Team Falcons, Team Spirit advance in group stage at BLAST Open Spring

Team Falcons, FURIA, Team Spirit and The MongolZ each recorded wins on Sunday to stay alive in the BLAST Open Spring event in Copenhagen, Denmark and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The Group A lower-bracket final on Monday is set between Team Falcons and FURIA, while Aurora Gaming and Natus Vincere previously secured the upper-bracket final.

The Group B lower-bracket final is between Team Spirit and The MongolZ, while Team Vitality and PARIVISION already had their spots in the upper-bracket final on Monday.

The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that are contesting a pair of double-elimination brackets. The top three finishers in each bracket will advance to the six-team playoffs. All matches will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on March 29.

The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.

On Sunday, Team Falcons rallied for a 2-1 win in the Group A lower-bracket semifinal over TYLOO, who opened with a marathon 16-14 win on Inferno. The Falcons responded in a big way with a 13-1 win on Ancient and a 13-2 victory on Mirage.

Nikola "NiKo" Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina led Team Falcons with a plus-14 kill-death differential while posting 45 kills, and teammate Maksim "kyousuke" Lukin of Russia had 50 kills and a plus-12 differential. No TYLOO players had a positive K-D differential.

FURIA followed a similar path in the other Group A lower-bracket semifinal, defeating NRG 2-1. NRG opened with a 13-10 win on Mirage, then FURIA surged past with wins on Nuke (13-2) and Dust II (13-7).

Danil "moloday" Golubenko of Kazakhstan led FURIA with 61 kills and a plus-32 differential.

Team Spirit swept 9z Team 2-0 in the Group B lower-bracket semifinal, winning on Overpass and Dust II on matching 13-6 scores.

Danil "donk" Kryshkovets of the all-Russian Team Spirit posted 44 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential.

The MongolZ notched a 2-0 win over Team Liquid in the other Group B lower-bracket semifinal, winning 16-14 on Ancient and 13-10 on Mirage.

Ayush "mzinho" Batbold led the all-Mongolian Mongolz with 45 kills while recording a plus-8 differential. Jonathan "EIGE" Jablonowski of the United States paced Liquid with 52 kills and a plus-10 differential.

Monday's schedule

--Group A upper-bracket final, Aurora Gaming vs. Natus Vincere

--Group A lower-bracket final, Team Falcons vs. FURIA

--Group B upper-bracket final, Team Vitality vs. PARIVISION

--Group B lower-bracket final, Team Spirit vs. The MongolZ

BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)

1. $150,000, 3

2. $60,000, 1

3-4. $40,000, 1

5-6. $20,000, 1

7-8. $10,000

9-12. $7,500 -- TYLOO, NRG, 9z Team, Team Liquid

13-16. $5,000 -- FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas

--Field Level Media