Live updates: Heartbreak for the UK teams as NAVI and fnatic prevail

Live updates: Heartbreak for the UK teams as NAVI and fnatic prevail

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Half-time in Copenhagen
14:43 NER0

France Falcons 10-5 Sprout Europe
Russia 1WIN 8-7 Bad News Eagles Kosovo

Kirill “⁠Boombl4⁠” Mikhailov has led 1WIN back from a 7-1 deficit to a 8-7 lead on Mirage against Bad News Eagles with 97 ADR so far; it’s still all to play for in the second half.


kennyS is back on LAN
14:13 NER0

The next set of games are live now, with Falcons —the only French team left with a chance to attend the Paris Major — up 6-0 against Sprout.

Kenny “⁠kennyS⁠” Schrub hasn’t played on LAN since IEM Winter 2021, and is 13 kills away from Ladislav “⁠GuardiaN⁠” Kovács‘s LAN AWP kill record.


Girafffe’s monumental effort despite loss
14:13 NER0

Callum “⁠Girafffe⁠” Jones, on his first LAN match against top 50 opposition, dropped 43 frags (1.02 KPR), 1.96 Impact, and 8 openers in Viperio‘s double OT loss to fnatic.


Thomas: “We never had the momentum [in OT]”
14:03 NER0

HLTV.org managed to get a quick word with Into the Breach‘s Thomas “⁠Thomas⁠” Utting after a nailbiting loss against Natus Vincere.

“I thought we had control of the game in the second half. We got unlucky on a couple [of rounds]. I think it was 14-13 — if we win that round I think we close out the game.”

“To be honest we never had the momentum to get to match point to close it out. They were always fighting back and claiming match points so we were always fighting for the OTs.”


Heartbreak for the UK teams as NAVI and fnatic prevail
13:50 Striker

After two double-overtime matches, the favorites narrowly escaped early losses. fnatic fended off Viperio despite being down 11-14 and up against two match points throughout the match, while Natus Vincere kept Into the Breach at bay after nearly throwing away a 12-4 lead on Inferno.

Promising signs from two out of the three lowest-ranked teams in attendance, but they might come to rue giving up opportunities to take down some of the biggest favorites.


Rare Atom’s coach steps for Kaze in VERTEX match
13:43 Striker

After falling ill Andrew “⁠Kaze⁠” Khong will sit out at least the remainder of the VERTEX match, which has been delayed for over three hours due to technical issues.

Read the full story here.


One overtime is not enough to separate teams in the second round of games
13:39 Striker

Two double overtime games are happening simultaneously! fnatic battle to keep Viperio at bay while Natus Vincere are being pushed by Into the Breach.


The UK fights back
13:08 NER0

Viperio have clawed their way back into the game to take the lead 13-10 against fnatic. The Brits have won nine rounds in a row.

Into the Breach are also fighting back, up to 12-12 against Natus Vincere.


electroNic aces Into the Breach
12:36 NER0

It’s smooth sailing for Natus Vincere so far, up 8-2 against Into the Breach.

Viperio are also under the cosh, down by the same scoreline against fnatic.


B8’s winning moment
12:25 NER0

See the reaction from B8 after taking down MOUZ 16-9.


Viperio and ITB’s RMR journey set to start
12:11 NER0

Rounding out the team list for Group A are Into the Breach and Viperio, meaning that there are seven British players here in Denmark.

Viperio‘s qualification was particularly impressive — they did so without their regular five, with AWPing IGL Tom “⁠arTisT⁠” Clarke saying they were “playing as a mix”.


VP dispatch of SAW
12:07 NER0

Virtus.pro had an easier time than MOUZ, beating SAW 16-9 in a controlled affair.

Russia
Portugal

B8 take down MOUZ in the first upset of the RMRs
11:57 Striker

A slow start from MOUZ as the Ukrainians pick up Ancient with a convincing 16-9 scoreline. Arseniy “⁠cptkurtka023⁠” Derevinskiy‘s ace in a 3v5 proved key in keeping B8 ahead in the first half.

Europe
Ukraine

B8 continue to impress
11:51 NER0

B8 lost the second pistol, but have since extended their 9-3 lead to 14-9. MOUZ are on the edge of going down 0-1 one day one.


The Studio
11:49 NER0

Here’s a look inside the European studio, with eight setups for the eight teams. Permanent setups mean the teams are unlikely to face each other.

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Kaze decides to keep playing
11:45 Striker

Despite feeling unwell, Kaze has decided to keep playing and the match has resumed, only to get paused again over technical issues. If Kaze‘s condition worsens Rare Atom have the option to substitute in their coach, Xielin “⁠k4Mi⁠” Zhu.


Kaze requests medical attention as Asia RMR stalls again
11:35 Striker

The Rare AtomVERTEX match has hit a stall again, this time due to Kaze feeling ill. A doctor has been called in to tend to the 28-year-old.


MOUZ in trouble?
11:28 NER0

B8 have stormed to a 9-3 lead against MOUZ on the T side of Ancient, with the Europeans on a patchy buy in the next.


The Format
11:24 NER0

A lot of you will be familiar with CS:GO’s version of Swiss by now, but for those unaware here is a refresher. This will be used in Europe as well as in the Americas.

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Asia RMR goes live again after server issues
11:11 Striker

After an hour long delay the second match of the Asia RMR is live now between Rare Atom and VERTEX.


EU: First matches go live
11:00 NER0

Virtus.pro are ready to kick off against SAW, whose hearts they broke at the PGL Antwerp RMR twelve months ago.

The other early-starter features MOUZ — who have the 2nd seed thanks to their semi-final run in Rio — against B8, who went 2-3 in the IEM Rio RMR and have not played on LAN since.

Both games will be on Ancient.


The easier group?
10:49 NER0

Group A has four pretty big favourites in FaZe, Natus Vincere, MOUZ, and Virtus.pro. fnatic and OG are the other big names who should expect to qualify, but beyond that the group is wide open.

You can make an argument for nearly any of the next eight teams to qualify, all the way from Bad News Eagles down to SAW.

So who do you think will manage to qualify? Will any of the big names stumble? Put your power ranking in the comments below.


Live from Copenhagen
10:30 NER0

Hello and good morning from the European edition of the BLAST.tv Paris Major qualifiers. Day 1 of Swiss means we will see 16 best-of-ones, ending the day with 4 teams one win away from Paris and another 4 one loss away from elimination.

This group features the Major champions, allowed to play under the Virtus.pro tag once again after playing as Outsiders for the past year.

Read more

ESL and BLAST lift their bans on Virtus.pro

We also have FaZe, Natus Vincere, MOUZ, and plenty more. Competition, as ever, is expected to be fierce for the eight initial Major spots on offer.


Rare Atom vs. VERTEX up next on Ancient
10:25 Striker

The #1 and #5 ranked teams according to the HLTV power ranking are facing next. Winner goes on to face TheMongolz later, loser will play Twisted Minds in the first elimination match.


TheMongolz close it before it gets dangerous
09:52 Striker

Nikola “⁠Lobanjica⁠” Mijomanović asked not to get 16-0’d and his team did a lot better than that, but TheMongolz clinched the first match of the RMR 16-10. Sodbayar “⁠Techno⁠” Munkhbold was the star with 26 kills and a 1v2 clutch that surprised his opponents at the last second:


Twisted Minds recover late in the half
09:28 Striker

It’s 10-5 for TheMongolz heading into the second half after some banana aggression from Twisted Minds got them back into the game.


Server tech issue brings match to a pause at 10-2 for TheMongolz
09:15 Striker

Twisted Minds are falling behind as expected. Fun fact: Lobanjica has dealt over 1,000 damage in 12 rounds so far but only scored 2 kills for his efforts. He has 10 assists.


BLAST showcases a new HUD on the official broadcast
08:50 Striker

Thoughts?


The first match goes live!
08:35 Striker

TheMongolz‘ debut with Chinguun “⁠hasteka⁠” Bayarmaa begins as they take on the Twisted Minds mix-team. Lobanjica seems to have decided playing the Mongolians’ favorite map Inferno is okay.

Garidmagnai “⁠bLitz⁠” Byambasuren & co. lost the four times they have played it regionally, but that was with their coach, Erdenedalai “⁠maaRaa⁠” Bayanbat.


What’s your power ranking for the Asia RMR?
08:15 Striker

HLTV writers put together a power ranking, led by Rare Atom as opposed to the highest-ranked TheMongolz due to their recent switch of Tengis “⁠sk0R⁠” Batjargal for hasteka. How does your power ranking look?

Let us know in the comments.


Pre-match reading
08:00 Striker

Roster turmoil
Other Every sub registered for the RMRs
Mexico Evil Geniuses replace Detonate at Americas RMR
Mongolia Former IHC players revive TheMongolz ahead of RMR
Mexico peacemaker departs TeamOne after two months

Previews
Mexico Three things to know about each team in the Americas
Denmark Three things to know about each team in Europe A
Mongolia Asia RMR viewer’s guide

Go deeper
Mongolia Lobanjica: “We don’t expect to qualify, we didn’t even practice”
Mongolia Vexite: “Having two Australian teams is pretty insane”
Mongolia Techno: “I think it will be tougher in this RMR”
Russia Boombl4’s bid to write a new chapter


30 minutes to action
08:00 Striker

Good morning, afternoon, or night, wherever you are.

We are heading into day one of the 10-day BLAST.tv Paris Major qualifiers, in which 56 teams are about to compete across three different locations for 24 coveted spots at the Major.

Mongolia Asia RMR — Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (April 6-9)
Denmark Europe RMR A — Copenhagen, Denmark (April 6-9)
Mexico Americas RMR — Monterrey, Mexico (April 6-9)
Denmark Europe RMR B — Copenhagen, Denmark (April 11-15)

Action will be running almost around the clock in the first four days of the Asian, European, and American qualifiers, so we’re here to help you stay up to date with our live updated posts. We will run one of these every day and they will serve as one place you can come to catch up with the latest in Mongolia, Denmark, and Mexico. This will include everything from results and match analysis to behind-the-scenes videos from every location, stats, fun facts, curiosities, quotes from the players, and more.

It’s 30 minutes to action in the Asia RMR, where eight teams will battle for two spots, starting with TheMongolz‘ debut under the new banner and with a new player against the mysterious mix-team of Twisted Minds.

Former IHC players revived the TheMongolz brand ahead of the Asia RMR

Just a few hours later the first European tournament will begin, and later tonight it will be time for the Americas side. Sit back and relax, and come back here whenever you want an update from the Major qualifiers.

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