G2, Eternal Fire, NaVi, MongolZ advance at BLAST Open Spring

G2 Esports, Eternal Fire, Natus Vincere and The MongolZ opened Group B action with wins at the BLAST Open Spring tournament on Thursday in Copenhagen, Denmark.

G2, Eternal Fire and NaVi each won in 2-0 sweeps over Imperial Esports, Team Liquid and FURIA, respectively. Meanwhile, The MongolZ outlasted M80 2-1 in the last of the four upper-bracket quarterfinals.

The $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event starts with the 16 teams divided into two groups for double-elimination play. The group winners move into the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams in each group become the low seeds in the quarterfinals.

All group-stage matches are best-of-three.

The single-elimination playoffs, to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, begin March 28. All playoff matches are best-of-three until the grand final on March 30, which will be best-of-five. The winning team will earn $150,000.

On Thursday, G2 defeated Imperial 13-8 on Mirage and 13-11 on Inferno. Nemanja "huNter-" Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina had a day to remember for G2, racking up 56 kills on a massive plus-32 kills-to-deaths differential.

The all-Turkish Eternal Fire squad defeated Team Liquid by 13-7 scores on Dust II and Anubis. They were led by Engin "MAJ3R" Kupeli, who had 35 kills on a plus-15 K-D.

NaVi earned a 16-12 overtime win on Anubis before finishing off FURIA 13-8 on Mirage. Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy of Ukraine guided NaVi with 36 kills on a plus-4 K-D.

The MongolZ sandwiched a 13-11 win on Dust II and a 13-3 victory on Inferno around a 13-11 setback to M80 on Ancient. Sodbayar "Techno" Munkhbold of Mongolia led the victors with 51 kills and a plus-16 differential.

The tournament continues Friday with four Group A matches:

--Team Spirit vs. MOUZ (upper-bracket semifinals)

--Virtus.pro vs. Team Vitality (upper-bracket semifinals)

--The Huns Esports vs. Team Falcons (lower-bracket quarterfinals)

--FaZe Clan vs. Astralis (lower-bracket quarterfinals)

BLAST Open Spring prize pool

1. $150,000

2. $60,000

3-4. $40,000

5-6. $20,000

7-8. $10,000

9-12. $7,500

13-16. $5,000

--Field Level Media