Danish CS:GO squad Astralis recorded one of their best results of late by qualifying for this year’s BLAST Premier Spring Finals, at the expense of OG. The series was as close as it could get, with a three-mapper with two 16-14s and an overtime finish in the decider.
This was Astralis’ first elite-level tournament since dev1ce’s return to the lineup, and the legendary AWPer has performed well overall, recording a +31 K/D and a 1.11 rating, per HLTV, across the eleven maps played.
Device played an important role in Astralis’ success, finishing with the best K/D ratio in the close-fought matchup.
The series began on Inferno, where both sides put up an uncharacteristically strong T side, scoring the majority of their rounds on the offensive side of an otherwise CT-sided map. After taking an 8-7 lead in the first half, the Danes were unable to string anything together on the defense, losing the first six rounds in a row before striking back. However, they weren’t able to get things over the line as degster went nuclear on the CS:GO map, losing a 1v2 clutch at 14-15 to fall short on their own map pick.
The drama continued on Vertigo: this time, flameZ played the role of the hard carry for OG with 33 kills across the 30 rounds played, but dev1ce’s efficient performance made the difference on the map.
The international side took a narrow lead on the T side and eventually secured a 14-12 lead, but an otherwise struggling gla1ve found a couple of impactful kills at the tail end to push the series to a decider on Ancient.
The Danes won the knife round and surprised the audience by picking the T side to start on, very much going against the flow of the metagame on the map. However, their decision was immediately justified as they raced to a 10-1 lead, courtesy of strong individual performances by blameF and gla1ve. Though OG rallied and picked up the next four rounds, it seemed like the Danes were clearly in the driver’s seat.
However, they struggled just as much on the defensive side of things as OG did, with poor site holds from dev1ce and Xyp9x proving especially problematic. Degster and co. picked up eight of the first nine rounds in the second half, taking over the lead with a score of 13 to 11. However, their economy was fragile enough that Astralis’ back-to-back round win demolished their finances, requiring a miracle eco round to get back on the board.
Ultimately, it was the Danes who reached 15 rounds first, with just one chance to go to close out the game in regulation. OG held firm and stayed alive, but an error-ridden overtime cost them everything as Astralis pushed them down to the Spring Showdown.
With this result, gla1ve and co. punched their ticket to the BLAST Premier Spring Final in Washington. Since they failed to qualify for IEM Katowice, their next big tournament will be ESL Pro League Season 17, starting on Feb. 22.
