It is a crucial weekend on the Counter Strike: Global Offensive calendar with the BLAST Premier Spring Finals 2023 reaching their conclusion over the next couple of days.

The BLAST Premier Spring Finals are an S-Tier event taking place at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington DC and the prestigious tournament began with only eight teams in contention. 

The teams were then split across two double-elimination groups with three from each progressing to the knockout stage, which has already begun. 

In the quarter-finals, Team Vitality beat FaZe Clan 2-0, while Imperial Esports defeated Complexity Gaming by the same scoreline. 

As a result, both teams are through to the semi-finals with Team Vitality up against G2 Esports and Imperial Esports facing Heroic. 

The semi-finals take place on Saturday with the Grand Final on Sunday and the overall winners of the event will take home $200,000 in prize money and secure a spot at the BLAST Premier World Final. 

Imperial can put up a fight against juggernauts Heroic

Heroic have been one of the most consistent forces on the CS:GO circuit this year and once again they find themselves a game away from the Grand Final of an S-Tier event. 

Currently second in the HLTV world CS:GO rankings, Heroic eased to top spot in Group B of the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, winning both of their matches against Complexity Gaming and FaZe Clan by 2-0 scorelines. 

That put them directly into the semi-finals of the playoffs and follows on from some recently strong tournament performances. 

Indeed, Heroic finished second at the IEM Rio in April before placing in the 3rd-4th positions at both the BLAST Paris Major and the IEM Dallas in the last couple of months. 

They look right at home in the semi-finals of this competition and are -700 to win their clash with Imperial Esports, who are +400 shots to prevail. 

But while Heroic are undoubtedly the strongest of the two teams - their opponents are down in 33rd spot in the HLTV world rankings - Imperial Esports could put up a fight. 

They came into this event in fine form, fresh from having won the ESL Brazil Premier League Season 14, and defied expectations in Group A, beating world number one outfit Team Vitality 2-0 before pushing G2 Esports close in a 2-1 defeat. 

They then cruised past Complexity in the quarter-finals, winning 16-14 on Vertigo and 16-6 on Overpass, and they are worth a bet at +10.5 on the rounds handicap at -110.

Vitality can show their class in crunch class with G2 Esports

An opening defeat to Imperial Esports was not the ideal way for Team Vitality to start their BLAST Premier Spring Finals campaign but they have swiftly responded to book their place in the event's semi-finals. 

Vitality took down Cloud9 2-0 in their other group fixture, setting up a crunch quarter-final clash with FaZe Clan. 

But they also rose to the occasion in that contest, again winning 2-0 following a 19-17 win on Anubis and a 16-8 win on Mirage. 

That suggests their opening loss was a mere blip and it is no surprise to see them rated -150 favourites to win their semi-final against +110 G2 Esports. 

Like Vitality, G2 Esports are regarded as one of the biggest teams in the world of CS:GO and are currently fifth in the HLTV world rankings. 

G2 reached this stage of the tournament thanks to wins over Cloud9 and Imperial Esports in the group stage but beating Vitality could be a bridge too far. 

Since winning the IEM Katowice in February, G2 Esports have not really done a lot on the CS:GO circuit, whereas Team Vitality are fresh from winning both the IEM Rio in April and the BLAST Paris Major in May. 

They remain one of the teams to beat on the CS:GO tour and are worth chancing to win this crunch encounter.

bet365 News Team

• Esports
• • 
  •