Back in January 2024, BLAST Premier Spring Groups served up a group C thriller that still gets CS2 fans talking in 2026: NAVI versus G2, with a grand final spot and a place in the Spring Final on the line. Both squads rolled into the matchup after wins the previous day. NAVI had taken down Complexity in their opener, while G2 had handled NIP with relatively little drama. G2’s new coach, Wiktor 'TAZ' Wojtas, had told BLAST before the game that he expected his team to win the group and that he expected nothing less. Spoiler alert: the Counter-Strike gods had other plans. 😅

The veto set the table: NAVI picked Overpass, G2 picked Inferno, and Anubis was left as the decider. On paper, it looked like a tasty clash of styles; on the server, it became a proper nail-biter. For a regular player watching from the couch, this was the kind of series that makes you forget your own ranked queue and just enjoy the show. 🍿

Overpass: Desert Eagle fireworks

Overpass opened with fireworks. G2’s star duo Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov and Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač were locked in, but NAVI’s young Ukrainian pairing of Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov and Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy answered punch for punch. m0NESY was a menace with the Desert Eagle; in the second-round force, he deleted three opponents by himself. Later he stacked three headshots with the same pistol, and he finished the map with 25 kills, matching NiKo’s big performance. For the average CS2 fan, it was the kind of display that makes you alt-tab and check if your own aim is broken. 😂

After the halves produced a 7-5 split in each direction, the map went to overtime. G2 failed to score in the extra rounds, and NAVI closed Overpass 16-12. b1t sealed the map with a post-plant hold, showing silky AK spray control to take down three opponents. That was the first statement of the series, and it landed with a bang.

Inferno: G2’s comfort zone

Inferno was a different story. G2’s strong record on the map held up, and they jumped to an 8-4 lead in the first half. NAVI clawed back to 9-9, but G2 found another gear and closed it 13-10. w0nderful and m0NESY were again the standout names, trading important kills in the victorious rounds. It was classic G2 comfort-zone Counter-Strike: not always pretty, but effective enough to force a decider. With the series tied at 1-1, Anubis became the final battleground.

Anubis: iM’s ice-cold close

On Anubis, NAVI started on the T side and built a 7-5 lead in the first half. G2 won the second-half pistol and tied things up. G2 then turned the screws after moving to the T side, with NiKo delivering two clutches. First, he postponed a defuse just long enough to make iM’s life miserable in the pistol; then he came up big in the post-plant during NAVI’s first buy round. For a moment, it looked like G2 had all the momentum and NAVI might be on tilt.

NAVI were having none of it. They steadied the ship, retook the lead, and closed the map and series 13-9. The headline belonged to Mihai 'iM' Ivan, who finished Anubis with a 24/8 KD. His biggest moment came in the 10-9 round: a 1v3 where he protected the bomb from being planted and completely flipped the pace of the game. BLAST’s social team summed it up perfectly: 'he is hiM.' 🤯

The win sent NAVI into the group C grand final, one step closer to the Spring Final, while G2 were left to regroup despite TAZ’s pre-match confidence. It was a proper big-dawgs performance from NAVI, and a reminder that in CS2, clutch rounds are often won before the trigger is pulled.

Key performers and lineups

Why it still lands in 2026

Two years on, the series is a neat time capsule. It shows why map vetoes matter, why star players can trade blows without either side blinking, and why a 13-9 scoreline can feel like a knockout punch. For the average CS2 player, it is also a reminder that iM’s 1v3 was equal parts positioning, patience, and ice in his veins. In 2026, with CS2 metas and rosters having shifted plenty, that BLAST Premier Spring Groups night still stands out as a proper 'I was there' moment for fans who caught it live. 🎯