paiN and Triumph round out VENN Invitational playoff field
paiN stormed through the VENN Invitational Group B matches to secure their playoff spot while Triumph only lost to the Brazilians en route to securing their playoff spot. The two teams will join Extra Salt and ChocoCheck in tomorrow's best-of-three playoff round.
paiN jumped out to a 10-5 lead on their CT-side of Inferno, but then conceded that lead to Recon 5 who brought the scoreline all the way back to 12-12. paiN would break through again in the end however, as the Brazilians strung together the final four rounds of the map to reach the winner's match. Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt led all players with 28 kills, while Dominic "JazzPimp" Dimpfel led Recon 5 with 21 eliminations in the loss.
paiNRecon 5| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
28 - 15 | +13 | 124.1 | 85.7% | 1.69 |
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
25 - 19 | +6 | 85.5 | 85.7% | 1.38 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
16 - 18 | -2 | 75.1 | 75.0% | 0.99 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
15 - 18 | -3 | 62.1 | 75.0% | 0.91 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
15 - 17 | -2 | 55.3 | 67.9% | 0.87 |
| Recon 5 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
20 - 19 | +1 | 79.9 | 71.4% | 1.10 |
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
21 - 24 | -3 | 89.4 | 60.7% | 1.04 |
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
17 - 18 | -1 | 64.4 | 60.7% | 0.93 |
| Austin 'AAustiN' Urb |
15 - 19 | -4 | 64.8 | 50.0% | 0.80 |
| Dylan 'SATURN' Finch |
13 - 20 | -7 | 51.6 | 57.1% | 0.65 |
The other opening-round match featured the same first-half scoreline as Triumph jumped out to a 10-5 lead on their T-side of Mirage. RBG won the second-half pistol but couldn't convert the ensuing eco round, which allowed Triumph to run the score up to 14-6. RBG put up a fight and reached double digits, but Triumph traded the last three rounds of the map to send RBG to face Recon 5 in the loser's match. Austin "Cooper" Abadir led the way with 24 frags for Triumph, while Jadan "HexT" Postma led RBG with 17 kills in the losing effort.
TriumphRBG| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
19 - 17 | +2 | 83.1 | 96.3% | 1.45 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
24 - 14 | +10 | 84.1 | 63.0% | 1.35 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
18 - 13 | +5 | 87.9 | 77.8% | 1.33 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
21 - 14 | +7 | 63.3 | 81.5% | 1.21 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
15 - 18 | -3 | 64.0 | 70.4% | 0.94 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
17 - 21 | -4 | 78.2 | 70.4% | 1.03 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
16 - 22 | -6 | 72.7 | 66.7% | 0.90 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
14 - 16 | -2 | 56.4 | 70.4% | 0.81 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
13 - 17 | -4 | 52.7 | 66.7% | 0.76 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
15 - 21 | -6 | 61.0 | 63.0% | 0.70 |
With elimination on the line the Recon 5 defense crumbled in the face of the RBG T-side, as the latter roster jumped out to a 12-3 first-half lead. HexT and friends wouldn't concede a single round on their CT-side and advanced to take a second swing at Triumph. Kyle "Wolffe" Greenfield led RBG with 19 kills, while Austin "AAustiN" Urb's 11 eliminations were the best Recon 5 could muster as they made an exit from the event.
Recon 5RBG| Recon 5 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominick 'JazzPimp' Dimpfel |
10 - 14 | -4 | 76.2 | 63.2% | 0.76 |
| Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
10 - 13 | -3 | 44.7 | 52.6% | 0.76 |
| Austin 'AAustiN' Urb |
11 - 15 | -4 | 63.2 | 68.4% | 0.75 |
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
10 - 18 | -8 | 69.4 | 57.9% | 0.70 |
| Dylan 'SATURN' Finch |
5 - 17 | -12 | 48.8 | 42.1% | 0.39 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
18 - 9 | +9 | 106.1 | 78.9% | 1.61 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
19 - 11 | +8 | 91.6 | 78.9% | 1.55 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
16 - 9 | +7 | 90.4 | 89.5% | 1.55 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
14 - 8 | +6 | 68.1 | 78.9% | 1.24 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
10 - 9 | +1 | 63.8 | 78.9% | 1.15 |
paiN carved out a slim 9-6 lead on their CT-side of Inferno but left the Triumph defense in pieces on their T-side to secure the top spot in Group B by a comfortable margin. biguzera and Rafael "saffee" Costa finished with 21 kills apiece, while Brendan "Bwills" Williams had 18 frags and was the only player on Triumph with a positive KD. The funny deer team were left to square off with the panther team from up north for the final playoff spot.
paiNTriumph| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
21 - 15 | +6 | 88.7 | 76.9% | 1.40 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
20 - 12 | +8 | 89.1 | 76.9% | 1.37 |
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
21 - 15 | +6 | 80.3 | 76.9% | 1.27 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
18 - 15 | +3 | 68.0 | 84.6% | 1.11 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
13 - 15 | -2 | 55.1 | 84.6% | 0.98 |
| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
18 - 16 | +2 | 67.4 | 69.2% | 1.03 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
13 - 17 | -4 | 79.4 | 69.2% | 1.01 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
14 - 20 | -6 | 54.8 | 57.7% | 0.86 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
13 - 19 | -6 | 67.7 | 69.2% | 0.83 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
14 - 21 | -7 | 59.9 | 61.5% | 0.73 |
As if dismantling RBG with that final playoff spot on the line wasn't enough, Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman went so far as to correctly predict the lopsided scoreline of the game in the pregame segment. David "cynic" Polster led the way for the Triumph with 21 kills while Wolffe led RBG once again with 13 eliminations.
TriumphRBG| Triumph |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'cynic' Polster |
21 - 8 | +13 | 130.2 | 88.9% | 1.87 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
16 - 5 | +11 | 79.2 | 100.0% | 1.68 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
16 - 11 | +5 | 102.0 | 94.4% | 1.52 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
18 - 6 | +12 | 81.9 | 77.8% | 1.46 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
12 - 7 | +5 | 81.4 | 94.4% | 1.44 |
| RBG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
12 - 16 | -4 | 72.3 | 72.2% | 0.86 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
13 - 16 | -3 | 75.2 | 61.1% | 0.85 |
| Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
7 - 18 | -11 | 44.3 | 38.9% | 0.47 |
| Jerric 'wiz' Jiang |
3 - 16 | -13 | 26.4 | 33.3% | 0.20 |
| Colby 'Walco' Walsh |
2 - 17 | -15 | 22.0 | 33.3% | 0.17 |
Tomorrow's playoff bracket will be:
 Extra Salt |
vs. | Triumph |
| Chococheck |
vs. | paiN |
Extra Salt and Triumph will play at 3PM EST, followed by paiN and ChocoCheck at 6PM EST. The winners of each match will play in the grand final at 9PM EST with a spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, a free bootcamp, and a $25,000 participation fee on the line.
