Live updates from BLAST Open London quarter-finals

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"I was playing tier-3 online games a few weeks ago," Jakub "⁠jcobbb⁠" Pietruszewski told James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks before the match. "Now I'm playing in an arena in London. Pretty crazy."

Taking positives: "Honestly I'm just surprised how much the crowd was for us. It didn't really affect us. It was pure excitement I think. It showed map two, we played amazing on CT side. I'm honestly excited to try and get back to this point. Just to be here is so amazing. I'm excited to see if we can do it again. The walkouts, that was insane, so fun."

On joining M80: "When I was on NRG I didn't see them as a much better team. It felt a bit like a 1:1 trade or swap. But coming into this team, everyone is really good. I think it helped me a lot, now that I'm here. I really like playing here."

Why M80 started so well: "Everyone's personalities are essentially the same. I think that's what's making us click as a five, especially since me joining. We clicked really fast. That's what you need to take the team to the next level and now we're pure vibes. I love it."

On the win: "It was nice to close it out with a good Inferno but we're going to need to play a bit better tomorrow if we want to beat Vitality. M80 really impressed me throughout the tournament, they play really structured CS. I think they can be consistently good."

On MOUZ's poor T sides: "On Mirage today, we gave up too many entries. We tried to go for individual timings at moments. M80 also did a good job of creating opening kills. And then, it can be difficult to play and call. You're right, T sides are something we need to improve on. We always look at which areas need growth and that's one of them."

On taking timeouts so often in T halves: "I think I used the timeouts in moments where there's any good input I can give. It's not always tactical. Sure, sometimes, on T sides it will be an idea. Other times it's to make sure we're aligned. If the CT sides are easy to play and we have them under control it's going to be the case that we use them more on T side."

An upbeat Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein spoke to James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks following M80's elimination against MOUZ.

On their stage debut: "It's the little things. I can't blame anyone, it's the first stage game for all of us. I hope next time we will be more ready."

On Inferno: "We just didn't get the two or three rounds we should have. Like the afterplant on B, where Spinx was on B and got a kill through a smoke and survived for so long. These kinds of rounds you need to win on Inferno, otherwise they will just snowball.

On BLAST London performance: "It's a great showing. We made it to the arena, there isn't much more we could have expected. Can't wait to replicate this feeling at some point."

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M80 beat Vitality on the newest map in the pool but then got slammed by Virtus.pro later, which has apparently shaken their confidence on the map.

Instead they go for Ancient, their other favorite map where they also beat NAVI and fnatic earlier in the tournament.

"It's no secret that we weren't on the same page [with EliGE]," Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen told HLTV on media day. "We tried everything to work it out as a team, everybody sacrificed a bit, Jon sacrificed, I sacrificed, everyone else did something to make the vision work."

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karrigan: "We've brought some of that DNA back. Is that gonna lead to trophies? I have no idea"

"For now it feels really good, it feels refreshed, and hopefully we continue building on something here," he went on.

"I think we showed mentality we haven't shown for the last nine months [...] The brand of Counter-Strike we have played reminds me of high-risk, very explosive, and you don't know what's gonna happen all the time. We have brought some of that DNA back."

David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants were the hard-carries behind FaZe's success in the online phase, and it was a story of the latter in particular rediscovering some of his old form.

After a long stretch of bootcamps and tournaments dating back to the beginning of the season, MOUZ finally got some time back at home after they got back from the Esports World Cup almost two weeks ago.

Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás says that has helped reenergize MOUZ and come into BLAST Open London with more confidence.

"We went home and we feel a bit refreshed. It was nice to spend a bit of time at home," he told HLTV. "We came here with a bit more creativity and confidence than before EWC, because we had so much time together and so much time away from home. It was getting a bit hard, and that's why we also didn't play our best."

"Now, I feel like we're going to show a better MOUZ."

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torzsi: "They're still really good but Vitality aren't what they used to be in the last 7 months"

A crucial piece in M80's campaign has been Mason "⁠Lake⁠" Sanderson, who averaged a 1.23 rating in the online group stage to spearhead the North American team's efforts.

Out of the players still left alive, the 20-year-old just squeezed into the top 5 highest rated, sitting among some very legit competition:

1. David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský - 1.42 Rating

2. Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato - 1.32

3. Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants - 1.32

4. Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman - 1.26

5. Mason "⁠Lake⁠" Sanderson - 1.23

In an interview with HLTV, Lake attributed his improved form to a stricter regimen. "I'm finally showing some consistency," he said. "I had to listen to the coach, the old man, he was like, 'You really need to get a schedule down.'

"I never really had one, I never really listened, I always went to bed late, I woke up kinda late. But this tournament I've really been starting to wake up, DM, really before anybody else is in the office, and it's honestly been really nice."

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Lake: "I had to listen to the coach, the old man, he was like, 'You need to get a schedule down'"

M80 have made their first big playoffs of the year off the back of a spectacular comeback run through the Group A lower bracket.

They found themselves against the ropes after a competitive showing against Vitality, and battled back from a map down versus Virtus.pro, a nail-biter Inferno finish against Natus Vincere and a double-OT Train victory against fnatic to make it to London.

Date	Matches
BLAST Open London 2025
27/08/2025	Vitality Finished 2:1 M80	Match
29/08/2025	M80 Finished 2:1 Virtus.pro	Match
31/08/2025	M80 Finished 2:1 Natus Vincere	Match
01/09/2025	fnatic Finished 0:2 M80	Match

After a week-long online group stage, it's time for the BLAST Open London finals at the OVO Arena Wembley.

The groups haven't been without their surprises, and the biggest one of all, M80, will be up first today on their quest to continue their upset run in their quarter-final match against MOUZ.

And then, a once legendary matchup between FaZe and G2 will make its return in the two teams' first meeting with new lineups.

Date	Matches
BLAST Open London 2025 Finals
05/09/2025	MOUZ 16:30 M80	Match
05/09/2025	FaZe 20:15 G2	Match