Copenhagen Flames clinch BLAST Spring Showdown Europe spot

A Danish derby between Copenhagen Flames and ECSTATIC went to all three maps to decide the Showdown berth.

Copenhagen Flames went some way towards vindicating their recent pickup of Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen by qualifying for BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Europe, doing so by virtue of a 2-1 victory over ECSTATIC in the grand final of Pelaajat Nordic Masters Spring.

The series saw the teams steal away each other’s map picks, Copenhagen Flames crushing their opponents 16-6 on Overpass before ECSTATIC secured Inferno 16-10, taking things to a Vertigo decider. ECSTATIC had beaten their fellow Danes on the map 16-5 in the group stage, but they were unable to repeat that performance this time around as it was instead Copenhagen Flames who narrowly claimed victory, 16-12.

Farlig topped the scoreboard as his team secured victory

Copenhagen Flames were one of the hottest teams in tier two at the end of last year, winning multiple online events on their way to the core’s peak ranking of No. 24 in the world.

Their form wasn’t quite so dominant at the start of 2023 and after a failure to qualify for the BLAST.tv Paris Major, the Danish squad decided to swap Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău for Farlig. It took a few matches for the squad to gel with their new AWPer, but this victory helps to back up their decision to make the change.

ECSTATIC put together some impressive results in the early days of their current core, most notably making it to the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown and IEM Road to Rio RMR last year, which saw them rise to No. 38 in the world.

In the wake of those events results dropped off significantly and the team has undergone two changes since, most recently bringing Magnus "⁠Nodios⁠" Olsen onboard. The team has been steadily climbing the world rankings in recent months, and they will be hoping to continue despite their failure in this match.

The BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Europe team list is now complete:

OG
fnatic
Cloud9
BIG

Ninjas in Pyjamas
9INE
Rare Atom
Copenhagen Flames