Welcome to EGamersWorld.
The Counter-Strike 2 competitive season is back with BLAST tournaments. Let's keep an eye on BLAST Open Lisbon 2025, which will take place from March 19 to 30, 2025.
First up is the group stage, everything as it should be. Starting with Group A, which will be opened by Team Spirit – Imperial.
We figure out how this unequal match between Team Spirit and Imperial will end and whether the Brazilians will be able to surprise the best team in the world.
Let's go.
Spirit Form
We open the analysis of the match Spirit – Imperial with an analysis of the game form of Spirit. In this match, the “dragons” play as favorites with a coefficient of victory in the region of 1.3.
The 2023 season was quite eventful for Spirit. The Serbian club played everywhere possible, but almost nowhere could they achieve significant results.
They started the previous season with a performance at IEM Master Katowice 2023, where they finished in the TOP-12. Then there was the local CCT Central Europe Malta Finals 2023, where they finished in the TOP-6.
One of the biggest tournaments of the 2023 season for Spirit was ESL Pro League Season 17, where the “dragons” took the TOP-28. They tried to get to the major in Paris, but again, all in vain.
From the middle to the end of the year, Spirit played at local events of small caliber. And they performed quite successfully, it is worth noting: TOP-1 at CCT North Europe Series #6, TOP-2 at CCT Online Finals #2, victory at Dunav Party LAN and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2.
- Team Spirit: chopper, zont1x, sh1ro, donk, magixx
At the end of the year, they won BB Dacha. In 2024, the BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024 tournament became the first major event for the “dragons”. There, Spirit played, frankly speaking, so-so: they took the TOP-16 in their debut championship under the auspices of BLAST, advancing to the Spring Showdown.
At IEM Katowice 2024, Spirit started their performance from the Play-In stage. There, they rolled over Apeks with no chance with a score of 13-0, and then confidently (except for map 2) beat MongolZ with a score of 2-0, thereby advancing to the group stage. The group stage was also not a problem for Spirit: having lost only 1 map to NaVi, they easily reached the playoffs, having beaten CoL and FaZe Clan with a score of 2-0. The IEM Katowice 2024 playoffs themselves became a confirmation of Spirit's dominance, because they easily closed out Falcons (2-0) and it was even easier against FaZe in the grand final (3-0).
After their triumph at Katowice 2024, Spirit advanced to PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach the playoffs, but lost to FaZe Clan in the first round of the main stage. Thus, Spirit took the TOP-8.
Then Spirit had a seemingly successful performance at BB Dacha, but the loss in the grand final to MOUZ with a score of 0-3 spoiled the feeling a little.
At IEM Dallas 2024 itself, Team Spirit passed the group stage very easily, without losing a single map in Basket B. However, they were unable to deal with everyone in the playoffs: at the TOP-4 stage, Vitality intervened and knocked Spirit out of the tournament.
Later, Spirit won BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024. And then began a series of not very successful performances, including TOP-8 and TOP-16 at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024.
ESL Pro League Season 20 Team Spirit started in Group B, where they lost to MIBR in the second round of the upper bracket and after falling lower, they won against The MongolZ and 3DMAX with some difficulty, which gave them a passage to the playoffs, where in their first match they beat FURIA with a score of 2-0. And later they ran into NaVi, after losing to whom they ended their performance in the pro league.
Spirit performed at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they also failed to achieve success. Only TOP-6.
At BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, Spirit started their journey in Group B, where they fought against G2 Esports, Team Spirit, Vitality, and Liquid. They tied 1-1, beating Vitality but losing to G2 in the playoff seeding match. In the playoffs, Spirit made it to the grand final, but lost to G2 Esports with a score of 0-3.
Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B started with a victory over B8. Then they lost to Passion UA, won against Aurora, lost to G2, but won the last match against Sashi Esports. At the Elimination Stage, Spirit started with a defeat to FURIA, but then destroyed Wildcard and NaVi. Then, in the match for a full bo3, they dealt with Heroic. Spirit opened the playoffs of PW Shanghai Major 2024 with a victory over Liquid. In the semi-finals of Shanghai Major 2024, they beat MOUZ. In the grand final, they defeated FaZe, thereby becoming world champions for the first time in the club's history.
BLAST Bounty Season 1 started with the qualifying round with two confident victories against Fnatic and FlyQuest. In the playoffs, they also easily beat Heroic. Then came the expected victory against NaVi and triumph in the grand final against Eternal Fire.
IEM Katowice 2025 Spirit started with the first round of Group B. There they easily demolished Astralis, giving up a total of 9 rounds. In the match for the playoffs they played against NaVi, where in a protracted bo3 with additional rounds on the third map Nuke they lost with a score of 1-2. Having got into the lower bracket, they beat Liquid and GamerLegion, which allowed them to reach the playoffs. In the main stage they beat Vp and NaVi one after another, reaching the grand final, but in the match for the title they were unable to do anything against Vitality: 0-3 and TOP-2.
Team Spirit Mappool
Team Spirit's best map remains Vertigo, where the Brazilians played 5 times and won 3 maps. Next comes Mirage, with 7 games and a 4-3 statistic.
The neutral choice for Team Spirit will be Nuke and Ancient. There the Brazilians have 6 maps and the score is 3-3 on each.
The worst is on Overpass (2-3) and Inferno (1-2).
Imperial Form
We continue our analysis of the Imperial – Spirit match with an analysis of Imperial’s game form. In this match, they are playing as a clear underdog with a win odds of around 7.
The team spent the first half of the year at various qualifying events and TIR-2 tournaments. Among the rare results is a victory at the local championship TG Masters Spring 2023. Another notable failure is the failure at EPL Season 17, where Imperial took the TOP-32.
Imperial's main milestone was their performance at American RMR B, a qualifier for BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. There, the Brazilian club took the TOP-12. Later, there was the dismal IEM Masters Rio 2023 and the TOP-16 there.
- Imperial composition: VINI, noway, decantry, try, chayJESUS.
Before the start of IEM Cologne 2023, Imperial celebrated their victory at ESL Brazil Premier League Season 14 and also entered the TOP-4 at BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023.
In addition to this, Imperial invited felps and HEN1 to the team. The team's newcomers lost their debut match in the club. They were run over by Monte, who won on Nuke 16-9. Things were no better after that, and as a result, the Brazilians took the TOP-20 in Cologne.
Later, there was TOP-28 at ESL Pro League Season 18 and attempts to make a name for themselves at other tournaments. They played at local championships like CBCS 2023 Season 1, Copa BetBoom, Game Arena, etc., but failed to achieve success there. Imperial looked better in the 2024 season.
So far, the main achievement of the year has been the victory at the home PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: American RMR and the passage to the major itself. There, the team passed the Opening Stage with a score of 3-2 and then played the Legends stage with a score of 1-3, which is quite good.
They opened ESL Pro League Season 19 with a match against FaZe Clan, where they lost 0-2, but showed their teeth. In the middle bracket of ESL Pro League Season 19, Imperial played against Eternal Fire, where they lost 1-2. Then they lost to sAw and dropped to the TOP-32.
Later, Imperial won 2 “minor” tournaments, such as Thunderpick World Championship 2024: South American Series #1 and ESL Challenger League Season 47: South America.
We got to IEM Cologne 2024 thanks to the TOP-2 at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024: South American Qualifier. But in the end, we took the TOP-24 without performing a miracle.
ESL Pro League Season 20 started with a victory for BIG in a very equal match (2-1). Then a victory over MOUZ with a score of 2-0 and a loss to M80, but an exit to the second round of the playoffs. However, they could not move further and finished in the TOP-12. They also made their mark at IEM Rio 2024, but only made it to the TOP-16.
In the Thunderpick World Championship 2024 group, Imperial first lost to NiP (1-2), and then won against Legacy with a score of 2-1. As a result, Imperial managed to come back in the group and reach the playoffs from second place, where in the first round they lost to MongolZ and were eliminated from the tournament in the TOP-8.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024, Imperial made it through on their last try: TOP-6 on American RMR with a score of 3-2. PW Shanghai Major 2024: Opening Stage Imperial started with a loss to paiN Gaming. Then there were similar matches against FURIA and Complexity and the final TOP-24.
In the 2025 season, Imperial played mainly in TIR-B tournaments, including CCT Season 2 South American Series #6, where they took TOP-2, and also TOP-4 in the qualifiers for the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2025: SA Qualifier.
Before their performance at BLAST Open Lisbon 2025, Imperial attended CCT Season 2 South American Series #7, where they earned their first (albeit small) victory.
Mappool Imperial
Imperial's best cards are Ancient and Inferno. The first one has 3 wins out of 4 maps, and the second one has 5 out of 7.
I don't mind playing Overpass, where the Brazilians have 57% wins in 7 matches. They can also play Nuke with Vertigo, where they have 50% wins with 6 and 4 maps respectively.
They don't play Anubis.
History of personal meetings Imperial – Team Spirit
The teams played each other twice in the 2024 season, with Spirit winning both games.
Predicted result of the match Team Spirit vs. Imperial at BLAST Lisbon Open 2025
I expect Team Spirit to win this match without any problems. The best team in the world should easily close Imperial and move on to the next round.
Result: Spirit wins 2-0.
