M80 overtake Natus Vincere as BLAST Open Fall begins

M80 downed Natus Vincere 2-1 in the lone comeback win of the day as the BLAST Open Fall tournament got underway on Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The other three Group A upper-bracket quarterfinal matches all ended in 2-0 sweeps. Team Spirit took down DENDELE CS, G2 Esports handled Aurora Gaming, and FURIA defeated paiN Gaming.

The $1.1 million Counter-Strike 2 event features 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening stage. The group winners advance to the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up move on to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds, while the two third-place teams head to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds. The remaining teams will be eliminated.

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

The single-elimination playoffs, which begin Sept. 4 in Porto, Portugal, will feature best-of-three matches in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The grand final on Sept. 6 will be best-of-five.

The championship team will receive $250,000 ($150,000 for the players, $100,000 for the club) plus three BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens.

On Wednesday, Natus Vincere opened with a 13-4 win on Anubis. M80 then rallied to take Mirage and Inferno, both by 13-6 scores. The United States' Josh "JBa" Barutt paced M80 with 44 kills and a plus-7 kill-death differential. Ukraine's Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy topped Natus Vincere with 40 kills and a plus-7 K-D differential.

Team Spirit bested DENDELE CS 13-8 on Ancient, 13-7 on Cache behind 48 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential from Russia's Danil "donk" Kryshkovets. DENDELE CS's Joao "koala" Pfeffer logged 35 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential.

G2 Esports claimed a 13-5 victory over Aurora Gaming on Inferno, then sealed the series with a 16-12 overtime win on Anubis. Ukraine's Artem "r1nkle" Moroz guided G2 Esports with 47 kills and a plus-24 K-D differential. North Macedonia's Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski registered 30 kills and a minus-6 K-D differential.

FURIA dominated paiN Gaming, prevailing 13-2 on Mirage and 13-6 on Cache. Latvia's Mareks "YEKINDAR" Galinskis produced 34 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for FURIA. Guilherme "piriajr" Barbosa wound up with 27 kills and an even K-D differential for all-Brazilian paiN Gaming.

The upcoming schedule:

THURSDAY

Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal -- Team Falcons vs. Lynn Vision Gaming

Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal -- FUT Esports vs. Legacy

Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal -- MOUZ vs. 9z Team

Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal -- IC Esports vs. Team Vitality

FRIDAY

Group A upper-bracket semifinal -- Team Spirit vs. G2 Esports

Group A upper-bracket semifinal -- FURIA vs. M80

Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal -- DENDELE CS vs. Aurora Gaming

Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal -- paiN Gaming vs. Natus Vincere

BLAST Open Fall prize pool, with money winnings (player prize, team share) and BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens

1. $250,000 ($150,000, $100,000), 3 BFFT

2. $160,000 ($60,000, $100,000), 1 BFFT

3-4. $115,000 ($40,000, $75,000), 1 BFFT

5-6. $75,000 ($20,000, $55,000), 1 BFFT

7-8. $50,000 ($10,000, $40,000)

9-12. $32,500 ($7,500, $25,000)

13-16. $20,000 ($5,000, $15,000)

--Field Level Media