Astralis, NaVi win play-ins at BLAST Fall Groups, reach Fall Final

Astralis and Natus Vincere secured the last two berths into the Fall Final by winning their play-in matches Sunday to conclude the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 event in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Astralis swept Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 and NaVi did the same to Complexity Gaming. The matches were best-of-three, do-or-die showdowns to fill out the Fall Final field.

The play-in stage followed Saturday's four group finals that saw Team Spirit, Team Vitality, G2 Esports and Team Liquid win their respective groups and advance directly to the Fall Final. The four second-place teams then proceeded to Sunday's play-ins, a pair of single-elimination matches to determine the remaining two berths for the Fall Final.

Sunday's losers, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Complexity, will advance to the Fall Showdown.

Astralis dominated Ninjas 13-6 on Mirage and 13-5 on Inferno. Nicolai "device" Reedtz led Astralis with 30 kills and a plus-13 kills-to-deaths differential, as all five members of their all-Danish roster finished with positive K-Ds.

NaVi pulled out a 13-11 win on Anubis before finishing Complexity with a 13-6 triumph on Nuke. Ukraine's Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov paced NaVi with 37 kills and a plus-15 K-D.

BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 prize pool (money, BLAST Premier points):

1-4. $22,500, 2,400 points, qualifies to Fall Final -- Team Spirit, Team Vitality, G2 Esports, Team Liquid

5-6. $12,500, 1,800 points, qualifies to Fall Final -- Astralis, Natus Vincere

7-8. $10,500, 1,300 points, qualifies to Fall Showdown -- Ninjas in Pyjamas, Complexity Gaming

9-12. $8,500, 800 points, qualifies to Fall Showdown -- HEROIC, Team Falcons, FaZe Clan, BIG

13-16. $5,000, 300 points, qualifies to Fall Showdown -- OG, Gamer Legion, Cloud9, Virtus.pro

--Field Level Media