Last night, Gambit Esports crowned themselves champions of the BLAST Premier Spring Final after convincingly defeating Na`vi for the second time in the grand final. This is Gambit’s third title of the year, and also marks their eighth appearance in a final this year, solidifying their status as the current kings of the CS world.
The day started with the lower bracket final between Na`vi and G2 Esports. After winning on each other’s map picks, the two teams faced off in a nail-biting deciding map on de_Nuke, filled with back-and-forth action from both sides. The match was decided by spectacular plays from the stars, with a classic 1v4 clutch from S1mple helping Na`vi conclude the map with a score of 16-13 and win the match 2-1.
After about an hour of rest, the grand final took place in a best-of-three format. The three maps played were Dust2 (Na`vi’s pick), Mirage (Gambit’s pick), and Inferno, differing from the previous matchup’s maps of Dust2, Ancient, and Mirage. Although Na`vi played on their own map pick, they struggled against their CIS counterparts, falling behind 10-5 after the first half. Efforts from Perfecto and S1mple only brought them 7 additional rounds on the T-side before Gambit closed the map with a score of 16-12.
The first half of the second map, Mirage, was incredibly tense as both teams exchanged blows, evident in the close score of 8-7. However, in the second half, Gambit’s strategy proved to be very effective, and their clever movements prevented Na`vi from breaking through their solid defense. Gambit won 16-11 and took the series 2-0 to claim the BLAST Premier Spring Final championship. In addition to the $225,000 prize money, they will also receive a ticket to the Global Final set to take place at the end of this year, with a total prize pool of $1,000,000.
After the conclusion of the grand final, the MVP title of the BLAST Premier Spring Final was awarded to Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov for his extremely impressive and consistent performance throughout the tournament. With a rating of 1.21, 84.6 ADR, and a K/D of +38, the 27-year-old player surpassed S1mple and his teammate sh1ro to earn his second MVP title of the year and the third of his career.
Both teams will now have about two weeks to rest and prepare for IEM Cologne 2021, one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year with a prize pool of $1,000,000 and featuring 16 of the world’s top teams. Notably, this will also be the tournament that marks the return of LAN play after more than a year of online competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, 8 teams have qualified for the tournament based on their high rankings on the ESL leaderboard: Gambit, Heroic, Na`vi, G2 Esports, Astralis, VP, Furia, and Liquid. The remaining 8 spots will be determined through Play-in matches in early July.