Spirit move past Extra Salt in BLAST Premier Spring Showdown

The CIS side had little issues dealing with the newcomer to European competition, securing a 2-0 win.

Spirit shrugged off Extra Salt in the initial round of BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, moving on to the quarter-finals of the event. Two more wins are needed for Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov's team to ensure a spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in June, with Dignitas being their next opponent.

The team that dominated North American competition in 2021 and was sitting on a 10-series win streak ahead of their European foray, Extra Salt, offered little resistance to Spirit. The team's star AWPer Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm struggled to make a mark in the match, posting a 0.76 rating - well below his 1.35 rating for the last three months.

In the post-match interview, oSee said that his team had issues in the mid-round situations and that Spirit's combination of aggression and "knowing when to slow down the round" proved troublesome to deal with. Talking about his individual performance and what makes playing as a sniper in Europe tough, he noted that opponents "actually flash you off, in NA they don't use nade as well".

While Extra Salt's European debut didn't go as they hoped, the team is set to attend three more events on the Old Continent, so learning from their defeat will be the focus for oSee's team. "We'll be looking back at the VODs and trying to minimalize our mistakes for the next tournament."

Extra Salt were hot out of the gates on Train, winning the second-round force to go 5-1 up on their map pick. Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov's double entry with the AWP set up Spirit to win the next, starting a streak of rounds going their way. The CIS side finished the half dominantly, 10-5, with another force-buy win getting Extra Salt's foot in the door on the defense. However, when the rifles came into play, Spirit assumed control of the economy and the game, closing it out 16-10.

Keen to end the series swiftly, Spirit pulled apart their opposition for an 8-1 lead on the offensive side of Dust2. Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek's AWPing helped Extra Salt get back into it, with Edgar "⁠MarKE⁠" Maldonado building on that with an anti-eco ace and a B-site lockdown. The North American side went to the break content, with seven rounds in the bag, but hit a wall as Terrorists. Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and co. won the pistol cleanly and kept Extra Salt at bay to claim their map pick 16-8.