NaVi, Vitality qualify for semifinals at BLAST Premier: Fall Final

Natus Vincere and Team Vitality clinched first place in their respective groups Thursday and advanced straight into the semifinals of the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024 competition in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Natus Vincere swept G2 Esports 2-0 in Group A's winners match, and Vitality defeated Team Liquid by the same score in the Group B winners match.

Eight teams are battling in this week's $425,000 Counter-Strike 2 tournament, with the winner earning $200,000 and advancing to the World Final taking place from Oct. 30-Nov. 8 in Sentosa, Singapore.

The top three teams from each group qualified the playoffs. The group stage winners advanced to the semifinals, while the runners-up will be the high seeds in the quarterfinals and the third-place teams will be the low seeds. All matches are best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

On Thursday, Natus Vincere scored 13-9 victories on both Dust II and Ancient to edge G2. Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov of Ukraine led NaVi with 44 kills on a plus-19 kills-to-deaths differential.

Vitality, meanwhile, needed overtime to beat Liquid 16-12 on Anubis and closed out the narrow match with a 13-11 result on Nuke. Vitality star Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut of France put up match highs of 49 kills and a plus-23 K-D.

Thursday's slate also saw a pair of elimination matches that determined third place in each group.

In Group A, FaZe Clan outlasted Team Falcons 2-1, sandwiching a 13-11 victory on Nuke and a 13-6 result on Dust II around a 22-20 triple-overtime loss on Ancient. Latvia's Helvijs "broky" Saukants racked up 80 kills with a plus-26 K-D to carry FaZe.

In Group B, Team Spirit rallied past Astralis 2-1. After falling behind with a 13-3 blowout loss on Ancient, Spirit took Dust II 13-5 and triumphed on Mirage 13-11. Spirit received 42 kills from Ukraine's Myroslav "zont1x" Plakhotia and 41 from Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov of Russia, both on plus-8 differentials.

The competition continues Friday with two quarterfinal matches:

--Team Liquid vs. FaZe Clan

--G2 Esports vs. Team Spirit

Final Group A standings:

1. Natus Vincere, 2-0, plus-19

2. G2 Esports, 1-1, minus-5

3. FaZe Clan, 1-1, plus-4

4. Team Falcons, 0-2, minus-18

Final Group B standings:

1. Team Vitality, 2-0, plus-28

2. Team Liquid, 1-1, minus-11

3. Team Spirit, 1-1, plus-5

4. Astralis, 0-2, minus-22

BLAST Premier Fall Final results (prize money, BLAST Premier points):

1. $200,000, World Final qualification, 3,200 points

2. $85,000, 2,200 points

3-4. $40,000, 1,300 points

5-6. $20,000, 600 points

7-8. $10,000, 400 points -- Team Falcons, Astralis

--Field Level Media