BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage

ENCE and NIP grab vital wins to close Paris Major first round

8-5-2023 17:20

Aside from the marquee matchups, we also saw Apeks and Grayhound earn upset victories.

The first round of the BLAST Paris Major has concluded, and it was Ninjas in Pyjamas and ENCE who secured victories in the marquee matchups of the round, against MOUZ and OG.

Neither of the matches were particularly close, with ENCE utterly decimating OG 16-6 on Anubis whilst Ninjas in Pyjamas strolled to a comfortable 16-9 win on Mirage. ENCE and Ninjas in Pyjamas will now face off later today for the chance to go 2-0, whilst MOUZ and OG will do battle to avoid being on the brink of elimination.

ENCE were in fine shape against OG

In the A stream matchup Ninjas in Pyjamas produced a potent 11-4 CT half on Mirage to put themselves firmly in control of the game, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen in particularly shining in the early rounds to help get his team going. Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner caught up as the game progressed, and the duo ensured MOUZ struggled to string rounds together throughout the entire match. MOUZ did look a bit more comfortable on their own defense, but they were nowhere near strong enough to prevent a 9-16 defeat.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers StageBest of 1

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Matchpage

8th May 2023

MOUZ

Mirage

Over on the B stream, ENCE dominated OG from start to finish on Anubis, their 12-round T side ensuring OG had only the slimmest of hopes of a comeback in the second half. Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković and Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha both produced some spectacular highlight plays to ensure such a dominant showing for ENCE, whilst Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García was a menace with the AWP. Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov did produce a couple of special moments of his own to earn OG some rounds, but it was merely a consolation for the European squad.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers StageBest of 1

Matchpage

8th May 2023

ENCE

Anubis

Elsewhere in the first round there were two major upsets, with Grayhound taking down FORZE and Apeks besting Liquid. Grayhound had to recover from a woeful 3-round offense on Mirage against FORZE and they did so with aplomb, posting a stonewall 13-round defense to complete an epic comeback. Liquid put up a better fight against Apeks, but a poor showing from Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic consigned the North Americans to a 12-16 loss.