Astralis take down Liquid to reach the grand finals of the FACEIT London Major

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The stage is set for the FACEIT London Major grand finals after Astralis took down Team Liquid in the semifinals today.

Astralis swept the North American side in two relatively quick maps, Nuke and Mirage, where they dominated Liquid. Nuke was Astralis’ map pick, while Liquid chose Mirage. Dust II was the decider map remaining from the veto process.

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Map one Nuke was a close bout throughout the first half, with both sides trading tight rounds repeatedly until halftime, where Astralis were leading 9-6. Astralis ran away with the game after the second pistol round, which Liquid won, thanks to their solid defenses. Astralis closed out Nuke 16-8 while all of its stars were matching each other in the frag column, except for Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz.

The following map, Mirage, was an absolute bloodbath by the Danish superteam, starting with an ace by Emil “Magisk” Reif. Liquid struggled to get rounds throughout the entire game, while Astralis didn’t let their foot off the gas. Once Astralis force-bought after a monumental pistol round clutch from Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, they took the series by breaking the NA side’s economy. Mirage ended in favor of Astralis with a 16-7 scoreline.

The grand final of the London Major between Astralis and Natus Vincere will begin tomorrow at 1:10pm CT, following the pro-am showmatch. And it promises to be the most anticipated, high-octane matchup of the year.