EG outlast FURIA in BLAST Premier Spring Finals to set up title decider with MIBR

Evil Geniuses edged out FURIA in an intense three-map series in BLAST Premier Spring Finals to set up a grand final matchup with MIBR.

Evil Geniuses have extended their unbeaten streak against FURIA to eight-straight best-of-three wins after fighting back from a map one defeat. With this victory, the North American team will look to put a shaky few months behind them after struggling to find form since their ESL Pro League Season 11 grand final loss to Liquid.

Evil Geniuses kicked off the series with the CT pistol on FURIA’s map pick of Vertigo, but the Brazilians responded immediately with a force buy to take control of the matchup early on. Five of the following six rounds went convincingly in favour of the DreamHack Masters Spring NA champions, with EG only adding one to their score thanks to a Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik 1v1 clutch. The North American side struggled to string any rounds together for the rest of the half as FURIA, spearheaded by a deadly Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos, concluded the half with a five-round cushion.

Two entry kills from Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov got Evil Geniuses off to winning ways on the T side to diminish FURIA’s advantage, with Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz promptly guiding his men to a level scoreline. After giving up a promising lead without a reply, the Brazilians eventually found some success on the defence, but both teams locked horns in a back and forth as multi-kills from the likes of Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold, Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles and Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan kept the map deadlocked at 14-14. With Vertigo looking as if it could go either way, FURIA tightened up the A site defence to secure the final two rounds and edge out a map one win.

Evil Geniuses came out of the gates hot on Inferno in retaliation of their narrow Vertigo defeat, blazing to a 6-0 start on the offence. A triple AWP kill at the hands of HEN1 got the ball rolling for FURIA, who locked down a five-round streak to stay hot on the North American’s heels. The Brazilians were able to pull the score back to 7-7 in a late resurgence, but a trio of kills from Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte in the last round of the half put his side ahead by one at the break.

After the side switch, FURIA put the pedal to the metal as a three-piece from yuurih propelled his team into the lead for the first time. Down 8-12 and with their economy in shambles, Evil Geniuses secured a significant round to put themselves on nine and get a foothold on the defence. FURIA managed to edge closer to the finish line with two more rounds of their own, but the Brazilians fell flat in the dying stages of the map as the stanislaw-led squad came out on top of the 30-round affair to force a decider, with multi-kills from Ethan proving crucial.

Train began with Evil Geniuses winning their fourth pistol of the series and locking down a 3-0 lead as T, however, an early double AWP setup from HEN1 and arT instantly found success as FURIA earned five-straight rounds. The North Americans hit back with three out of the subsequent four rounds, but the Brazilians kept the Terrorists at bay moving forward for a 9-6 advantage at the midway mark.

The second half got underway with rounds being traded before three outstanding Deagle headshots from Brehze seemed to settle the chaos. However, a late flank from HEN1 in a B site post-plant snatched the next round from Evil Geniuses’ hands and the back and forth continued. Eventually, the North Americans stabilised to take a promising 13-11 lead, with an extremely tense last-second defuse at the hands of stanislaw proving to be the final nail in the coffin for FURIA as Evil Geniuses went on to secure a 16-12 win and progress to the tournament's grand final.