Vitality, Natus Vincere charge into BLAST Open Spring semifinals

Natus Vincere and Team Vitality won their respective group with sweeps on Monday earned semifinal berths at the BLAST Open Spring event in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Natus Vincere downed Aurora Gaming 2-0 in the upper-bracket final of Group A, and Team Vitality toppled PARIVISION 2-0 in Group B's upper-bracket final.

Joining Aurora Gaming and PARIVISION in the quarterfinals on Friday in Rotterdam, Netherlands, will be Team Falcons and The MongolZ. Team Falcons edged FURIA 2-1 in the Group A lower-bracket final, and The MongolZ bested Team Spirit in the Group B lower-bracket final.

The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that contested double-elimination brackets. The top three finishers in each bracket advanced 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 Monday, Natus Vincere beat Aurora Gaming 13-8 on Anubis, 13-10 on Nuke. Kosovo's Drin "makazze" Shaqiri compiled 37 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential for Natus Vincere. Caner "soulfly" Kesici posted 31 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential for all-Turkish Aurora Gaming.

Team Vitality opened with a 13-9 win on Mirage, then finished off PARIVISION 16-12 in overtime on Inferno. France's Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut finished with 45 kills and a plus-19 K-D differential for Team Vitality. Dzhami "Jame" Ali led all-Russian PARIVISION with 39 kills and a plus-7 K-D differential.

Team Falcons captured Mirage 13-11 before FURIA equalized with a 16-13 overtime win on Dust II. The decisive third map, Nuke, went to Team Falcons 13-10. Russia's Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov guided Team Falcons with 65 kills and a plus-23 K-D differential. Brazil's Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato paced FURIA with 63 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential.

The all-Mongolian MongolZ slipped past Team Spirit 13-11 on Nuke, 13-9 on Overpass behind 47 kills and a plus-19 K-D differential from Ayush "mzinho" Batbold. Russia's Danil "donk" Kryshkovets registered 41 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential.

The playoff schedule

Friday

--Quarterfinal: Aurora Gaming vs. The MongolZ

--Quarterfinal: PARIVISION vs. Team Falcons

Saturday

--Semifinal: Aurora Gaming/The MongolZ winner vs. Team Vitality

--Semifinal: PARIVISION/Team Falcons winner vs. Natus Vincere

Sunday

--Grand final

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 -- FURIA, Team Spirit

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

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

--Field Level Media