The North American squad M80 produced one of the tournament's biggest surprises by defeating NAVI, the world's tenth-ranked team, in a dramatic comeback series at BLAST Open Porto.
The match began poorly for M80 on Anubis, which ironically appeared to favor NAVI despite being M80's pick. After securing the opening pistol for a brief 2-1 advantage, M80 watched Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov deliver a crushing four-kill round that sparked NAVI's commanding nine-round attacking performance. The Ukrainian AWPer continued his dominance on defense, contributing seven more rounds as NAVI closed out the map 13-4.
Mirage proved to be M80's turning point. They captured another pistol round and built an 8-4 first-half lead. Following a second pistol victory after the switch, M80 sealed the map 13-6. Mason "Lake" Sanderson notably recovered from a dismal 0.56 rating on Anubis to a respectable 0.98 performance.
The decisive third map, Inferno, featured tightly contested rounds throughout the opening half. M80 secured their fifth pistol round of the series on the attacking side and surged to an 11-6 advantage without dropping a round. Joshua "JBa" Barutt's incredible 1v3 clutch brought M80 to match point, and they finished the map 13-6 to complete their remarkable comeback.
NAVI's Drin "makazze" Shaqiri struggled significantly on Inferno with a concerning 3-15 scoreline. M80 now advances to face either FURIA or paiN in the upper bracket semifinals.
