The double-elimination bracket has taken its first victims, thinning down the 16-team tournament by the end of day four.
With big names like Virtus.Pro not making it past the first round, and Legacy not being able to continue their magical form from the BLAST.tv Austin Major, there is much to unpack from the fallen teams of Groups A and B.
Virtus.pro continues their slumber as CYPHER puts on his best performance of 2025
Group A hosted all UK CS representatives, and every single one shall continue in their BLAST Open London journey.
The headline from Group A is Rory “dephh” Jackson’s North American side M80 beating Virtus.pro 2-1, and causing them to make a roster change mere hours after their loss.
After winning map one 13-4, it all went downhill for VP as they couldn’t find an answer to M80’s aggression. Youngster Mason ‘Lake‘ Sanderson dropped a 1.20 HLTV rating, proving too much for Denis “electroNic” Sharipov and co.
It has been a very difficult season for Virtus.pro, as prior to BLAST Open London, the team went out last at FISSURE Playground, 9th-12th in IEM Cologne Stage 1, 5th-8th at the BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals, and 9th-16th at the Esports World Cup. There was that brief spotlight at BLAST Bounty Season 2, in which they made the finals, but overall, it has been very pitiful.
The outcome of these results is the benching of electroNic. It doesn’t come as a surprise that VP would undergo a roster change, but will a change of IGL solve their problems?
For M80, they extend their bootcamp in Sheffield at the Endpoint HQ and need to beat Natus Vincere and the winner of GamerLegion versus FNATIC to qualify for London.
.@cyphercsgo_ showing ECSTATIC how we do it in the UK 💪 pic.twitter.com/5IxTCXRvI6
— 🇬🇧 UKCSGO (@ukcsgo) August 29, 2025
FNATIC had a much smoother time, and the wonderkid Cai “CYPHER” Watson never gave the Danish side ECSTATIC a chance.
The aggressive UK rifler undergoes a lot of scrutiny from pundits and fans alike, as his performance can be, at times, hit or miss. But this was one of those moments when the stars fully aligned for him as he put on an astounding 1.92 HLTV rating performance. The highlight of this was map one, where he went 29-9, ending with a 2.12 HLTV rating, his highest-rated performance in 2025.
Overall, it was a clinical masterclass from FNATIC, all while maintaining the same high standards in Romania at DraculaN. Their next opponent in their lower bracket run will be GamerLegion and Ashley “ash” Battye.
A rough day to be a Brazilian Counter-Strike fan
Imperial had the hard task of being matched up against Liquid in their elimination game. Sure, Liquid have been underperforming greatly, but they still have a star-studded lineup that should, on paper, be competing consistently for Tier-1 trophies.
Felipe “skullz” Medeiros had a phenomenal debut with Imperial against MOUZ, but couldn’t bring that same level into the second series against Liquid.
Moreover, Imperial’s run ended in last place after stumbling on Nuke in both of their deciding maps.
Against MOUZ, the Brazilians collapsed with a 0-8 T side following a respectable 7-5 CT side, and a similar story played out versus Liquid, where they let an 8-4 halftime lead slip away. What could have been a promising debut with Felipe “skullz” Medeiros instead closed on a disappointing note, ending the Liquid series with a 0.88 HLTV rating.
It also doesn’t help when you lose 1v5s to time…
Liquid would still need two wins to qualify for the LAN finals, the first against the loser of Spirit versus Furia, and then the winner of G2 versus FlyQuest.
.@NertzCS wins the 1vs5?! 🤣
What are we watching… #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/xb0t7TeFhS
— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 30, 2025
FlyQuest, who qualified through BLAST Rising Asia, had a difficult start at BLAST Open London after they failed to put up a formidable fight against Spirit. Not letting this bring down their spirits, the Australian squad bounced back against the team that broke Vitality’s win streak.
Despite playing without a proper coach and being forced to use analyst Ricardo “JTR” Júnior, FlyQuest shone on their map pick. Heroic performances in the second half from Declan “Vexite” Portelli and Iulian “regali” Harjău, producing 2.75 and 1.92 CT-side ratings, respectively, saw them go flawless in the second half, securing a 13-8 victory.
This did not deter Legacy, as they battered FlyQuest 13-2 on Nuke, evening up the series.
A chaotic third map perfectly summed up this series, as both sides engaged in an extensive force-buy war that saw no consecutive rounds being won until round seven. Even though FlyQuest came out on top, it was still a 6-6 half.
FlyQuest will go on to play G2 in the next round of the lower bracket, taking one step closer to the playoffs in London.
