T-side masterclass sends Imperial to Washington
In a BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Americas turned Spring Showdown Brazil, paiN and Imperial battled each other for a spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2023, happening in Washington, D.C., from June 7th to June 11th.
paiN and Imperial had not faced each other since October 2022, and since then both teams managed to evolve their game, making this a very expected series, which turned out to be a very close one as well.
The veto would dictate that Inferno and Mirage would be played, and Nuke was to be played in case things were still tied up after two maps.
Imperial started off on their own pick of Inferno with a statement opening. The Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo-led roster, managed to open the series with five straight rounds. After that, paiN would reply with five round wins in seven possible, in a back-and-forth game. 7-5 in favor of Imperial turned became 8-7 at half time, as paiN would only manage to get two more rounds.
The second half would see a lot more emotion from both sides. It started looking like Imperial would be able to win the map fairly comfortably, but paiN managed to stay in the game. The last few rounds showed Imperial losing a 3v2 situation, winning an eco round immediately after, losing to pistols and armor after that, almost pulling off a 3v5 clutch, and then winning the map because paiN didn't manage to plant the bomb in time, with thousands of a second to end the plant. 16-14 in favor of Imperial would be the final result of Inferno.
Mirage's start was the complete opposite of Inferno's. paiN opened their map pick with five straight rounds, catching fire early on. Imperial managed to put it away immediately with four in a row, before Wesley "hardzao" Lopes put paiN back on track. Back-and-forth for the rest of the half would see yet another 8-7 half in favor of the "home" team.
The second half of Mirage was just a T-side show from FalleN and company. paiN were only able to find a single round during the whole CT-side, as every call was working for Imperial. From bottom-fragging Inferno, to almost top-fragging Mirage, FalleN showed that he is still a force to be reckoned with, alongside Imperial's young gunners. Imperial closed Mirage 16-9 and the series 2-0.
With this win, Imperial are going to Washington, D.C. to play the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2023, joining G2, FaZe, Heroic, NAVI, Vitality, Cloud9, and Astralis.
paiNImperial| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
38 - 37 | +1 | 80.5 | 69.1% | 1.06 |
| Romeu 'zevy' Rocco |
31 - 31 | +0 | 50.6 | 67.3% | 0.93 |
| Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
25 - 33 | -8 | 60.6 | 67.3% | 0.92 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
26 - 37 | -11 | 57.4 | 56.4% | 0.77 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
25 - 42 | -17 | 47.2 | 65.5% | 0.69 |
| Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
44 - 30 | +14 | 90.7 | 78.2% | 1.37 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
33 - 27 | +6 | 59.8 | 78.2% | 1.16 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
30 - 29 | +1 | 57.4 | 87.3% | 1.14 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
34 - 29 | +5 | 85.1 | 76.4% | 1.13 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
38 - 30 | +8 | 67.6 | 76.4% | 1.13 |
