by Astralis, the Danish esports franchise, secured a spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Final after a hard-fought series against OG on Sunday in the final match of the Spring Groups.
The teams battled it out in an intense series that went the distance. Having lost on Inferno (14-16), Astralis claimed the remaining maps, Vertigo (16-14) and Ancient (19-17), to seal the result.
The debut tournament for Christian “Buzz” Andersen as a member of Astralis was filled with excitement. Although Andersen had a difficult individual performance throughout the event, he showed signs of improvement towards the end. On the other hand, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz was a consistent force and played a crucial role in securing victories on Vertigo and Ancient.
The opening map of the series was Inferno, and it was a tightly contested battle. Astralis nearly claimed the pistol round, but after a force buy and a 3v5 comeback in the next round, they regained control.
They then established dominance on the T side and built a lead of 8-3, thanks to multiple kills by Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and dev1ce. However, Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar’s quadruple-kill shutout helped OG to fight back and end the half trailing by just one round.
READ: Best esports betting sites in 2023
OG managed to take the lead in the second half, thanks to the combined efforts of Abdul “degster” Gasanov, Shahar “flameZ” Shushan, and Maciej “F1KU” Miklas, putting them ahead 13-8. Despite this, Astralis mounted a late comeback and were the first to secure a match point. However, OG managed to delay Astralis’ victory and narrowly secured their own in the 30th round.
The second map, Vertigo, was equally intense as Inferno. After winning the pistol round, Astralis took a three-round lead but OG’s flameZ put up a remarkable performance, leading them to a 7-4 advantage. Despite OG’s strong attack, Astralis managed to recover and close the gap by the end of the half, but OG looked set to take the map with a 6-8 round lead. However, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s triple kill and 1vs2 clutch sparked a comeback for Astralis as they won four consecutive rounds on the T side, securing a narrow 16-14 victory and forcing a decisive match on Ancient.
Astralis continued their strong play on Ancient and built a commanding lead with a 10-1 start on the T side. Buzz’s quad kill and 1v2 clutch helped lead the way, while blameF also contributed with multiple kills. Despite their strong start, OG managed to make a comeback, with degster shining at the end of the first half and inspiring his team in the second half.
However, Astralis tightened their defenses and secured match point before eventually winning in overtime (19-17), taking advantage of OG’s mistakes and securing a narrow victory in a messy match. The Danish team’s AWPer dev1ce was awarded the Player of the Match with a 1.17 rating across the three maps. The 27-year-old recorded a total of 73 frags and allowed only 59 kills to garner a differential of +14, alongside 75.8 ADR.
The victory over OG guarantees Astralis a spot in the main event of the Spring Final. OG will now head to the Spring Showdown, where they will need to fight through the single-elimination bracket if they hope to be among the remaining two teams to make it to the Spring Final.
