GamerLegion coach Ashley “⁠ash⁠” Battye gave us a few words after his side qualified for the Major playoffs: “It feels amazing. It feels like nobody believes in us, that’s the general feeling. Everyone expected us to lose in every game, except for maybe the first one [against Complexity] and it’s great for everyone to see the best we can be. We’re only getting better and better, and we’re proving a lot of people wrong.

On his fruitful relationship with Kamil “⁠siuhy⁠” Szkaradek, ash gave credit to the duo trusting “each other a lot. That’s the main thing we wanted to do when we brought siuhy in was to trust our in-game-leader. With Alfred “⁠RuStY⁠” Karlsson I wasn’t.. I guess I should have given him more trust looking back on that. Now i feel like [siuhy] feels the same trust with me. It’s just working really well.”

A loss in the opening pistol round on Overpass did nothing to deter GamerLegion from trying again as they immediately replied with a force buy to break the CT economy and even out the score. Kamil “⁠siuhy⁠” Szkaradek‘s men are now cruising through the CT side of their map pick, alternating between sites on their way to a 5-1 lead.

Isak “⁠isak⁠” Fahlén is now online after a relatively quiet performance on Ancient and is now leading the line for his team with a 9-2 K-D and 127.1 ADR, truly a great start for the Swede.

It wasn’t a contest. GamerLegion blew Apeks out of the water 16-6 on their own map pick of Ancient to go ahead in the series. To add insult to injury, Kamil “⁠siuhy⁠” Szkaradek closed the map by stabbing Martin “⁠STYKO⁠” Styk in the back in the B site.

Overpass is up next and GamerLegion must be feeling like they already have one step in the playoffs as they sport a six-round winning streak on the map over the likes of ENCE, fnatic, and FORZE.

It was Nico “⁠nicoodoz⁠” Tamjidi who stepped up most as fnatic hit a hammer blow on G2‘s Major hopes on Vertigo. The Dane died just 13 times in 29 rounds, and added 27 kills in that time. He’s been inconsistent at best recently, but G2 could simply not put him away today.

It’s a European derby to close out the fourth round of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Legends Stage!

GamerLegion and Apeks are about to take to the server, with both sides sitting a win away from earning a place in the playoffs of the $1,250,000 spectacle in Paris.

The fixture is also a rematch of the two teams’ meeting at the RMR in Denmark back in April, albeit that bout was a best-of-one match with little (if anything) on the line — certainly not a Major playoff spot. In any case, it was Apeks who prevailed there, and they’ll be looking to repeat that feat in the upcoming best-of-three affair.

“I think we have the edge here,” Justinas “⁠jL⁠” Lekavicius began in a pre-game interview on stream. “Of course if we have a bad then it doesn’t go our way. But I think we got this in the bag. I don’t wanna jinx it, but it’s looking good.”

jL, or jLegend as he wishes to be called, is confident about Apeks‘ chances. How are we feeling at home?

We spoke with Fredrik “⁠roeJ⁠” Jørgensen after fnatic took the huge scalp of eliminating G2 from the Paris Major

“We definitely needed this. Our confidence was low yesterday. We saw ourselves as favorites and now we face a better opponent, a more experienced opponent, and I’m super happy we stepped up and didn’t show the same form we showed because yesterday was not good, our communication was really bad but throughout the whole game today we had good communication, kept our nerves in check… We were here today.

“We have been struggling a lot recently. I don’t think we have been showing our best level, all of us individually and the team in general. We felt a little bit shaky going into the Major but the last two weeks of practice were super super good so we all felt super confident actually.

That’s why it’s a bit sad for us to lose to GamerLegion and Monte because we felt so good and the first game against NIP started out great. I thought it would be like in practice but no, it was a bit rougher. But I’m glad we showed up today and we beat a really good team.”

After a 1.40 rating on map one, Josh “⁠oSee⁠” Ohm delivered in spades on map two as well to put Liquid into playoffs. The AWPer has come under a lot of scrutiny but there will be no complaints on his performance thus far — he has averaged a solid 1.15 rating over both group stages.

We caught a hint of a smile on Keith “⁠NAF⁠” Markovic‘s face as Liquid sealed their playoffs berth. Here’s what he had to say to us:

“Especially being down 0-2 in Challengers and bringing it all the way back to qualify. It’s been a long journey so far but you know, it’s not over yet. Super happy, super pumped to make it to playoffs, even coming through 3-1 so we have an extra day to prep and relax so yeah, it feels good.”

Well, it happened again. G2 lost a round against fnatic‘s Deagles while attacking a site with overwhelming odds. The CTs will welcome this lifeline with open arms as the win allowed them to retake control of the game.

Liquid have their foot on Into the Breach‘s throat now, already on map and series point, 15-9.

The North American roster were cruising to a commanding victory on Anubis, but the British have clinched three in a row now to remain alive.

I doubt they can keep this going, the rounds are close and Liquid only need one lucky spray, round, or timing to wrap the series up.

Rasmus “⁠HooXi⁠” Nielsen‘s men are not letting fnatic run away with the half despite their failure to convert their pistol round victory into a lasting advantage. Fredrik “⁠roeJ⁠” Jørgensen and Freddy “⁠KRIMZ⁠” Johansson have so far been untouchable on the CT side, especially the Dane after some great rounds spent defending the ramp position around the A bombsite. Despite the duo’s best efforts, however, G2 have now cut their deficit to zero and are set to steal the lead on this T side.

Ouch, Into the Breach‘s strong start has been well and truly stumped.

The Britons were 5-1 up early on, but Liquid rallied together to hold the Thomas “⁠Thomas⁠” Utting-led roster to just six rounds at halftime, winning seven on the trot to sit up 9-6 at the interval.

Liquid, much like Overpass, owe their AWPer Josh “⁠oSee⁠” Ohm the vast majority of their thanks. The American sniper just no-scoped Thomas and Michael “⁠Crucial⁠” Bishop, the latter through smoke, to complete his team’s flawless recovery on the CT-side.

He’s sitting atop the scoreboard again, this time on a 17-8 K-D and 102 ADR. He really wants to play in front of the Accor Arena, which would be his first Major playoff appearance ever and the first for Liquid since Berlin in 2019.

G2 somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after their push into the B site was halted by Dion “⁠FASHR⁠” Derksen and his Deagle. The Dutchman defeated two Ts before being silenced just as William “⁠mezii⁠” Merriman pushed with just a FAMAS in his hands, avenging his fallen teammate with two more frags of his own. Ilya “⁠m0NESY⁠” Osipov was the last one standing and it wasn’t long until Nico “⁠nicoodoz⁠” Tamjidi took him down to secure Ancient 16-11 for fnatic.

Justin “⁠jks⁠” Savage‘s heroics were worthy of a 27-19 and a 1.43 rating, but they weren’t enough to keep G2 competitive for long. Vertigo is up next for tournament survival and the outcome of the match is still in the air.

What a play from Justin “⁠jks⁠” Savage! The Aussie rifler planted the bomb on the A site before taking down four fnatic members with the Glock in rapid succession. The quad-kill was more than enough to secure the second pistol round for G2 and reduce fnatic‘s lead to just 9-7.

Liquid will be counting their lucky stars here. The North Americans have barely converted their Overpass pick after a full-length, overtime affair, picking up four of the extra rounds to get the job done, 19-17.

But boy was it close. The Brits, who many had discounted early on in the Legends Stage, had their foot on the gas, but faltered at the final hurdle, and now need to respond on their Anubis pick.

The Egypt-inspired map is a comfortable one for the Britons (60% win rate, 10 outings), but is also one Liquid sport a 100% win rate on recently with three wins from three.

Even NA’s biggest backer, Ryan Friend, is quick to be brutally honest about Liquid‘s performance in the server:

Liquid do need to look more dominant if they wish to make the playoffs and do damage once there.

Justin “⁠jks⁠” Savage did not get the memo about G2‘s 33% win rate on Ancient and decided to take matters into his own hands, taking down nine fnatic members in the first five rounds before a 1vs1 clutch against Freddy “⁠KRIMZ⁠” Johansson.

The offense from William “⁠mezii⁠” Merriman‘s men took some time to get going, but they have now taken the last four rounds to secure a 5-4 scoreline with a fragile CT economy paving the road for more T success.

God, this is close.

We’re going to overtime in the Into the Breach and Liquid brawl.

Both the Brits and Americans will be kicking themselves; it really could have gone either way, and in regulation too. Liquid marched onward to a 13-10 lead, only for Into the Breach to win four in a row en route to 14. A back-and-forth skirmish ensured, and now we’re into extra rounds.

Can the Brits do the unthinkable and best Liquid on their Overpass pick? It’s first to 19 now, let’s find out.

Liquid, who were down 5-10 at the side swap, have taken the lead now they’re on the CT-side, 12-10, but it’s coming at a price.

The rounds have been close and hard-fought, even with a flawless scoreline so far, and it will only take a few key rounds from the UK boys for the Liquid‘s economy to be in the bin.

Josh “⁠oSee⁠” Ohm is the key reason for this North American recovery. The AWPer sits on a 24-13 K-D ratio and 97 ADR; a big step up from the 23-year-old.

Are the inexperienced Brits starting to crumble? Can they take control and steal away Liquid‘s Overpass pick?

G2 had some trouble as usual, but they got it done in the end. Some massive kills by both Nemanja “⁠huNter-⁠” Kovač and Nikola “⁠NiKo⁠” Kovač, alongside the Justin “⁠jks⁠” Savage clutch, were enough for the European combine to take the lead.

From 4-11 to 19-16, zonic’s law was in full effect. Next up is Ancient, where G2 have a less-than-ideal 33% win rate. This one isn’t over just yet.

G2 brought ot back from 4-11 to force out overtime. The final two rounds were utter chaos, as Freddy “⁠KRIMZ⁠” Johansson first hits four on the A site defense to put his team up to 15, before Justin “⁠jks⁠” Savage fought back with a 1vs3.

Into the Breach completely locked down the back end of this half on their CT side, and it was an impressive display that got the job done. They’ve shown a varied approach, throwing in some aggressive setups and some more passive holds, and the individual playmaking has been on point. They have shown some unique ideas too, the boost clipped below one of them!

Liquid at least did get to the absolute bare minimum needed on the T side of Overpass, five rounds, so they have something to work with heading into the second half. Remember this is the NA sides pick.

Christ, Cai “⁠CYPHER⁠” Watson slammed his dick on the table there with a brave push through monster, but it nets an opening kill. I don’t even think he got a supporting flash?! Liquid eventually decide to finish B anyway, but they need a massive 1v3 from Josh “⁠oSee⁠” Ohm to convert the round.

Into the Breach are staying in this though, and Joey “⁠CRUC1AL⁠” Steusel stands tall with a multi-kill to get them on the board. This results in a poor buy followed by a full-save for Liquid, and Into the Breach get themselves back on level terms at 5-5.

Nikola “⁠NiKo⁠” Kovač has found a multi-kill in every round of their T side so far, with G2 once again showing a world-class T side on Inferno. Whether it’s B or A, fnatic are unable to stop the advances from their opponents due to being starved of information.

An apps pop puts G2 one round away, with fnatic on an eco in the next.

A quick B execute comes out for Liquid on their offensive pistol and it works wonder, granting the North Americans a round win. They deal with the resulting force-buy which allows them to stroll out to a 3-0 start.

Into the Breach opt for a very aggressive stance in middle on their first gun round, but they’re smacked down easily. Somehow the Brits make things a little dicey as Liquid move into the A site, but Keith “⁠NAF⁠” Markovic brings home the clutch.

A half-buy comes out in the following for Into the Breach, and Thomas “⁠Thomas⁠” Utting’ Five-Seven makes things very interesting with two kills at short B. Trades come through and Liquid head to A in the 2v2, and Karol “⁠rallen⁠” Rodowicz kills the planter at the right moment to win the round to time. 1-4 now!

The opening half of Inferno has seen more pistol-buy victories than actual gun rounds. fnatic stayed ahead throughout, finding crucial timings on the A site while Rasmus “⁠HooXi⁠” Nielsen and Nikola “⁠NiKo⁠” Kovač were unable to hold down Banana.

The scoreline reads 11-4, with G2 now moving on to their favored T side. “I felt like we looked more like ourselves, we continue to have good T sides, and then when we also start to get the ball rolling on CT, it looks good,” HooXi said yesterday. Let’s see if they have another good offense in them, it’s much needed.

“It is the only NA team, we’re not going to lose to NA, it’s time they go back home.”

“They’re top 10, whatever, we beat FaZe, we beat ENCE, they’re just the next on the list.”

DAMN SON, Sebastian “⁠volt⁠” Malos came with some fire for the pre-match interview. NA fans, how do you feel about that?

Szymon “⁠kRaSnaL⁠” Mrozek found it difficult to put into words just how much qualifying for the Champions stage means: “It’s hard to express my feelings. We started from RMR, Challengers, Legends, now arena. It was my dream to play in an arena and now it will happen. It will be everyone’s first time [in an arena] apart from sdy and lmbt who can’t be with us. I don’t know what to say, I’m proud of what we achieved and we can only do more.”

fnatic meet G2 in an elimination series, with Inferno starting us off. Rasmus “⁠HooXi⁠” Nielsen delivered the pistol round for his team with a triple, but fnatic won the resulting forcebuy and ran away to a 4-1 lead.

“They are getting owned right now.” It’s a simple way to put it, but Chad “⁠SPUNJ⁠” Burchill is absolutely right, Natus Vincere are getting owned, their individuals are missing from the server right now.

Monte got to the point where they were opening every round with an aggressive maneuver and it was working every time, Natus Vincere were scrambling to equalize 20 seconds into every round. Natus Vincere only got the bomb down once their whole offensive effort.

The score ended up at a completely one-sided 13-2. Is there any way Natus Vincere come back???

“Last time we beat them we won the f*cking Major,” says Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen as FaZe survive a mammoth of a match against Bad News Eagles. The match he speaks of, a 16-4 win at PGL Major Antwerp, was not like this one though; the international side were tested at every single turn, and the sheer relief is palpable in their reaction to the win.

For Bad News Eagles it is another tale of impressive maps, even matches, but at the end of the day it is a third failure to reach playoffs. Their win over G2, ultimately, came in vain.

Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool wasn’t lying when he said that FaZe were struggling in the late rounds; FaZe won just two clutches in the series, and one of them came in the 3-16 stomping on Overpass. They also had fewer first kills, though they did have 18-18 and 15-15 records in the last two (successful) maps in this metric.

The only match stat that favors FaZe is the one that matters most: Maps won.

A bit of a telling interview from Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool on the broadcast as the Estonian was looking more relieved than happy about the victory.

“We’re pretty poor at closing out maps recently. We’ve had a lot of huge leads, but when we hit 14, 15, the game gets tight and we just can’t close it out, we make a lot of mistakes in those rounds. We just need to make sure we’re still at 100%.”

“Finally [we beat them]”, Robert “⁠RobbaN⁠” Dahlström told HLTV. “We’ve been playing against them and it’s been close every time, it feels good to come out on top this time. But we’ve got one more game to go until we reach the real tournament, so to speak.”

What a T-side by Bad News Eagles, none of the rounds are even close! It was looking like just a matter of time before FaZe closed out, but they allowed FaZe to get going.

Flatron “⁠juanflatroo⁠” Halimi said that they are the best team in the world when they have momentum, and they are certainly looking like it. If we aren’t in for a repeat for Mirage, Bad News Eagles are in the driver’s seat of eliminating the European combine once again.

We have a few moments thanks to the break between maps, so let’s bring you up to date on the history between Sergiy “⁠DemQQ⁠” Demchenko and Natus Vincere’s coach Andrey “⁠B1ad3⁠” Gorodenskiy.

DemQQ used to play for a team called Akuma, a team that tried to qualify for the Major through the CIS region, back when the region was considered separate from Europe for Major qualification purposes.

Akuma shocked the world at EPIC League CIS 2021, outplacing the likes of Natus Vincere, FORZE and Spirit by taking third place. During that tournament, they crushed Natus Vincere 2-0 in the playoffs.

Their stellar performances brought with them accusations of cheating, not just from B1ad3 but also the wider Counter-Strike community.

“Personally I think they were cheating, 400%,” opined the coach on the HLTV Confirmed podcast after the fact.

If you were DemQQ, how would you feel about facing Natus Vincere again?

It’s rare for a coach to openly accuse another team of cheating

Sergiy “⁠DemQQ⁠” Demchenko is ready to win this map, he smashes through Natus Vincere with a 4k to get his team to match point. Powerful stuff.

Monte do fumble in trying to get the result confirmed, missing a molly in middle in one instance, but Viktor “⁠sdy⁠” Orudzhev comes through with the key entries to put Monte 1-0 up in the series, 16-12 is the final score.

sdy proves his worth to the team that ditched him with a fantastic 27 frags, but DemQQ’s impact is not to be underestimated.

Bad News Eagles look to be back in the game, as six out of seven on the offense means they are now just 9-13 down.

FaZe‘s only success came due to BNE running out of time in a 3vs3, and are otherwise struggling to keep the rounds close as the Kosovar side keeps finding entries on Banana. They still have a bit of a buffer, but four rounds aren’t as comfortable anymore.

Things get a little dicey for Natus Vincere as they let Monte get the bomb down on A equipped with pistols and no armor. Fortunately Denis “⁠electroNic⁠” Sharipov just about gets the retake over the line. Barely.

Just as Natus Vincere are ready to tie the score again, Monte find a weakened B site and batter their way through. The economy has been so fragile for Natus Vincere they have to save, and Monte are looking so comfortable and relaxed on the player cams. They are feeling good here.

Oh dear, Natus Vincere didn’t save they in fact went for a hero-AK, but it got nothing done and now they are really struggling with their money. Monte dispatch of the following half-buy and get to 14.

Andrey “⁠B1ad3⁠” Gorodenskiy opted for back-to-back timeouts here, he feels the pressure.

FaZe 10, Bad News Eagles 2. This is the Grand-Slam-winning FaZe we were expecting, doing confident peeks and hitting their shots as well.

Bad News Eagles are looking shellshocked, with none of their aggressive moves working out. They toned them down in recent rounds, though, but their passive stance isn’t finding much more success. It’s time to find a solution quickly, and Jonatan “⁠Devilwalk⁠” Lundberg just called a timeout.

Monte ran away with the back end of that half for a 10-5 score, largely thanks to Mohammad “⁠BOROS⁠” Malhas coming online after a quiet opening to the map.

Viktor “⁠sdy⁠” Orudzhev has continued his excellent Major by terrorizing his former employers, he racked up 15 kills in that opening half. I wonder if that will get into Natus Vincere’s heads?

After saving face on Mirage, FaZe are back at it on Inferno. A solid 5-0 start has been facilitated by consecutive A attacks, with the favorite side looking on course to lift their BNE curse. It’s a long way to go, however, and FaZe have had some famous chokes on this map before.

Wow this map has kicked off in explosive fashion. Monte grabbed themselves a CT pistol to open their account, but Natus Vincere explode onto B twice in a row, making each round expensive and winning the second.

This leads to a first gun round that is pretty scuffed for both teams. Monte find a pick in middle to open things up, but Natus Vincere manipulate the rotations and manage to work their way onto the A site to tie up the score.

A save ended up coming through for Monte, so Natus Vincere earned a slender 3-2 lead.

Robin “⁠ropz⁠” Kool lets out a sigh of relief as FaZe close out the map in overtime. They struggled to close out after being 14-9 up and just as it looked that Bad News Eagles were set to eliminate them once again, they closed it out.

Inferno is up next —a solid middle ground for both teams. With FaZe having some new roles, such as Russel “⁠Twistzz⁠” Van Dulken moving over to the B site, we will see if the team is more comfortable on the map than in their opening two losses in the Legends Stage.

FaZe lost six in a row but won the final round of the half to force out overtime with a B attack. After a chaotic display we start from the beginning, 15-15.

Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen needs to pull out some great calls to take over the final rounds, Bad News Eagles won’t give up easy. Are we going the distance?

FaZe were up 14-9 up, but Bad News Eagles are not giving up. Four in a row puts the Kosovar side within one round of their opponents, who are forced down to an eco.

Screams are coming out of the BNE camp with their energy seems to be back. Let’s see if FaZe can weather the storm, they are up against it now.

Okay maybe we are going to get a proper series out of this. Ninjas in Pyjamas have allowed ENCE back into this game with some awkward mid-round moves, overcomplicating things when they probably would have done better just grouping and hitting a site.

This has granted ENCE a strong economic foundation, and they have now clawed their way back to 10-14.

Maybe a slight sign of life for ENCE?

They managed to repel a B attack from Ninjas in Pyjamas, the Ninjas overthought things a little when they seemed to have read the B stack, only to eventually walk into it. This wrecked Ninjas in Pyjamas’s economy and allowed ENCE to get up to six rounds.

FaZe won the second-half pistol but lost the resulting forcebuy, allowing Bad News Eagles to reduce the deficit to just one. With the momentum swinging back into BNE’s favor, FaZe won the much-needed gun round to go back up 11-9. Their work is far from done, though.

Both teams have a full buy in the next, meaning it is a crucial round for Bad News Eagles if they want to stay in the running for the map.

ENCE have slumped to a pitiful 3-12 T half on Ancient.

Pavle “⁠Maden⁠” Bošković did provide a clean 2k entry to get ENCE a second on the board, and they scrabbled together a third, but this is probably nowhere near enough of a T side return to have a realistic chance of winning the map.

There is still a glimmer of hope for ENCE, Ancient is not a great map for Ninjas in Pyjamas so they will have to prove they have what it takes to get things over the line on their offensive half.

If you were spamming the classic “When are FaZe playing?” memes, the answer is the fourth round of Mirage. Since losing the pistol and going down 0-3, they have looked revitalized as their individuals are finally showing up.

The game is a chaotic affair, with multi-kills, knives, and a lot of AWP kills making this an enjoyable one to watch. FaZe are currently three rounds up at 7-4, but it’s all to play for.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are running away with this, it seems the Nordic side can do no wrong right now. Their aggressive defensive openings have netted them kills, the utility has been on point, and they are finding the right information pushes every mid-round.

It took Marco “⁠Snappi⁠” Pfeiffer rushing cave with a Mac-10 to get ENCE on the board, the sheer pace and audacity catching Ninjas in Pyjamas with their pants down.

ENCE return to a B rush in the following, but Ninjas in Pyjamas are ready for it this time and they mow down the push before it makes any headway into the site. 7-1 is the score, ENCE are on the brink here.

We have moved on to ENCE’s pick of Ancient, but the European combine have lost the first round on their T side. A slow default finished with an A hit, but Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to push through the retake.

ENCE opted to force and Paweł “⁠dycha⁠” Dycha found a nice timing rushing into doughnut, which allowed ENCE to get out onto A, but they couldn’t convert with Fredrik “⁠REZ⁠” Sterner and Ludvig “⁠Brollan⁠” Brolin combining to repel the assault. Ninjas in Pyjamas then deal with ENCE’s eco round to go 3-0 up.

Once again ENCE go for an up-tempo opening move which grants them a one for one trade in A main. ENCE then slow the round down but little do they know that Brollan has pushed B lane, which allows Ninjas in Pyjamas to rotate into the right setup and stop ENCE cold. 4-0 now for the Ninjas.

Bad News Eagles‘ pick and a map where all of their individuals played approximately a million matches in FPL, FaZe are up against it from the start.

Despite all of that, FaZe already equaled the number of rounds they won on Overpass, as the scoreline stands at 3-3. Bad News Eagles exploited the B site in the opening few rounds, but the European combine has stabilized and built up a decent economy going forward.

Ninjas in Pyjamas very swiftly and confidently have closed this map out 16-7.

A relatively closely fought first-half gave way to a pitiful ENCE T side, the European combine simply got nothing done on their offense. It felt like they weren’t individually up to the level of Ninjas in Pyjamas, they lost duels all over the place.

Daniil “⁠headtr1ck⁠” Valitov deserves credit for his raw output, it wasn’t spectacular in general but he produced numbers.

Ancient up next, which feels a better map for ENCE, but they were so meek in the second half of Mirage that they will need to pick up their mentality before the second map.

headtr1ck had yet another good map

That was fast. 12-3 on the offense for Bad News Eagles was a very impressive start to Overpass before a whiff by Helvijs “⁠broky⁠” Saukants on a stationary player cost FaZe a pistol round.

That was the final nail in the coffin as FaZe went 0-1 down without having a chance in the game, losing 3-16 as the series moves on to Mirage.

FaZe will hope to forget about the opening map, and given their smiley reaction after the loss, they might just do it. They need to wake up quickly, though.

Oh dear, ENCE had the chance to extend their lead thanks to finding two free picks at the top of middle for a 5v3. They flop it badly as Ninjas in Pyjamas crunch the A site and tie the scores back up. ENCE got a little bit too loose in the mid-round and were punished for it.

An incredibly slow default comes out from Ninjas in Pyjamas in the following, and they slowly pick apart ENCE to retake the lead.

Another aggro mid push grants ENCE another 5v3 advantage, and this time they keep things locked down to win the round.

The final round of the half ends on the A site, and ENCE can’t push through the retake as Aleksi “⁠Aleksib⁠” Virolainen picks up a 4k.

It’s 8-7 in Ninjas in Pyjamas’s favor, and as the score suggests it was a very evenly matched first half.

Bad News Eagles 10, FaZe 2. Since their eco-round win, the Kosovar side won eight in a row by hitting some crisp shots. Just look at their AWP run boost to help Genc “⁠gxx-⁠” Kolgeci peek short.

On the other side of the server, FaZe are yet to get going. They have just five multi-kills in the 12 rounds across the entire team — a complete absence of fragging. You hate to see it, but Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen is also sitting on a 0-10 KD and 16 ADR.

A resurgence needs to come soon, or we are in for a repeat of the Rio Major.

Just when it seemed Ninjas in Pyjamas were going to run away with things on their offence, an aggressive approach to holding the A site pays off for ENCE as they catch the Ninjas off guard.

A slow default from the offense ensues in the next and both teams take individual duels, things eventually settling into a 2v3 that Ninjas in Pyjamas can’t get over the line on the B site. This breaks the Ninja’s economy and allows ENCE to get to 4-5.

ENCE are starting to feel themselves now and it shows in the following, some aggressive swings in the mid-round helping to put Ninjas in Pyjamas in the dirt and tie up the scores. Ninjas in Pyjamas are forced into another eco but they get nothing done, surrendering the lead for the first time.

Bad News Eagles won the pistol round and have stayed ahead thanks to an eco round win, during which Genc “⁠gxx-⁠” Kolgeci got a double kill with 1hp and a USP-S against a full buy to keep his team ahead.

The Kosovar side are currently 5-2 up, and FaZe no doubt have their previous matches against them in the back of their minds.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are taking on ENCE to kick off the A stream today. This is an elimination series, the loser is heading home from the BLAST Paris Major.

Mirage will be the first field of battle, Ninjas in Pyjamas have opted for this map, and the Nordic squad will be starting on the T side.

This series smells of either an ENCE 2-0 or a three-mapper. Mirage is a pretty solid map for both sides, albeit with Ninjas in Pyjamas holding a small edge, as is the decider of Vertigo. ENCE are heavily favored on Ancient, however, and so Aleksi “⁠Aleksib⁠” Virolainen and co. really do need to win Mirage to have a realistic chance in this series.

Predictions? The odds have this sitting pretty comfortably in ENCE’s favor.

NertZ is one of the Major’s stand-out performers

FaZe and Bad News Eagles have a surprisingly big amount of history between them considering the gap in the teams. Bad News Eagles got the better of the European combine the last two times they met, eliminating FaZe at the IEM Rio Major and the Paris RMRs, where Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen had to fight through the LCQ after failing to beat the Kosovar side in the 2-1 match.

“If we want to win this game we need to go for it, swing a bit more,” said Robert “⁠RobbaN⁠” Dahlström about their playstyle. “You saw it yesterday on Anubis CT side.”

Many are looking for the scenario where all of the big names can make it to the playoffs tomorrow. All of the current top ten teams still in the fight — Natus Vincere, Liquid, G2, FaZe, and ENCE — can make it if they all win their matches today and Apeks beat GamerLegion.

These would be the results where it would happen, courtesy of ieb’s simulator website (check it out and play around with the results to see how the final round would look in other scenarios):

Day three of the Paris Major Legends Stage begins with more elimination and qualification matches awaiting.

Yesterday, the favorites were mostly back in the driving seat as Vitality and Heroic were the first to secure playoffs spots while FaZe and G2 survived elimination matches. Not all of them made it through the day unscathed, though, as Into the Breach felled ENCE in the final round of best-of-ones to send Marco “⁠Snappi⁠” Pfeiffer‘s team to the elimination zone.

If you missed the action, check out our day two recap featuring the biggest stories, our player of the day, and the best highlights of the day

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The biggest stories and plays from day two of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Legends Stage

What are your predictions for day three?

Day three schedule

1-2 pool (BO3) – losers eliminated from the Paris Major

2-1 pool (BO3) – winners advance to Champions Stage