the right foot against MIBR in their opening match, CeRq will be at the forefront of the team’s tactical approach and will be a centerpiece in their strategy.
Which teams have you got your money on? With a mouth-watering cash prize for both regions and a stacked lineup on both sides of the pond, BLAST Premier Spring Finals is shaping up to quite the event.