EG get revenge on MIBR to win BLAST Premier Spring Americas Finals

The North Americans required just two maps to win the grand final after coming from the lower bracket.

Evil Geniuses won the Americas division of the BLAST Premier Spring season following a close 2-0 victory over MIBR, who could not deliver when it mattered most after beating the North Americans twice earlier in the tournament, most recently in Friday's upper bracket final. Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's troops picked up their first title since the StarLadder i-League Season 8, in October, and booked the third spot at the BLAST Global Finals, joining European finalists Complexity and Vitality.

“It isn’t the same feeling as being at an event, on a stage, but it still is a big win for us," Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik said after the match. “We’ve been working really hard, and I think we are all extremely happy with the way that we played at this event. Obviously, the fact that we won against MIBR was really big as well because they had beat us the last three [two] times in a row, so for us to come back and win in the finals means a lot to us."

It means that MIBR missed yet another opportunity to end their trophyless run, which goes back almost two years now, though this defeat will not sting nearly as much as the loss to MAD Lions in the Flashpoint 1 final. The Brazilians showed great intensity and fighting spirit, though fans will certainly lament that the team's biggest stars went missing on Inferno, where Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo took over and kept his team in it until the very end with one of the best performances of his career.

"I don’t think he [trk] is feeling the pressure". Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga’s comments ahead of the series were put to the test just five rounds into the series as Alencar "⁠trk⁠" Rossato clutched a 1v2 situation to give MIBR their first round on Dust2. It was a much-needed win for the Brazilians, who had been overwhelmed in the opening stages of the game, but their respite wouldn’t last as Evil Geniuses remained in control, powered by Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov, who racked up 15 kills in the first nine rounds.

Things were starting to look desperate for MIBR, but the team finally woke up after calling a timeout, winning the last four rounds of the half to make it a competitive 6-9 scoreline.

Evil Geniuses halted that momentum after switching to the T side as they ran all over the MIBR defense, reaching map point without dropping a single round. With their backs against the wall, the Brazilians dug deep and began to eat away at EG's lead thanks to some stellar AWPing from Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe, only to fall at the final hurdle as the North Americans locked down the map just when overtime seemed inevitable.

fer opened up Inferno with a trio of frags to put MIBR in the lead for the first time in the series. The Brazilian team looked the stronger side during the early stages of the map, but then Evil Geniuses ran rampant, winning seven of the last eight rounds of the half, with CeRq sitting on 15 frags and almost 100 ADR.

And then the TACO show began. The 25-year-old, who had ended the first half with only seven frags to his name, picked up a quad-kill in the pistol round to keep MIBR alive. The Brazilian team enjoyed a spell of dominance after that and retook the lead, with EG then responding with a run of their own to reassert their authority.

It looked as though the game was about to come to an end, but TACO once again came to the team's rescue, even picking up a stellar ace on the A site. The final stages of the game were played at a frantic pace, with MIBR taking the game to overtime in the final round of regulation. Their efforts were in vain, though, as EG stepped up into a higher gear in extra rounds to get their hands on the trophy.

BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Americas Finals standings:

1. Evil Geniuses - $160,000 + Global Finals spot
2. MIBR - $65,000
3. FURIA - $15,000
4. Liquid - $10,000