G2 take down FURIA in NiKo's debut at BLAST Premier Fall Series

The Brazilian side was handed a defeat in their first European game of the year as G2 looked impressive in their first match with Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač.

A competitive series between G2 and FURIA finished with the European team taking the series 2-0, with enough breathing room in their wins on both Mirage (16-10) and Nuke (16-11).

NiKo slotted into G2's lineup instead of Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug as G2 look to test out compositions with both the 28-year-old rifler and François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay until the end of the year, before deciding on their five-man squad for 2020. amanek proved his worth on Mirage, leading the scoreboard with a 1.38 rating and 101.8 ADR, while debutant NiKo looked comfortable, averaging a 1.11 rating for the series.

For the Brazilian side that is currently on a European bootcamp, Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan was the dangerman on Mirage, taking part in 17 of 26 opening duels, and FURIA looked dangerous over some stretches, but they weren't able to replicate their dominant North American form in their first European match in 2020. With this result, FURIA will face off against their countrymen MIBR in the group C elimination match, while G2 are to play Astralis.

FURIA picked up a 5-1 lead on the CT side of Mirage, putting down the foot early on, but a Deagle round in which Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač found the opening got the ball rolling for G2. The European team slowed down the rounds and sapped the momentum from FURIA, going on a strong run to finish the half 9-6 up.

That lead was extended to 11 after G2 took the second pistol and anti-force, but FURIA doubled down and got on the board in the second half after arT's double kill to open up B. The Brazilian side was on the edge of equalizing when huNter- won his team a round with a saved M4A1-S, which they built on thanks to amanek's multikills on B, and closed out their pick 16-10.

Off the back of great play from the Kovač cousins, G2 ran up a 6-2 lead on the defensive side of Nuke, but FURIA's third, which came from an eco A play, shifted the tides of the half. Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato shined as the Brazilians went on a six-round streak, but G2 picked up the last one as CT to make it 8-7.

Thanks to a low-buy victory in round 19, G2 pushed ahead in the second half and reached a 13-10 advantage after NiKo and huNter- resolved a 2v4 in their favor. Following that situation, G2 powered to the victory, claiming eight out of nine rounds down the stretch to end Nuke 16-11.