FaZe Clan slip into BLAST Rivals Spring playoffs

FaZe Clan eked out a 2-1 win over FURIA in the Group B elimination match on Thursday, earning the last playoff berth at the BLAST Rivals Spring event in Fort Worth, Texas.

Natus Vincere finished atop Group B by sweeping GamerLegion 2-0.

In Group A, Team Vitality squeezed past G2 Esports 2-1 in the winners match, and Astralis ousted FUT Esports in the elimination match.

The $350,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with eight teams divided into two double-elimination groups for the initial stage. The group winners move directly to the semifinals of the single-elimination playoff. The group runners-up go to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the teams that finish third in their groups advance to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

All matches in the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $125,000 and two BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens.

On Thursday, FaZe Clan opened with a 13-4 victory on Dust II before FURIA captured Mirage 13-7. On the decisive third map, Nuke, FaZe Clan powered to a 13-3 win.

Slovakia's David "frozen" Cernansky, France's Ryan "Neityu" Aubry and Latvia's Helvijs "broky" Saukants each logged 37 kills for FaZe Clan. broky had a team-best plus-8 kill-death differential. Kazakhstan's Danil "molodoy" Golubenko and Latvia's Mareks "YEKINDAR" Galinskis both had 42 kills for FURIA.

Natus Vincere downed GamerLegion 13-10 on Mirage and 13-4 on Ancient. Ukraine's Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov produced 46 kills and a plus-26 K-D differential for Natus Vincere. Sweden's Fredrik "REZ" Sterner registered 30 kills and an even K-D differential for GamerLegion.

Team Vitality took Mirage 16-13 in overtime, but G2 Esports bounced back to claim Overpass 13-11. Team Vitality wrapped up the series win by a 13-3 count on Dust II.

France's Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut recorded 56 kills and a plus-14 K-D differential for Team Vitality. Spain's Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia amassed 52 kills and a plus-6 K-D differential for G2 Esports.

Astralis knocked out FUT Esports 13-5 on Mirage and 13-10 on Nuke. Denmark's Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen totaled 38 kills and a plus-14 K-D differential for Astralis. Kosovo's Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija ended up with 33 kills and a plus-1 K-D differential for FUT Esports.

The remaining schedule:

Quarterfinals, Friday

--GamerLegion vs. Astralis

--G2 Esports vs. FaZe Clan

Semifinals, Saturday

--Team Vitality vs. GamerLegion/Astralis winner

--Natus Vincere vs. G2 Esports/FaZe Clan winner

Final, Sunday

--Semifinal winners

BLAST Rivals Spring final group-stage standings

Group A

1. Team Vitality, 2-0, +18

2. G2 Esports, 1-1, +1

3. Astralis, 1-1, -1

4. FUT Esports, 0-2, -18

Group B

1. Natus Vincere, 2-0, +20

2. GamerLegion, 1-1, -9

3. FaZe Clan, 1-1, +5

4. FURIA, 0-2, -16

BLAST Rivals Spring prize pool

1. $125,000, two BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens

2. $75,000

3-4. $40,000

5-6. $25,000

7-8. $10,000 -- FUT Esports, FURIA

--Field Level Media