Everything was on the line for both Vitality and paiN in the first elimination match of BLAST Spring Finals.

It started out with a bang for Vitality, who quickly won paiN’s map pick of Nuke. A 16-3 win told the story of a one-sided map, where Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut, Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier, and Emil 'Magisk' Reif all performed on a very high level.

Strangely enough, there was much more spark in paiN on Dust2. Vitality’s map pick proved to be a very evenly fought affair. paiN took first half 8-7 on their CT side, and surprisingly enough, the Brazilians were able to follow through in the second half stealing away Vitality’s map pick. Star of the map was Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt, who took matters into his own hands ending Dust2 with an impressive 30-15 K-D.

Team Vitality quickly recovered on Overpass and finished off paiN in a similar fashion as Nuke leaving no chance for paiN to get anything going. This time it was Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire and Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen, who ran the show and secured Vitality a spot in the Quarter-Finals. Here they will face the loser of ENCE vs OG.

Team Vitality - paiN 2-1 | BLAST Premier Spring Finals - Lisbon

16-3 (Nuke) | {cflag:FR} ZywOo - 1.81 Rating / 20-7 K-D / 100.2 ADR

12-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:BR} biguzera - 1.72 Rating / 30-15 K-D / 110.5 ADR

16-4 (Overpass) | {cflag:DK} dupreeh - 1.75 Rating / 23-9 K-D / 114.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:FR} Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut - 1.47 Rating / 57-33 K-D / 91.1 ADR

ZywOo

biguzera

dupreeh

Team Vitality

paiN

Despite FURIA being heavy favorites going into the Grand Final at BLAST Spring Showdown NA, it was the underdogs from paiN who came out on top. One deciding factor for the impressive victory was Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt.

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The paiN rifler was a menace against FURIA and a relentless threat on both maps, ending the series with a 1.38 Rating / 58-39 K-D / 86.0 ADR stat line. After the match, biguzera spoke with James Banks in a post-match interview. 

- I feel so grateful for everything that has happened to me these past days. I have said to you before that I have made some changes in my life, and now these changes get results. So, I’m really, really happy

- It doesn’t matter who we will play. We just want to play our own game.

biguzera was given the 'Most Valuable Player' award at the event after a strong showing against tough opponents like Liquid, MIBR and FURIA. 

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FURIA

paiN is the champion of BLAST Premier Spring Showdown North America after defeating their powerful countrymen from FURIA with an impressive 2-0 Grand Final victory on Vertigo (22-20) and Inferno (16-8). 

The #1 result means that Vinícios “PKL” Coelho and the rest of paiN have clinched a spot at the prestigious BLAST Premier Spring Final in Lisbon in mid-June. Here the Brazilians will prove their strength against top-tier competition like NAVI, FaZe and G2. 

In the title decider, it was once again paiN’s Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt who stepped up to the plate and presented a phenomenal performance against Andrei “arT” Piovezan and company. 

The 25-year-old rifler ended the series with a solid 1.38 Rating, which also was a deciding factor for his overall MVP award throughout the entire event. 

paiN - FURIA 2-0 | BLAST Premier Spring Showdown NA

22-20 (Vertigo) | {cflag:BR} biguzera - 1.37 Rating / 38-28 K-D / 87.5 ADR 

16-8 (Inferno) | {cflag:BR} hardzao - 1.53 Rating / 24-13 K-D / 97.1 ADR

MVP: {cflag:BR} Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt - 1.38 Rating / 58-39 K-D / 86.0 ADR

Already before the semifinal stage at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown North America, it stood clear that the Grand Final was set to be between two Brazilian squads, with the four remaining teams all being Brazilian. 

In the second semifinal of the day, we saw paiN take on MIBR. Here paiN stepped up to the occasion with a brilliant performance against their countrymen on both Vertigo and Dust2. Especially Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt was playing some stellar Counter-Strike this evening and was time after time the deciding factor for paiN. In the end, the 25-year-old rifler and his heroic’s led paiN to a comfortable and impressive 2-0 victory.  

paiN - MIBR 2-0 | BLAST Premier Spring Showdown NA

16-10 (Vertigo) | {cflag:BR} biguzera - 1.57 Rating / 22-14 K-D / 96.3 ADR 

16-9 (Dust2) | {cflag:BR} biguzera - 1.70 Rating / 24-11 K-D / 105.6 ADR 

MVP: {cflag:BR} Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt - 1.61 Rating / 46-25 K-D / 100.8 ADR

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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hardzao

oSee

nitr0

Team Liquid

The Brazilian side repeated their win over Rebirth to secure the title as DH Open January NA champions. biguzera and company took down Rebirth 3-0, making short work of them as they also entered the series with a map advantage due to their extremely flawless run through the upper bracket at the tournament. paiN went undefeated throughout the event, beating Triumph and Rebirth in the upper brackket and have now secured their first big title win since moving to NA.

Nuke: 16-7 | biguzera 2.13 rating | 145.4 ADR | 29-12 K/D 

Dust2: 22-18 | biguzera 1.37 rating | 93.2 ADR | 36-25 K/D

A stellar performance from Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt helped his team to clinch the win. He ended the series with a 1.63 rating, 112.3 ADR, and a 65-37 K/D.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	6	31
Maps count	13	63

biguzera

Player stats

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