Astralis beat Na`Vi; to IEM semis

The series kicked off on Mirage, where Astralis came out the brighter by going aggressive in the pistol round, which they won without losing a single man. After giving up an eco round, Na`Vi fought back with a third-round buy, but their sloppy A push was punished by Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, who got three kills to his name with a Desert Eagle.

Na`Vi pulled back a round after getting an early bomb plant in a 5v4 situation, and the followed it up with another around to equalise the score at 3-3. The CIS team appeared to have finally stabilised, but then Astralis regained control of the game and won several rounds in a row to force their opponents to call a tactical pause.

After the short break, Na`Vi's offence came to life once again, bringing the deficit to a minimum by winning a 2v5 situation, with the half ending in a close 8-7 scoreline in favour of the Danish team.

Astralis advance to the semi-finals in Katowice 

The second half began with Astralis wreaking havoc in A after pushing from connector. The first full gun round went Na`Vi's way, but Astralis hit back right after as device picked up three kills to deny the CIS side the B retake. Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth then secured four kills after a desperate buy from Na`Vi, who saw Astralis eventually reach map point.

With Na`Vi's hopes hanging by a thread, Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács pulled off an incredible ace to keep his team in the game. Two rounds later, it was Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's time to shine with the Big Green, winning the 11th round for Na`Vi.

The crowd was electric and seemingly fully behind Na`Vi, but Astralis did not let the pressure get to them and finally ended their opponents' resistance with an A execute, with device getting another triple kill.

The map that followed was Nuke, which saw Astralis take the pistol round in convincing fashion with an A split. Utilizing their momentum from the first map, the Danish team would jump out to a 7-0 lead as Na`Vi struggled to keep up with the pace set by their opponents.

Quarter-final exit could spell trouble for Na`Vi 

After calling a timeout, Na`Vi finally pulled back a round, thanks to a trio of kills from GuardiaN, but Astralis quickly regained control of proceedings, closing out the half with a commanding 14-1 lead.

Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev still gave Na`Vi's fans some hope with a triple kill in the pistol round as Terrorists, but the CIS side could not build on that as they were caught off-guard by Astralis' force buy. That round showed the state of disarray Na`Vi had spiralled into, with Astralis hammering the final nail into their opponents' coffin in the following round.

Key Moment: Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz had many key rounds on Mirage, but one stood out in particular. With the score 11-8 in favor of Astralis, Na`Vi won the first gun round of the second half, but the Danes hit back right after thanks to the 21-year-old getting three quick kills from the B apartments with an AWP. 

PotM: Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth was by far the best player on Mirage, where he had a major contribution in the rounds that Astralis won (24-3 score, 141.1 ADR and two 1vsX situations).