RES Eastern European Masters Fall 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier

Cloud9, MOUZ favorites in last BLAST Showdown qualifiers

14-9-2023 21:18

Cloud9, Spirit, MOUZ, and Monte will all be fighting for spots in the Showdown this weekend.

Cloud9 will play their first officials in almost a month

RES Eastern European Masters and Pelaajat Nordic Masters kick off on Friday, with each event utilizing a best-of-one GSL group stage and best-of-three playoff bracket to determine who will claim the last spots in BLAST Premier Fall Showdown Europe.

MOUZ are the clear favorites to win Pelaajat Nordic Masters, being the highest-ranked team at No. 10 with their closest competition being ECSTATIC at No. 48.

Their recent run through their group at ESL Pro League with wins over MIBR, Evil Geniuses, and HEROIC add credence to their title as favorites to win the qualifier, with Preasy, JANO, and HAVU also among the participants vying for a spot.

Date	Matches
Pelaajat Nordic Masters Fall 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier
15/09/2023	MOUZ 12:00 DUSTY	Match
15/09/2023	416Olsk 13:30 Victory Zigzag	Match
16/09/2023	ECSTATIC 12:00 JANO	Match
16/09/2023	Preasy 13:30 HAVU	Match

RES Eastern European Masters fields a far steeper level of competition overall as it features five top 30 teams. Cloud9 are set to make their first appearance since their elimination at Gamers8 and are the highest-ranked team in attendance, but won't have an easy time of things securing the single qualification spot on offer as Monte, Spirit, 1win, Bad News Eagles, and Eternal Fire are also all in contention.

Monte and Spirit are teams to keep an eye on, the former recently besting HEROIC and MIBR en route to EPL playoff qualification and the latter coming off a LAN victory at Pari Dunav Party over Virtus.pro with their superstar Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets absolutely lighting up the board.

donk since joining Spirit

The prospect of a match between Cloud9 and Spirit in the playoffs is particularly tempting as Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's side have yet to truly show us the potential of their roster after making changes, having only played six maps with their full lineup, while Spirit have looked indomitable with their young talents.

Both teams will need to make it through their groups first, though, with electroNic and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy facing off against former teammate Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov in their opening match, and Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev doing the same against Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev.

Date	Matches
RES Eastern European Masters Fall 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier
15/09/2023	Monte 13:00 Spirit	Match
15/09/2023	Eternal Fire 14:15 RedPack	Match
16/09/2023	Cloud9 13:00 1win	Match
16/09/2023	Bad News Eagles 14:15 Zero Tenacity	Match