- G2 joins FaZe and Vitality on BLAST Premier Spring Final team list after defeating NaVi
- Nikola “NiKo” Kovač was undoubtedly G2’s best player of the match
- NaVi could have turned things around during the second map but failed
G2 becomes the third team to qualify for the BLAST Premier Spring Final after dominating Natus Vincere on two maps for a decisive score of 2-0.
G2 Defeats NaVi
BLAST Premier Spring’s Group C’s finalists become clear as Swedish organization G2 beats their Ukrainian counterparts from NaVi on two maps. G2 now join FaZe and Vitality on BLAST Premier Spring Final team list. These teams will be joined by three more who will be decided during the tournament’s Knockout Stage.
Speaking of this stage, it will be Natus Vincere’s chance to qualify for the Spring final. In their way will stand the winners of the North American derby between Complexity and Evil Geniuses, which will be decided once the two teams clash this Saturday.
G2 achieved their perfect 2-0 victory, holding a stable lead across both maps played. The team won the first map, Inferno, which was picked by NaVi, ending the game with a lead of 16.-6. The Ukrainians put up more of a fight during the second map, Nuke, but G2 still managed to score a very respectable lead of 16-10, earning a spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals. G2 owes its victory in large part to Nikola “NiKo” Kovač who put up a 1.61 rated performance, keeping his title as the highest-rated player at the tournament.
How Did the Game Go?
If one looks at the beginning of the game, one might not think G2 would gain the upper hand as Justin “jks” Savage quickly found himself in a 1v2 situation. However, the Australian clutched and helped G2 gain the momentum to let them win seven straight rounds.
This was ended when NaVi’s Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy found himself in a 1v2 clutch of his own. He won it, allowing the Ukrainian team to get their first round and engage in a back-and-forth with G2. Neither team took control of the rest of the half, meaning the interval stood at 10-5 in favor of G2.
However, G2 quickly regained control during the second half with NiKo putting his team on his back by acing in the pistol. NaVi managed just one win during the second half, with Inferno ending with a 16-6 score. NiKo was clearly this map’s MVP, putting up a 1.76 rating and 26 kills.
G2 was just as relentless on the second map, Nuke, as they were in Inferno. Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač shined with a quad-kill on the pistol round, helping the team gain more momentum. With the score being 5-1 in favor of G2, NaVi woke up, improved their defense, and managed to take a 6-5 lead for the first time in the series.
However, there was not much time for celebration as G2 soon got back to winning ways and edged out the first half 8-7. The European roster continued their advance, loading just one out of eight rounds on their CT side. NaVi’s hopes were once again raised as Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev gave his team another lifeline with a 3k that included a knife kill on Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov.
Although G2’s economy was trashed, the team still managed to win the round, in large part thanks to jks, who stopped NaVi’s plant in the last seconds of a 2v4 situation. With this, G2 cemented their spot for the Spring Final.
