With FURIA having grabbed the first spot in tomorrow's Grand Final at BLAST Spring Showdown NA, it's time to find their opponent for the title decider. The second semifinal is between the two Brazilian squads of MIBR and paiN and is set to go live at 22:00 (CET). 

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You can watch the Brazilian brawl right here. 

hardzao

paiN

MIBR

Liquid and paiN went head-to-head in the last match of the day at BLAST. The Brazilians ended up outlasting the North Americans after a long and hard-fought battle.

“hardzao” got his team off to a great start on their pick of Vertigo. They went up 4-0 on the T-side and were now in a great position. Liquid had a great run in the middle of the half led by a flourishing “NAF”, but after fifteen rounds it was the Brazilians who had the lead at 9-6.

The second half did not bring more fortune for the North Americans who only managed to secure three rounds after the break. paiN, who played an all-around solid team game, took Vertigo 16-9.

Even with the big loss on Vertigo, Liquid had not lost confidence, and they looked reinvigorated as they arrived on their pick of Ancient. 

On the hardest T-side in the map pool, Liquid, spearheaded by a soaring “oSee”, managed to take nine satisfying rounds before the break, leaving the Brazilians to play catch-up.

paiN, taking a page out of Liquid’s book, got off to a great start on the T-side and quickly secured their first lead of the map. But just as quickly as they found the advantage, they lost it again, and the North Americans secured their map pick and sent the match to a decider.

Overpass was selected as the final map of the series and paiN started it out with some of the magic they showed on Vertigo. After losing the pistol round, they forced their way to a 5-1 lead on the T-side. This is where the fun stopped for the Brazilians as they got run over in the last part of the half, and Liquid were up by three rounds at halftime.

After switching sides, Liquid quickly grew their lead to 12-6, and for the first time in the series “nitr0” and co. had a lead of more than five rounds. paiN, knowing that this is do-or-die, suddenly came alive and, led by “biguzera”, forced their way back into the game. The Brazilians hit match point but a quad-kill from “nitr0” sent the map into overtime.

paiN swept the CT-side and after failing to convert on two map points they finally managed to win on the third and are thereby moving on to the semi-finals.

Liquid - paiN 1-2 | BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 NA

9-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:CA} NAF - 1.52 Rating / 28-17 K-D / 118.8 ADR

16-13 (Ancient) | {cflag:US} oSee - 1.43 Rating / 28-19 K-D / 91.8 ADR

17-19 (Overpass) | {cflag:BR} biguzera - 1.59 Rating / 39-23 K-D / 109.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:BR} Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt - 1.35 Rating / 77-59 K-D / 89.7 ADR

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oSee

biguzera

nitr0

Team Liquid

The BLAST Premier Spring Showdown consists of a Bo3 single-elimination bracket, which means that every match is life or death. The winner will take one of the remaining two spots at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022.

Here we give you a run-through of the teams, that we have placed in different brackets; Favorites, Contenders, and Outsiders.

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has throughout the last couple of years cemented themselves as one of the strongest teams in the Americas, and as the best team in Brazil. With a combination of uncontrollable aggression and enormous amounts of talent, this squad has proven to be one of the hardest teams to play against. After acquiring "drop" and "saffee" the team has been trending upwards, and if all their pieces are working they will be very hard to deal with.

Player to watch: {cflag:BR} Andrei "arT" Piovezan is by far the most aggressive player in the world both stylistically and statistically. Furthermore, he is one of the most successful players in opening duels making him an extremely exciting, unique, and entertaining player.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/shox_klg49w","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

had a rough start to the year after some big roster changes, but they have started showing why they should still be considered one of the top contenders in America. With "nitr0", who earlier led the team to an Intel Grand Slam, leading a band of star players who are currently performing on an extraordinarily high level, this squad can take on even the toughest opponents. 

Player to watch: {cflag:FR} Richard "shox" Papillon will not deliver the same high numbers as some of his teammates, but the Frenchman is one of the most exciting players to watch when the situations get tough and he can really flex his brain!

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have been together for about three months now, and even though they have not consistently been able to challenge the top-tier teams, they have done exceedingly well against their American rivals. They are a very young team full of talent which means that anything can happen.

Player to watch: {cflag:US} Ricky "floppy" Kernery has been the consistent player on this team. With great fundamentals and an impeccable aim, the 22-year-old rifler is one to look out for.

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is one of the most exciting teams in the world, as they have a very unique approach to the game. It is a team that is hard to play against because you never know what they are going to throw at you. The Brazilian squad has a great track record over the last couple of months, but many of those matches are against lower-tier teams.

Player to watch: {cflag:BR} Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian has been delivering consistently high numbers since he started playing professionally and is right now playing some of his best CS!

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went Brazilian a little more than a year ago, and even though the project was a little uncertain the young roster has flourished under the leadership of "TACO". The team recently picked up "HEN1" as the main AWP'er, and if things fall into place with the ex-FURIA star this is a team that can challenge the big boys.

Player to watch: {cflag:BR} Henrique "HEN1" Teles has not found the level he displayed in 2020 yet, but he will need to if GODSENT want to have a chance at securing the Spring Final spot.

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has had a rough go of it in recent times. They have rarely managed to beat tier 1 or tier 2 teams and will have to shake things up to make an upset.

Player to watch: {cflag:BR} Wesley "hardzao" Lopes needs to step up. He has enormous talent but needs to deliver on a higher level than he has.

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 was also one of the teams that made a roster change at the start of the year, but they have not yet had much success. Even though there are several Major-winners from the old Cloud9 that won the ELEAGUE Boston Major 2018, this constellation can not seem to find the winning ticket.

Player to watch: {cflag:BG} Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov was once considered one of the best AWP'ers in the world, and he needs to find out how to get back to that level if the Geniuses are to stand a chance.

are at #114 the lowest-ranked team at the event, and not a lot is expected from them. They did however recently beat Imperial twice, both in a Bo3 and a Bo1.

Player to watch: {cflag:BR} Romeu "zevy" Rocco has been a beam of light for the Sharks. The 20-year-old AWP'er will have to play the tournament of his life to make the Sharks' dreams come true.

zevy

CeRq

HEN1

floppy

shox

FURIA

Evil Geniuses

GODSENT

compLexity Gaming

At one point in time in today's matchup against Virtus.pro, paiN Gaming's Wesley "hardzao" Lopes turned into a true Counter-Strike hero! Despite being left in an extremely tough 1v4 situation on the A-site of Inferno, the 20-year-old Brazilian still managed to secure a round win for his team. 

You can watch the insane 1v4 clutch from the PGL Major right here.

[youtube:g5J0sdG8GwE&lc=Ugz9-jt4H3Hs3bFTHAp4AaABAg]

The Brazilians didn't manage to win the match, despite hardzao's heroics, as they fell short in the very next round. The Bo1 match ended 16-14 in favour of Dzami "Jame" Ali and his side. 

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