SAW beat Movistar Riders to book BLAST Premier Spring Showdown spot

The Portuguese squad prevailed in the Iberian qualifier after tough matches against OFFSET and Movistar Riders.

SAW have booked a spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, joining the likes of Astralis, Gambit, and Liquid, with a 2-1 victory over Movistar Riders in the grand final of the LVP Unity Spring Cup, a qualifier for teams based in the Iberian Peninsula.

One of the two teams invited to the tournament, SAW reached the grand final after dispatching Case and FTW in the group stage, and then edging past Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco's OFFSET in a three-map thriller that culminated in an overtime game on the decider map.

JUST powered SAW to victory with a great performance on Vertigo

SAW were leading 14-9 on Inferno when Movistar Riders came alive and managed to force overtime. The international team looked set to win the map, but Omar "⁠arki⁠" Chakkor saved SAW from the jaws of defeat with a 1v2 clutch. With momentum behind them, the Portuguese side came out victorious in the second overtime, with Renato "⁠stadodo⁠" Gonçalves finishing the game with 45 kills to his name.

Movistar Riders hit back on Inferno - where team captain Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes posted a 1.40 rating - after another overtime affair, but a reverse sweep proved to be beyond them as SAW ran out comfortable winners on Vertigo in a game that they controlled from the start and that was decorated by an imperious display from Tiago "⁠JUST⁠" Moura (1.99 rating, 125 ADR).

LVP Unity Spring Cup 2021 - BLAST Premier QualifierBest of 3 Movistar RidersMatchpage 1 2 24th March 2021 SAW 20Inferno 22 19Mirage 17 5Vertigo 16

Movistar Riders	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Canomopoz	69 - 70	-1	78.2	1.02
Kristjan 'shokz' Jakobsonshokz	57 - 62	-5	71.3	1.02
Alejandro 'alex' Masanetalex	62 - 72	-10	78.3	0.96
Lucas 'steel' Lopessteel	66 - 68	-2	65.6	0.95
Owen 'smooya' Butterfieldsmooya	58 - 68	-10	61.5	0.83

SAW	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Renato 'stadodo' Gonçalvesstadodo	81 - 61	+20	80.5	1.23
Tiago 'JUST' MouraJUST	74 - 64	+10	74.9	1.18
Christopher 'MUTiRiS' FernandesMUTiRiS	74 - 68	+6	82.1	1.14
Ricardo 'roman' Oliveiraroman	59 - 61	-2	66.1	1.03
Omar 'arki' Chakkorarki	51 - 60	-9	65.3	1.03

The BLAST Premier Spring Showdown will take place from April 13-16 and will have $162,500 on offer in addition to two spots in the $425,000 Spring Finals, scheduled for June 15-20.

With three qualifying spots still up for grabs, the team list for the Showdown tournament currently looks as follows:

Astralis
Liquid
Vitality
HEROIC
Gambit
Spirit
SAW
Fantasyexpo CupG2
OG
MIBR
FURIA
NASR
9z
VENN Invitational
Nordic MastersMIBR #31 Ricardo 'boltz' PrassGustavo 'yel' KnittelMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesBruno 'shz' MartinelliDaniel 'danoco' Morgado OG #20 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski Omar 'arki' Chakkor Age: 31 Team: SAW Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 622 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.67 Case #130 Paulo 'land1n' FelipeDenis 'dzt' FischerFelipe 'delboNi' DelboniYan 'yepz' PedrettiVinicius 'n1ssim' Pereira 9z #88 Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda LimaMaximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaMartin 'rox' MolinaSantino 'try' Rigal Renato 'stadodo' Gonçalves Age: 24 Team: SAW Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 476 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.65 G2 #13 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Tiago 'JUST' Moura Age: 24 Team: SAW Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 575 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.65 Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Liquid #5 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince Spirit #6 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev NASR #120 Abd-Alrahman 'REAL1ZE' ArabiatAtif 'gejmzilla' MustafaBebu 'Bibu' AadilArbnor 'Dementor' PacolliMohammad 'BOROS' Malhas Vitality #7 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier FTW Daniel 'NABOWOW' BritoClaudio 'Cunha' CunhaDiogo 'JAEPE' Fernandes João 'story' VieiraDiogo 'Icarus' Cruz HEROIC #11 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Ricardo 'fox' Pacheco Age: 34 Team: OFFSET Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 974 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68 Gambit #3 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Lucas 'steel' Lopes Age: 27 Team: Movistar Riders Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 1307 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.67 FURIA #10 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoPaytyn 'junior' JohnsonKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato SAW #30 Omar 'arki' ChakkorChristopher 'MUTiRiS' FernandesRicardo 'roman' OliveiraTiago 'JUST' MouraRenato 'stadodo' Gonçalves Movistar Riders #35 Lucas 'steel' LopesAlejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoOwen 'smooya' ButterfieldKristjan 'shokz' Jakobson OFFSET #113 Ricardo 'fox' PachecoRui 'RIZZZ' LimaPaulo 'pr' SilvaFilipe 'NOPEEJ' DiasBruno 'shellzi' Teixeira