fnatic send Astralis packing; FaZe top Group A over HellRaisers

6-12-2017 15:59

fnatic have booked their spot in the knockout stages of the Pro League Finals after easing past Astralis, while FaZe will go straight to the semi-finals following a comprehensive victory against HellRaisers.

The battle for the third place took place on Inferno and started with Astralis taking the lead following a successful A retake in the pistol round. After losing an eco round, fnatic went for a third-round buy, a strategy that proved successful as they charged through the Astralis defense, with Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell and Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson both getting two kills apiece.

That round sparked a massive run from the Swedish side, who brought the scoreline to 7-2 thanks to two 1v2 clutches from Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson and Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist. With the game starting to look lopsided, Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander called a much-needed timeout, which, however, did not change the course of the contest as the Danes were instantly countered after every round win, with the half ending with a one-sided 11-4 scoreline.

fnatic reach the playoffs over Astralis

With no room for error, Astralis closed the gap by taking the pistol round and the corresponding anti-ecos. After buying up, fnatic took control of proceedings, shutting down the Astralis offense over and over again to seal passage to the knockout stages.

ESL Pro League Season 6 FinalsBest of 1

fnatic

Matchpage

6th December 2017

Astralis

Inferno

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson KRIMZ	23 - 13	+10	114.3	87.0%	1.75
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist flusha	23 - 12	+11	101.6	78.3%	1.65
Jesper 'JW' Wecksell JW	15 - 16	-1	89.1	73.9%	1.13
Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson Lekr0	16 - 14	+2	52.4	82.6%	1.08
Maikil 'Golden' Selim Golden	11 - 13	-2	53.1	87.0%	0.95

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Kjaerbye	20 - 18	+2	103.8	65.2%	1.22
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen dupreeh	13 - 18	-5	79.0	65.2%	0.88
Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Xyp9x	12 - 17	-5	67.2	65.2%	0.79
Ruben 'RUBINO' Villarroel RUBINO	12 - 18	-6	66.1	60.9%	0.77
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander gla1ve	10 - 17	-7	55.4	65.2%	0.69

Meanwhile, HellRaisers, the surprise package of the tournament so far, locked horns with FaZe for the top spot in Group A. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men came out of the break with all guns blazing and stormed to a 9-0 lead, but they would be unable to get past the HellRaisers defense after that as the CTs bagged six rounds in a row, one of them courtesy of a beautiful ace from Kyrylo "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow.

FaZe finish at the top of Group A

The second half began with HellRaisers winning the pistol round, but FaZe hit back immediately, resetting their opponents. After that, the current No.2 team in the world kept their defense very tight, winning seven rounds in a row to secure the top spot in the group.

ESL Pro League Season 6 FinalsBest of 1

FaZe

Matchpage

6th December 2017

HellRaisers

Overpass

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer olofmeister	25 - 10	+15	112.4	87.0%	1.85
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen karrigan	16 - 12	+4	87.3	73.9%	1.36
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač NiKo	21 - 13	+8	85.2	78.3%	1.33
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard rain	12 - 13	-1	57.3	73.9%	0.94
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács GuardiaN	12 - 12	0	49.7	65.2%	0.90

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Kyrylo 'ANGE1' Karasiow ANGE1	18 - 17	+1	81.4	60.9%	1.07
Özgür 'woxic' Eker woxic	13 - 18	-5	61.8	52.2%	0.75
Issa 'ISSAA' Murad ISSAA	11 - 17	-6	56.2	69.6%	0.75
Kristjan 'fejtZ' Allsaar fejtZ	8 - 16	-8	56.0	60.9%	0.67
Bence 'DeadFox' Böröcz DeadFox	10 - 18	-8	68.0	60.9%	0.64

With nothing at stake other than pride and a little chunk of money, Luminosity and Liquid faced off on Cache. The Brazilians got off to a flying start, winning the first ten rounds of the game, but then the North Americans' offense finally came to life, earning them three rounds before the break.

All Liquid hopes were then extinguished in the early stages of the second half as Luminosity came out of the break very lively, winning five of the first six rounds to seal a convincing victory over the North American side.

ESL Pro League Season 6 FinalsBest of 1

Luminosity

Matchpage

6th December 2017

Liquid

Cache

Luminosity	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes chelo	23 - 11	+12	125.2	85.0%	1.82
Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato NEKIZ	19 - 14	+5	106.5	75.0%	1.35
Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho PKL	16 - 11	+5	91.2	80.0%	1.35
Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' Gonçalves SHOOWTiME	14 - 6	+8	60.3	85.0%	1.27
Gustavo 'yel' Knittel yel	14 - 11	+3	74.2	75.0%	1.07

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Twistzz	14 - 15	-1	77.6	85.0%	1.09
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski EliGE	13 - 17	-4	69.4	65.0%	0.85
Josh 'jdm64' Marzano jdm64	11 - 17	-6	63.0	55.0%	0.78
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella nitr0	10 - 19	-9	57.0	55.0%	0.65
Wilton 'zews' Prado zews	5 - 19	-14	33.9	40.0%	0.37

Below you can find the final standings of Group A:

FaZe - through to semi-finals

HellRaisers - through to quarter-finals

fnatic - through to quarter-finals

Luminosity

Astralis

Liquid

gla1ve: let me be really honest, if we had device at EPL Finals, I really believe we would've won the whole tournament

2017-12-06 15:59

9 replies

lol

2017-12-06 16:00

It's true. Not about EPL, but, surely they would have won Blast Pro series.

2017-12-06 16:18

6 replies

even dennis carryng hard then to the finals yeah its true sure

2017-12-06 16:25

5 replies

tbf Dupreeh and Kjaerbye were the main carries at Blast Pro, however Dennis had a good tournament.

2017-12-06 16:32

4 replies

Maybe, but not to a point where glaoneve had any right to downplay his performanse

2017-12-06 16:58

2 replies

Gla1ve is just being salty, because a minority of the community believes that Astralis would be better without Dev1ce. I agree he has nothing to gain from such a tweet/comment, and it just seems a bit ignorant.

2017-12-06 17:17

1 reply

I mean he is right, they would have won.

2017-12-06 18:22

That's not true. Look at the stats, or maybe the games (it was obvious in both). Dennis took them to the final pretty much alone. Everyone who knows anything about CS has already confirmed this in all the analysis videos about their performance. He didn't play that well in the final so that destroyed the stats a little bit, but he was the only reason they were there.

2017-12-06 23:39

2017-12-06 16:33

Lmao

RIP Astralis </3

Gl hr!

5th my best until now

Who cares lel. History remembers only 1st :P

2017-12-06 16:03

Lol :D

Ez for FaZe

ez fnatic

nonamers

prove it or I kill you

2017-12-06 16:01

astralis will disband in 2018 ## bookmark this ##

KARMA strikes for disrespecting Dennis

27 replies

For who? ESL?

26 replies

For Gla1ve, opening his big, foul mouth and getting booted out of the tournament

25 replies

He didn't disrespect dennis though. Only one who's unfamiliar with csgo would think so

2017-12-06 16:05

23 replies

Saying that shit in public directly insults Dennis who was the whole reason they made finals. You can think whatever you want but saying that in public is just bad mannered and he got what he deserved

2017-12-06 16:08

22 replies

I guess u dont know how cs is played nowadays. They had 2-3 days of prac and had to speak another language instead of what they're used to. In those prac days they also had to learn new roles. Ofc they would've been better with their core lineup. If they were full core then they wouldn't have lost a 9 - 0 advantage. Its completely retarded to think otherwise. No offense.

2017-12-06 16:14

21 replies

+1. The hate toward glaive is out of proportion.

2017-12-06 16:23

No, it's just stupid. But kids + people in 2017 get triggered for every fucking thing.

2017-12-06 16:44

Yes, apparently.

2017-12-06 16:53

dude, just a take a look at her face

2017-12-06 18:09

*double

2017-12-06 18:10

astralis was trash the last few tournaments wiith device dennis was the whole reason they made the final

2017-12-06 17:21

And u dont think that playing on home soil for the first time boosted their morale? There is no tournament to compare with so therefor its impossible to conclude that. Btw kjaerbye and Dupreeh played much better than dennis in many crucial map. Dennis just played consistent.

2017-12-06 17:26

8 replies

apparently this is the first time they play on homesoil newfag doesnt know about copenhagen games

2017-12-06 17:28

7 replies

But how would u compare the competition and importance of cph games compared to blast? I just assumed that people reading this would understand that i obviously were talking tier 1. As far as Astralis is concerned, this is the first tournament in Denmark. Atleast the first that matters.

2017-12-06 17:32

if playing on homesoil boosted the morale why was north dogshit? btw device is trash and is probably the most overrated player of all time dennis>denmark

2017-12-06 17:31

Because North is a relatively new team for consistent top cs. Atleast compared to Astralis' many years in top cs. And device isn't 'trash'. His stats this year is good and consistent. I wouldn't put much weight on IEM Oakland and the tournament before that since device obviously is very sick.

2017-12-06 17:36

imo device is overrated dupreeh>device

2017-12-06 17:37

3 replies

Based on what?

2017-12-06 17:38

based on his opinion. that's what 'imo' means.

But what is his opinion based on? Definitly not on stats or playstyle or consistensy

I've seen Astralis lose a lot more than a 9-0 advantage, come on. They still choke like a mf. The rest is probably true, though.

2017-12-06 23:46

I do agree that they have a problem with pressure and its getting really frustrating to see them lose events that i think they should win. I do however not include blast or IEM in that catagory since neither of those events were played under optimal circumstances. And even though they've had lots of loses to comebacks i still think that it was the lack of complex strategies that lost them the grand final of Blast Pro.

2017-12-07 00:08

Tournaments with stand-ins shouldn't be included no, of course. It would be unreasonable to have any expectations of a team with 4 players. That's why the result with Dennis was chocking, no one knew they would be that good. Yes, you can't run complex strategies with so little preparation. They did their best and they were close. Not bad. I still think Astralis will have a hard time going forward, though, especially with choking issues still there. Device will help, but it won't be enough if the other teams keep getting better. I would replace someone, not sure who.

2017-12-07 11:59

The thing is that all of the players contribute in their own way. Xyp9x with the clutches, Dupreeh with sick perfomances regularly. kjaerbye played well at the major they won and is also playing very well and consistent atm, device with a very dynamic awping style and consistent performances and glaive who made the call that won them their major when it looked like they would lose. I just think that they need to play a looser style of cs. They have firepower in Dupreeh, kjaerbye and device it just feels like they're not playing the right style for using it.

2017-12-07 12:48

I love to see Xyp9x in a clutch, it's like flusha, you know something brilliant is going to happen. That doesn't mean he's safe, though. Most of the games and most of the rounds have no clutches at all, or you have another player in a clutch. I haven't looked at his stats in a while, but I get the feeling he's lagging behind a lot in the frag department and that's not good. You can't stay on a team in 2017 just because you are a good clutch player, you just can't. Dupreeh is safe in my book. He can do a lot of different roles too, so if he gets into a slump you can move him around and let him do something else. It's brilliant to have a player like that and I would keep him as long as I could if I controlled Astralis. Kjaerbye is still living on that major performance though. Hasn't looked good since apart from a game here and there, and he costs Astralis a lot of rounds with mad plays that don't work out. He's like a light JW when JW's form is off (not right now), and that's very damaging for a team. Sure, he isn't that aggressive or crazy, but not that far off. I would consider cutting him, especially since North is playing so bad right now. Maybe you can get Konfig. Device is safe for obvious reasons, can't cut your superstar. Glaive is a little questionable for me, as his style is clearly not working anymore. He isn't a good fragging IGL overall, just here and there, and his controlled leading style is figured out. If they're going to play a looser style, as you said, maybe he has to go. I'm not sure, though, I think he can adjust, and I think we have to better choices. I would cut Xyp9x for Valde (if he wanted to play on a good team again). The other option I already mentioned, Kjaerbye for Konfig or another good fragger. It could be almost anyone, it doesn't have to be one of the best fraggers out there in Konfig. Most would do a better job than Kjaerbye does at this particular moment. Personally, I would cut BOTH of them, but not at the same time. I think it's easier to work one of them into the group and then take the second one.

2017-12-07 16:54

I can see what u mean when it Comes to Xyp9x and glaive but kjaerbye has looked good or atleast consistent with fewer horrible games, atleast stats wise. It might just be because i put most weight on these 2 home events where he put up good numbers. Xyp9x is just one of those players that i've grown fond of. He's played as core for this lineup in like 3-4 years which probably is why im reluctant to count him out. Glaive is in my book the most likely to be cut out but i still remember how he remade astralis to start the semifinal+ streak but I do agree. He has had some terrible perfomances lately which as the casters said: "Could only be justified if he micromanaged all 4 of his teammates." He needs to find a way to contribute astralis to justify him being in astralis

2017-12-07 17:40

fnatic looking good again,krimz coming back to have consistency

2017-12-06 16:02

krimz used to be a minicoldzera, solo holding sites with insanely good thinking and clutching

2017-12-06 16:04

yeah like this,kirmz a little underrated in these times too people was just talked about olofm

2017-12-06 16:12

It's true but please dont call KRIMZ, 'minicoldzera' , he is a legend in CSGO,give him some respect

coldzera is one of the greatest, thats a compliment if anything

2017-12-06 16:17

yeah but KRIMZ was already stomping people before Coldzera seriously entered the pro scene,thats what im saying,it's feels weird to see you calling this big man a minisomething

2017-12-06 16:19

in terms of playstyle, nothing else. Also they are the same age

2017-12-06 16:20

KRIMZ used to be a KRIMZ. cold is still new talent. Krimz is a legend.

The fact that you call this Legend a "Minicoldzera" is just disrespecting, Cold can't even clean his shoes.

2017-12-06 16:54

cold is minikrimz

2017-12-06 17:22

Packing??? They are in denmark they can just go to pub and drink some vodka with tears in their eyes so even more LUL DANISH CS xDDD. Also North out of groups in first day OMEGALUL xDDD.

Kjarbae gonna say something stupid at the afterparty drunk and ganna get his nose pushed in

I think golden play such a big role for fnatic to back again. at least they really good at online an can past groupstage at esl.

I'm not sure. I think the level of the old stars was bound to rise eventually and that seems to be now. It also helps to have Lekro go insane from time to time. He goes mental in about 25 % of the games, so hopefully, he can be like that in the right games. They do seem like a solid unit, though, playing for each other a lot more, and Golden has definitely something to do with that. That being said, I see Golden die a lot in places he shouldn't and he's very bad at understanding angles and where he can be shot from. Him dying so much, especially in the wrong places, is very bad for the team. JW already gives fnatic a 4 on 5 disadvantage in enough rounds. The map pool is also not that great for Fnatic, and I would've liked to see Golden do a better job in that regard. He's had a lot of time by this point and Fnatic is still forced to play unconformable maps, especially in a bo3. From a strategy perspective, he isn't bringing that much. They don't have any new or fancy executes and they don't play like the more strategy-based teams, like the Danish ones for example. They would probably win this tournament with a better player than Golden, but if he can keep working on getting better I can see him being a solid IGL in the future. He can frag, (at least in most games) and that's worth a lot. At the moment, though, the legends are holding them above water and with more firepower, no one would stop these guys.

2017-12-06 23:53

I'm going to call you out on their map pool. As always they perma ban nuke, They are really good on mirage and as we have seen here inferno They are good/decent on train and cbbl Can play cache if they need to Don't really like playing overpass Thats 4 maps really solid with 2 world class, and 2 meh and 1 perma

2017-12-07 01:02

Im sure if they had device they would of won Kappa

It's good that Astralis lost, would've been shit if the format put a 2-3 team through over a 3-2 team.

yeah,and still the format put hellraisers over fnatic while fnatic has 4 wins and hellraisers only 3,now fnatic is in the same bracket as FaZe

That's a very bad format, yes, but it still works out for Fnatic. FaZe must have a terrible record against them. It feels like Fnatic beats them every time because they pretty much do. It's the Swedish teams that have the most success against FaZe for some reason. I'm sure Fnatic will beat FaZe again, shouldn't be that close even. The group game that went to OT was firmly in Fnatic hands and they should've won that before OT. FaZe deserved maybe 9 rounds in that game.

2017-12-06 23:57

Lol Astralis who?

2017-12-06 16:10

"Fnatic to play grand-final in Odense after beating FaZe" post inc.

2017-12-06 16:11

LUL, gla1ve chokin' again. I'll be waitin' for -gla1ve +dennis.

2017-12-06 16:13

Its unbelievable to see how braindead the cs community is.

+1 Cybersport also has braindead players like gla1ve

they don't need to pack, they are already @ home!

Good one! :D

Rubino not carry = losing

I'm liking this new fnatic lineup Also pleased faze managed to not suck up a storm today, and am impressed with hellraisers play

2017-12-06 16:27

Godolof

2017-12-06 18:31

Astralis would have won this event if device was playing.

2017-12-06 19:11

Yeah like all those other tournaments they won since the major.....................................

2017-12-06 23:48

Right? Time to settle those expectations a bit. Astralis is a tier 1 team, not an elite team (not anymore). They can reach top 4 in some tournaments, but thinking Astralis could win a tournament again feels a little silly, they clearly don't have the firepower for it.

2017-12-06 23:59

Ahh have a little faith, they are not fnatic ;-)

2017-12-07 06:31

No, they're not! Fnatic has a very good trend going, getting better and better. Astralis is the other way around ;) I am nervous about the Optic game, though. I can see Fnatic losing that one, but if they manage to beat Optic, the next game against FaZe should be a lot easier. They won't lose against FaZe.

2017-12-07 12:02