The Danish super team caused a surprising upset as they defeated World number one Natus Vincere 2-0 in the opening game of the BLAST Premier World Final in Singapore.
Astralis have finally won a BO3 series with Casper “cadiaN” Møller at the helm, as they upset world number one Natus Vincere 2-0 to open up the BLAST Premier World Final in Singapore.
Astralis upset NaVi 2-0!
To say NaVi were the favorites is an understatement. Astralis were considered the weakest of the eight participating teams of the World Final.
The series began on Astralis’ pick of Nuke, which they also played for the first time under cadiaN.
This was no big deal for the former four time Major winning org, as they cruised to an easy 5-0 start.
NaVi's Justinas "jL" Lekavicius and Mihai "iM" Ivan had some miscues on the opening map too:
Oh no no no no... #BLASTPremier @natusvincere pic.twitter.com/QazxTd2u9a
— BLAST Premier (@BLASTPremier) October 30, 2024
Astralis then also won the second pistol round off a nice triple-kill by Martin "stavn" Lund:
How has @stavnCS got 3 frags there?!#BLASTPremier @AstralisCS pic.twitter.com/UzBHJu0yBY
— BLAST Premier (@BLASTPremier) October 30, 2024
Astralis never looked back en route to a surprisingly dominant 13-6 victory.
Double digits for @AstralisCS after a @stavnCS clutch #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/HRgm6yeD2c
— BLAST Premier (@BLASTPremier) October 30, 2024
stavn with 22 and AWPer Nicolai “device” Reedtz with 21 kills delivered big time, giving Astralis the lead.
Up next was NaVi's pick of Mirage. A map Astralis, also, was yet to win under cadiaNs captaincy. It did not look as bad as Nuke for the world number one team.
However, after a 5-7 half-time score, they only managed one more round win on their T side.
.@jabbiCS secures series point with the MAC-10 #BLASTPremier @AstralisCS pic.twitter.com/Wov8rxvDid
— BLAST Premier (@BLASTPremier) October 30, 2024
Astralis, yet again, managed to win 13-6.
Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard was outstanding in the process, as he topped the map with 26 kills.
This is a big win for Astralis, as they had to wait almost two months for a BO3 series win with the revamped roster. This might just give them the spark they needed – not only to have a successful event in Singapore, but also reach their ultimate goal for the remainder of 2024 of making it to the Shanghai Major.
We win 2-0 against the world #1 @natusvincere - GGWP! 13-6 on Nuke!13-6 on Mirage!We move on to the upper bracket semi-finals, and we'll be playing against the winner between @mousesports or @FaZeClan! #ToTheStars pic.twitter.com/YFBVkeoSwE
— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) October 30, 2024
Meanwhile, NaVi find themselves in the lower bracket, needing to beat FaZe Clan in order to still make the playoffs. jL had his own way of dealing with the defeat:
We won 4 tournaments going through quarter finals this year. We won 0 tournaments through semis. See what I'm getting at?
— NAVI jL (@jLcsgo_) October 30, 2024
They will take on FaZe tomorrow, whilst Astralis look for a direct berth into the semi-finals, taking on MOUZ.
What do you think? Are Astralis back on their way to the top again? Or will they ultimately crumble and fall off again?