The CIS matchup went all three maps, with Virtus.pro eliminating Spirit from the tournament after a 2-1 victory.

The two best teams from the CIS regions aside from Natus Vincere crossed paths in the first match of the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown single-elimination bracket, where Virtus.pro bounced back from a disappointing Mirage to take the win on Train and Inferno.

Looking at the first three halves of play, Spirit seemed in control, with Artem "⁠iDISBALANCE⁠" Egorov and Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov pushing their team forward, but Virtus.pro managed to win key rounds on the T side of Train, thanks to clutches from Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov, turn around the map, and seal the deal comfortably on Inferno.

Virtus.pro's next opponent will be a South American squad, the winner of FURIA - Isurus, with Liquid, MIBR, and FaZe also on their side of the bracket. Two more victories are needed for the CIS squad to earn a spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, where the likes of G2 and Vitality await.

Clutches from buster turned the tides of Train

Mirage started as was expected from a derby, with rounds traded back and forth and neither team being able to pull ahead early. That changed as the score was 5-4, as iDISBALANCE's double-kill held back Virtus.pro's B push, with Spirit's AWPer going on the roll after that.

Spirit ended the half 9-6 up, and following Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev denying Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's clutch attempt on the pistol, bounced back with a force buy, not looking back. Virtus.pro picked up sporadic rounds, but after being down 13-8, losing a 2v3 and 2v5 back-to-back spelled the end of Mirage, 16-9 in favor of Spirit.

Virtus.pro scooped up the pistol on Train and went up 3-0, but Spirit proceeded to run riot on the T side again to claw back on their map pick. The score was 5-3 when multikills from Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev and Jame to hold B got Virtus.pro rolling again, with that duo leading the fragging at half time for a 9-6 lead.

After the switch, Spirit looked good to run it back, chaining four in a row to make it 10-9. However, two clutches from buster and one from Jame enabled Virtus.pro to go on a seven-round streak and take Train 16-10, forcing the decider - Inferno.

Dominance from Virtus.pro kicked off Inferno as Spirit seemingly lost all confidence after Train. SANJI came alive to push his team 8-0 up before Spirit chained four on the offense to keep things competitive at 10-5 for the half. Unfortunately for chopper and co., they never got going on the defense and Virtus.pro sealed the deal, 16-8, to advance to the quarter-finals.

BLAST Premier Fall 2020 ShowdownBest of 3 SpiritMatchpage 1 2 24th November 2020 Virtus.pro 16Mirage 9 10Train 16 8Inferno 16

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Artem 'iDISBALANCE' EgoroviDISBALANCE	60 - 48	+12	84.7	1.24
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	56 - 52	+4	77.0	1.14
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	51 - 52	-1	75.3	1.11
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	45 - 46	-1	72.2	0.98
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	40 - 49	-9	55.2	0.85

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	60 - 47	+13	73.5	1.13
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	51 - 49	+2	79.8	1.11
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	51 - 54	-3	73.5	1.03
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	48 - 52	-4	75.1	1.02
Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievSANJI	36 - 51	-15	56.3	0.77

Artem 'iDISBALANCE' Egorov Age: 23 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 567 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 Isurus #90 Nicolás 'Noktse' DávilaRoberto 'reversive' ThemthamJonathan 'JonY BoY' MuñozCaike 'caike' CostaMarcos 'deco' Amato Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 23 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 832 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 551 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.67 Timur 'buster' Tulepov Age: 20 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 981 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.62 Liquid #14 Keith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenMichael 'Grim' Wince Virtus.pro #15 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Spirit #16 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 897 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.55 Natus Vincere #3 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Vitality #1 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov Age: 24 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 791 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 FaZe #9 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 977 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 MIBR #29 Vito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeLucas 'LUCAS1' TelesAlencar 'trk' RossatoLeonardo 'leo_drk' OliveiraVinicius 'vsm' Moreira FURIA #8 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato G2 #7 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubNemanja 'nexa' Isaković