In shocking fashion, Team Spirit have dispatched Astralis to earn the top spot out of their IEM Katowice group.
After taking each other’s map picks (Astralis won Spirit’s Inferno pick, then Spirit won Astralis’ Train pick) the two CS:GO teams met on Dust II with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
What happened next came as a huge shock for fans. The dominant Danish side were absolutely dominated on Dust II. Team Spirit claimed all 15 rounds on their CT side. Astralis only got a single bomb plant down during the half, which was obviously defused.
Needing 15 straight rounds on their CT side just to force overtime, Astralis narrowly avoided the loss becoming any more embarrassing by shutting down a Team Spirit clutch to win the second half pistol round.
Any Astralis momentum came to crashing halt in the next round, as a one-vs-two clutch by Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov shut the door and secured the monumental 16-1 victory.
With this victory, Team Spirit have claimed that highly sought after first-round playoff bye. Astralis still make playoffs but will start in the quarterfinals with a bruised ego.
Three CIS teams—Spirit, Na’Vi, and Gambit—have already locked themselves into one of six playoff spots, with a potential fourth in Virtus Pro. This could be an all-CIS affair deep in the playoffs.
