SAW, Imperial, timbermen qualify for BLAST Spring Showdown

Only two more slots for the Spring Showdown are available.

Imperial put together an impressive run to win their qualifier

SAW, Imperial and timbermen have joined the team list for the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. The three squads earned their berths by winning RTP Arena Spring Cup, Ace South American Masters, and Ace North American Masters, respectively.

There are now only two more spots left to be claimed at the Spring Showdown, and those are to be contested across two RES European Masters tournaments, one for Eastern Europe and one for Western Europe.

SAW earned their Showdown spot via an Iberian regional tournament, and they kicked off their qualification campaign with a shocking best-of-one loss in overtime to an unranked AL QATRAO squad. The Portuguese squad bounced back by taking down Agency and then AL QATRAO in a rematch to make the playoffs.

A thrilling matchup with KOI awaited SAW in the semi-finals. It was a hotly contested match between the two highest Iberian teams that went to overtime on the first map. In the end, Michel "⁠ewjerkz⁠" Pinto and Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes inspired the Portuguese team to a 2-1 victory.

The surprise package of the qualifier, Rhyno, awaited in the final, and although both maps went the distance, SAW secured their Showdown spot with a 2-0 win.

Date	Matches
RTP Arena Spring Cup 2024 - BLAST Premier Qualifier
01/02/2024	AL QATRAO Finished 16:14 SAW	Match
01/02/2024	Agency Finished 7:13 SAW	Match
01/02/2024	AL QATRAO Finished 6:13 SAW	Match
03/02/2024	SAW Finished 2:1 KOI	Match
04/02/2024	SAW Finished 2:0 Rhyno	Match

Imperial put together a mightily impressive run to triumph in the South American qualifier, taking down all three of the top-ranked squads in attendance. In the best-of-one group play, they twice took down BESTIA, either side of a loss to 9z, to grab a playoff spot.

In the playoffs, Imperial first had to contend with MIBR, by far the favourites to earn the Showdown berth on offer. Imperial's two most-recent signings, Lucas "⁠decenty⁠" Bacelar and Kaiky "⁠noway⁠" Santos, were the stars of the show as they beat MIBR 2-1 in relatively comfortable fashion, taking their two map wins confidently and pushing MIBR to overtime on their map choice.

9z awaited in the final, and this time, Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles and João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos joined noway in driving Imperial to a 2-0 victory.

Date	Matches
Ace South American Masters Spring 2024 - BLAST Premier Qualifier
02/02/2024	Imperial Finished 13:9 BESTIA	Match
03/02/2024	9z Finished 13:10 Imperial	Match
03/02/2024	Imperial Finished 13:7 BESTIA	Match
03/02/2024	MIBR Finished 1:2 Imperial	Match
04/02/2024	Imperial Finished 2:0 9z	Match

A youthful timbermen squad were the team to emerge victorious from the North American qualifier, admirably claiming their spot despite taking the most difficult route possible.

They first beat BOSS and Nouns, winning the latter best-of-one in just under 50 rounds as they battled through overtime after overtime.

In the playoffs, timbermen took on the big-name NRG squad, and after going 1-0 down in the series, they bounced back by squeaking an overtime win on Mirage before cruising on Vertigo. Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's Wildcard awaited in the final, and timbermen secured their Spring Showdown berth with a confident 2-1 victory.

Date	Matches
Ace North American Masters Spring 2024 - BLAST Premier Qualifier
01/02/2024	BOSS Finished 9:13 timbermen	Match
02/02/2024	Nouns Finished 23:25 timbermen	Match
03/02/2024	timbermen Finished 2:1 NRG	Match
05/02/2024	timbermen Finished 2:1 Wildcard	Match

BLAST Premier Spring Showdown will take place March 6-10 and will be held online. 16 teams will do battle through two ruthless single elimination, best-of-three bracket, with only two Spring Final spots on offer for the winners of their brackets.

The team list for BLAST Premier Spring Finals is now as follows:

Complexity
Cloud9
Falcons
Spirit
BIG
GamerLegion
Liquid
RES West Europe Masters

Ninjas in Pyjamas
SAW
HEROIC
OG
Imperial
timbermen
Rare Atom
RES East Europe Masters