Blast Premier Spring Series 2020, Mouz Honors Kobe Bryant, More – CS:GO Recap 2/3/2020

It’s one thing to beat Team Liquid once in a tournament, especially in a 2-0, but it’s entirely different to do it twice, especially when your team isn’t named Astralis. At Blast Premier Spring Series 2020, FaZe Clan took it to Liquid in two thrashing series.

While their first match-up in the Group A Upper Bracket Finals started close with a 16-12 nail biter that included a 3k by Stewie on a retake and a 1v4 for FaZe’s Coldzera, things quickly went south. In map two for Liquid, FaZe roared forward to a 16-5 victory on Inferno to advance to the Group A Grand Final and knock Liquid down into the lower bracket.

Liquid came back around to face off again against FaZe at the top. However, they fell flat on their face over the two maps of Mirage and Dust2. While Mirage was a bit better with only a 9-16 loss for Liquid, the team got humiliated in Game 2 when they lost 2-16.

Those aren’t the sort of scores you expect out of a top team like Liquid, especially considering all the struggles FaZe had lately. Hopefully, it was just an off day for the squad and not signs of something more serious.

MIBR and ENCE Continue to Struggle

While FaZe was giving a beatdown to Liquid in the Grand Final, MIBR and ENCE struggled at Blast Premier Spring Series 2020 and ICE Challenger 2020. Both teams faced major struggles since major changes to their roster, replacing Coldzera and Aleksib, respectively.

MIBR players were outraged when Semmler made harsh comments about their performance. They swore they were putting in the effort and training to get back to the top. While the team managed to take Liquid to double overtime on Vertigo and grab a map off NiP in the lower bracket, they still didn’t advance past the first round of the tournament. They came in last. However, to give them credit, they did play against two top 12 teams.

ENCE, on the other hand, had no excuse in their embarrassing exit from ICE. In their first opening match against OG, they got knocked out of the tournament by Godsent. Losing to OG isn’t surprising. The team is a highly-skilled unit ranked well below where they should be on HLTV due to being a newly formed org. ENCE said they were getting better ever since SunNy joined the roster but losing 7-16 and 4-16 against a lower caliber team doesn’t scream improvement.

Props to Godsent for stepping up to the occasion and punching above their weight. Even madder props to Aleksib getting more revenge on his old roster. If ENCE doesn’t change things soon, they’re not going to be in the top 20 much longer, let alone the top 30.

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe Everywhere

While the esports world was busy getting into the 2020 season, the rest of the world spent the week mourning the loss of one of the greatest players in traditional sports. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant passed away, along with eight others, in a tragic helicopter crash on January 26.

His impact was felt far and wide for all the positivity and hope he inspired. He gave a whole generation of aspiring athletes the courage to reach for the stars and achieve greatness.

While he was never really involved in esports, many teams and orgs honored his memory. Mousesports players wore jerseys with Kobe’s name and #24 on them. At the same time, Thorin gave a rousing speech for players to give it all they have in tournaments as Kobe did in his career. He called on them to not make excuses for their struggles and just put in the effort to be great.

It was touching to see all these groups honor the memory of someone not even involved with the industry in such a manner. Hopefully, Kobe’s work ethic and message inspired not only athletes but esports pros as well.

That’s all we have for today, thanks for reading. We’ll see you next time for more exciting CS:GO news, so stay tuned!