NAVI knock G2 out of BLAST Premier Spring Finals

Natus Vincere took down G2 in a three-map series (16-3 Mirage, 11-16 Train, 16-13 Nuke) to stay alive in BLAST Premier Spring Finals Europe.

The two teams were fighting for their tournament lives in the lower bracket semi-finals, with G2's Mirage pick backfiring as they conceded a 16-3 defeat. Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković's team fought back on Train, posting a strong T-side to win 16-11, but eventually fell on Nuke, 16-13, where they weren't able to complete the comeback. G2 have reached the end of their road in BLAST Premier Spring Europe Finals, while Natus Vincere will play the winner of Ninjas in Pyjamas - Vitality next.

On Mirage, Natus Vincere picked up a 2-0 CT lead only for G2 to tie the scoreline following a 2v5 turnaround. The French-Serbian side were finding frags and openings in a couple of rounds that followed, even getting into 1v1s, but Natus Vincere finished on top every time start a streak.

The feeling of a closely contested game was blown away after round 10, when Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's 3K hold on A got his team into an 8-2 lead. The CIS side looked comfortable after that, as s1mple and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov led the way to a 13-2 half. G2 had minimal chances to come back after switching to the defense, but losing to a force-buy in the third round on the defense brought Mirage to an early conclusion, 16-3.

G2's Serbian duo were on seven kills each as their team took a 5-1 lead on the CT side of Train, outdoing their Mirage score early on into the second map. s1mple's saved AWP netted him multikills in the two rounds that followed, which allowed Natus Vincere to break their opponents economy and keep the half competitive. Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač continued to post frags, locking down the A bombsite as G2 reached eight rounds, but they couldn't close out the half strongly, allowing Natus Vincere to close the gap to 9-6 before the switch.

s1mple's ace in the pistol propelled Natus Vincere into the lead, 10-6, but that lead was short-lived. G2 were consistently finding their way onto the bombsites and holding off the CIS squad, with only a single B retake working out for Natus Vincere before Train was concluded 16-11.

It all came down to Nuke, which was a brawl right from the start. The early score was 4-2 for Natus Vincere, and despite G2 constantly being dangerous and François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay and Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug finding kills across the board, the CIS side was adding rounds to their tally, avoiding an economy reset. nexa's squad managed secure four before moving on to the defense but never capitalized on the close rounds throughout the half (11-4).

Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub and amanek combined to claim the pistol for G2, starting the French-Serbian team's comeback on CT. Natus Vincere were consistently grabbing map control but struggled to convert off it, only claiming a few rounds as G2 steadily narrowed the gap. As the score was 13-12, the CIS side once again broke through with a force buy, and finally managed to follow it up, this time with a late-round A hit, to break their opponents' money and close out the map, 16-13, and the series 2-1.