First two rounds of BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen complete; MIBR winless as Cloud9 see some success
The first day of the BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen event for 2018 concluded earlier, and with two North American-based teams taking part in the form of Cloud9 and MIBR, there was a few games worth keeping an eye on.
As announced earlier in the day, Cloud9's coach Soham "valens" Chowdhury acted as a stand-in for the team due to IGL Maikil "Golden" Selim falling ill. This is only expected to last for the one day, with the Swedish player returning to play tomorrow.
In the first round it was Cloud9 and Natus Vincere who faced off on Mirage, and even with a stand-in Cloud9 were still tough opposition. The American-cored team opened up the map first, taking the first two rounds before Na`Vi put their stamp on the half. It was a battle between Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev and Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey for control in the opening rounds, with the Ukranians getting the upper hand with a 9-6 halftime lead.
The second half saw Cloud9 once again open up strong, this time with the first four rounds, before Na`Vi immediately answered back with an even rally. It wasn't long before the Ukrainians hit match point, and although Cloud9 kept them at bay for a short while, a 16-13 win came not too long after.
The other North American matchup saw MIBR and Astralis face off in a close match. Inferno started with MIBR taking the first three rounds, before Astralis ramped up their familiar CT-side to effectively close off any wins from Marcelo "coldzera" David and co. The Danes went in hard and fast, seeing two strong dominant spells turn into a 10-5 lead.
The second half started, once again, in MIBR's favor with the first two rounds. It wasn't long before Astralis got their teeth into the T-side, albeit just for three rounds as they attempted to edge closer to map point. MIBR came out with a fiercely strong CT-side of their own, securing seven rounds in a row without reply to reach a 14-13 lead. It wasn't to be a comeback however, with Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth proving himself with a 1.59 rating, helping to pull his team back from the brink and claim a 16-14 win.
The other match in the opening round saw NiP and FaZe cancel each other out with a 15-15 draw on Mirage.
The second round saw MIBR and Cloud9 face off on Inferno. The first half opened up in explosive fashion on Cloud9's CT-side, with the Americans taking the first six rounds of the half without an answer. When MIBR finally answered, however, they did it strong and evened out their opponent's fights, with Fernando "fer" Alvarenga and co. seeing themselves only just behind at 8-7.
The second half seemed to continue their fine form from the end of the previous half, taking the first two rounds of the new half, but disaster struck their plans on round three when Cloud9 pushed back. Robin "flusha" Rönnquist struck a different vein of form from the previous match, helping his team along to map point with seven of the next eight rounds. Although MIBR staved off the win and nearly claimed a draw with the next three rounds, Timothy "autimatic" Ta and co. avoided such a possibility with a 16-13 win.
The other two matches saw a 16-8 demolition of Natus Vincere by FaZe on Overpass, and a NiP claiming a 16-14 upset against Astralis on Overpass.
After the first two rounds, the current standings of BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen are:
Teams | M | W | T | L | R/D | Pts |
FaZe | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
NiP | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Astralis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Cloud9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Natus Vincere | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 3 |
MIBR | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 0 |
With three rounds remaining, the schedule for tomorrow's matches at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, with times in EDT, are:
Saturday, November 3rd | ||
Round Three | ||
8:00 AM | Na`Vi vs. Astralis | BO1 |
8:00 AM | Cloud9 vs. FaZe | BO1 |
8:00 AM | NiP vs. MIBR | BO1 |
Round Four | ||
9:20 AM | FaZe vs. Astralis | BO1 |
9:20 AM | Cloud9 vs. NiP | BO1 |
9:20 AM | Na`Vi vs. MIBR | BO1 |
Round Five | ||
10:40 AM | Cloud9 vs. Astralis | BO1 |
10:40 AM | Na`Vi vs. NiP | BO1 |
10:40 AM | FaZe vs. MIBR | BO1 |
12:00 PM | BLAST Stand-off (1v1 tournament) | |
1:00 PM | Grand Final | BO3 |