MAD Lions and idle Ninjas in Pyjamas claimed double byes in the playoffs as group play at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown European Event concluded Thursday.

MAD Lions drew 15-15 with mousesports to win Group B by one point. NiP did not play Thursday but took the top spot in Group A via tiebreaker over ENCE. The group winners are each now one victory away from a berth in the eight-team BLAST Premier Spring European Finals.

In Group A action Thursday, ENCE survived Astralis 16-13, and sAw downed Team Vitality 16-11. Astralis and Vitality reached the quarterfinals, with ENCE getting a single bye to the semifinals. Despite their win, sAw were eliminated.

In Group B play, mousesports followed their draw against MAD Lions with a 16-14 loss to Virtus.pro, but they still reached the quarterfinals. Fnatic dispatched Dignitas 16-9 in the final match, clinching a bye to a semifinal spot and leaving Dignitas in the quarterfinals via tiebreaker over Virtus.pro.

Friday's quarterfinals will open with Vitality against Dignitas, to be followed by mousesports against Astralis. On Saturday, the winner of the first match will face Fnatic, and the victor of the second will face ENCE. NiP and MAD Lions await the victors of the Fnatic and ENCE matches, respectively, on Sunday.

The Spring Showdown European event began with two five-team groups for round-robin play. All group games consisted of a single map, with three points awarded for a win and one for a tie. Standings determined seeding for two playoff brackets.

The winners of the two playoff finals will each earn $37,500 and a berth in the eight-team, $500,000 BLAST Premier Spring European Finals. The two Sunday losers will meet June 15, with the winner earning a third spot in the Spring European Finals, scheduled for June 16-21.

Five teams already earned spots in the Spring European Finals based on their results in the Jan. 31-Feb. 16 regular season: FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports, Complexity Gaming and OG.

The top two teams at the Spring European Finals will earn berths in the eight-team, $1.5 million BLAST Premier Global Final, set for Jan. 18-24, 2021, at a site to be determined. The Global Final will also include the winners of the American Spring Finals, the Fall Finals and the ESL One Rio Major as well as the top three teams from the BLAST Premier Circuit.

BLAST Premier Spring Showdown - Europe final standings with win-loss-tie record, standings points and game points differential

Group A

1. Ninjas in Pyjamas, 2-0-2, 8 points, plus-18

2. ENCE, 2-0-2, 8 points, plus-5

3. Team Vitality, 1-1-2, 5 points, plus-5

4. Astralis, 1-3-0, 3 points, minus-10

5. sAw, 1-3-0, 3 points, minus-18

Group B

1. MAD Lions, 3-0-1, 10 points, plus-26

2. Fnatic, 3-1-0, 9 points, plus-12

3. mousesports, 1-2-1, 4 points, plus-2

4. Dignitas, 1-3-0, 3 points, minus-16

5. Virtus.pro, 1-3-0, 3 points, minus-24

--Field Level Media