Virtus.pro edge FaZe to open BLAST Open Spring

Virtus.pro came from behind to earn a 2-1 win over FaZe Clan as the BLAST Open Spring tournament got underway on Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The four Wednesday matches were all in Group A, and three ended in 2-0 sweeps: Team Spirit over The Huns Esports, MOUZ over Team Falcons and Team Vitality over Astralis.

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 Wednesday, FaZe Clan opened with a 16-12 overtime win on Anubis, but Virtus.pro pulled level with a 16-13 overtime victory on Ancient. On the decisive third map, Dust II, Virtus.pro cruised to a 13-0 win.

Russia's Timur "FL4MUS" Marev paced Virtus.pro with 62 kills and a plus-19 kill-death differential. Slovakia's David "frozen" Cernansky wound up with 50 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential for FaZe Clan.

Team Spirit rolled past The Huns Esports 13-8 on Anubis, 13-4 on Dust II. Russia's Danil "donk" Kryshkovets logged 48 kills and a plus-25 K-D differential for Spirit. Yesuntumur "nin9" Gantulga produced 35 kills and a plus-6 K-D differential for the all-Mongolian Huns.

MOUZ edged Team Falcons 13-11 on Train and 13-10 on Ancient. Finland's Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo and Israel's Lotan "Spinx" Giladi each registered 33 kills for MOUZ. Denmark's Rene "TeSeS" Madsen and Bosnia's Nikola "NiKo" Kovac each produced 31 kills for Team Falcons.

Team Vitality trounced Astralis 13-4 on Inferno, 13-6 on Dust II. Great Britain's William "mezii" Merriman amassed 34 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential for Vitality. Nicolai "device" Reedtz, Victor "Staehr" Staehr and Martin "stavn" Lund finished with 21 kills apiece for the all-Danish Astralis squad.

The four Group B first-round matches are scheduled for Thursday:

--G2 Esports vs. Imperial Esports

--Team Liquid vs. Eternal Fire

--Natus Vincere vs. FURIA

--M80 vs. The MongolZ

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