Off the back of the recent IEM Dallas, this year's Counter Strike: Global Offensive campaign continues with the BLAST Premier Spring Finals this week.

Teams have jetted into Washington for the S-Tier event, which has a prize pool of $425,000 and features some of the best teams from across the globe. 

Only eight teams are involved at the prestigious tournament and the overall winners will not only secure $200,000 in prize money but will also earn their spot at the BLAST Premier World Final at the end of the year. 

The latest BLAST Premier event of 2023 begins with a group stage featuring two double-elimination groups before moving to the single-elimination bracket playoffs. 

On Thursday, Groups A and B are set to reach their conclusions.

Imperial look to build on shock win over Vitality

Group A at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals was set to be all about Team Vitality. 

They came into the S-Tier event in red-hot form this year, having won both the IEM Rio and the BLAST Paris Major and they even tried to keep themselves fresh for this event by sitting out the IEM Dallas. 

But in their opener, they sustained a shock defeat to Imperial Esports, who prevailed 16-3 on Overpass and 16-14 on Vertigo to record a clean sweep victory. 

That raised plenty of eyebrows and means Imperial will now feature in the Group A winners match against G2 Esports, knowing another big win would see them advance directly to the semi-finals in the playoffs. 

According to the odds that is beyond them with Imperial +450 to beat G2, who are one of the more established outfits on the CS:GO circuit having won the BLAST Premier World Final last year. 

They also won the IEM Katowice in February but since then G2 Esports have gone quiet and they crashed out at the quarter-final stage at the IEM Dallas. 

They are the more experienced of these two teams but are not at the peak of their powers right now and a bet on over 2.5 maps could be the better way to play this at +150.

Astralis can ease past Complexity

Switching attention to Group B at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals and it is Astralis and Complexity who will do battle in the section's elimination match. 

The loser of this contest will be out of the event and Astralis are -500 favourites to get the job done and reach the playoffs. 

That price seems fair enough given they are eight places better off than their opponents in the HLTV world CS:GO rankings and they should not be judged too harshly for their opening loss in Group B which came against a strong FaZe Clan outfit. 

Complexity, meanwhile, lost to a similarly established Heroic outfit but have looked weaker on the CS:GO circuit recently with Astralis having at least finished as runners-up in the Brazy Party and performed well in recent qualifying campaigns.

 A 2-0 win for Astralis could be worthwhile at -120.

Heroic can topple big guns FaZe Clan

There is a mouthwatering winners match on the cards in Group B at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals with FaZe Clan up against Heroic. 

These are two of the biggest teams in the world of CS:GO right now with Heroic second and FaZe third in the HLTV world rankings and this is a straight shootout to make the semi-finals. 

Not a lot has separated the sides in this event with both winning their opening matches 2-0 against Complexity and Astralis comfortably. 

And while both are regularly in the mix for titles, it is Heroic who have been the more consistent side throughout 2023, having finished second at the IEM Rio and made the 3rd-4th positions at the BLAST Paris Major and IEM Dallas since then. 

They are marginal favourites to win this at -175 but the better bet could be a Heroic win by a 2-1 scoreline at the enticing price of +240.

bet365 News Team

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