Monte earn BLAST Paris Major berth over FORZE

The Ukrainian roster will play in the third-place decider bracket for a chance to earn a spot in the Legends Stage.

Monte are the third team from the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR B to earn a spot at the Valve-sponsored event in France after taking down FORZE in a relatively straightforward two-map series.

The Ukrainian team now look ahead to their run through the third-place decider bracket across Friday and Saturday, where the winning side of the three-team bracket will earn the last Legends Stage spot up for grabs.

Monte put up a 3-1 record en route to guaranteeing a place at CS:GO's last-ever Major, recording best-of-one wins over ENCE and Cloud9 before conceding a best-of-three loss to HEROIC to be on a collision course with FORZE for a spot at the Major.

Monte were firmly in control for the vast majority of the Major-qualifying series over FORZE. The Ukrainian-majority lineup sported a slender one-round lead at halftime on Anubis, but picked up pace once on the more favored T-side as Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk's troops won eight rounds with relative ease to lock in a 16-11 victory on their map pick.

Overpass, the Russians' map pick, was even more lopsided. Monte jumped out to a comfortable 9-6 showing by the end of their T-side effort, with Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas lighting up the server with a stellar 2.10-rated performance by the interval. From there, it was a simple case of the Ukrainians taking care of business; the Woro2k-led troupe conceded just three more rounds before pulling off a B rush to lock in a 16-9 showing and confirm their appearance at the Major in France.

The win will be a particularly feel-good moment for Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev, who is set to attend a Major once more after representing Natus Vincere at the IEM Rio Major before being replaced by Andrii "⁠npl⁠" Kukharskyi on the starting lineup back in December.

BOROS will also be the first Jordanian player to attend a Valve-sponsored competition since Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad competed at the FACEIT London 2018 and IEM Katowice 2019 Majors with HellRaisers.

Conversely, FORZE will need to shake off their loss to Monte as soon as possible. The Russian team are slated to play against their countrymen of Aurora their 2-2 matchup on Friday, where a win will earn the side a Major berth, while a loss will sentence the squad to a run through the last chance qualifier, set to play out on April 14-15.

The current standings for the Europe RMR B are as follows: