StarSeries i-League Season 4mousesports & Astralis pick up wins in Kiev
At the end of day one, mousesports defeated Virtus.pro 2-1 (Cobblestone 18-22, Inferno 16-7, Mirage 16-9), while Astralis clinched a 2-1 win over Liquid in their offline debut with Magisk (Mirage 16-4, Inferno 13-16, Train 16-7).
The seventh series of the day between Virtus.pro, who were playing their offline debut with Michał "MICHU" Müller, and MOUZ began on the latter team's pick, Cobblestone, with the European squad beginning the map 1-0 following Miikka "suNny" Kemppi's 1v2 clutch and a last-moment defuse. However, a mere pistol buy without armor saw the Poles respond on the A bombsite and survive the following two rounds for a 3-1 lead.
The Finn continued to put in the numbers in the first full buy, adding four kills to his name to set off a five-round streak going the way of his team. VP then stabilized with two successful A attacks and went on to grab three more before the half came to a close, leading 8-7.
MOUZ retook the lead after the second pistol round, while the Poles came out on top of the first gunrounds to go up 12-10. It was then that Chris "chrisJ" de Jong's team decided to start focusing the B bombsite, running several strategies in a row towards the area with Robin "ropz" Kool getting a few entries from platform and Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný clutching a 1v1 for a 14-12 lead. Virtus.pro finally found success on B in three of the last four rounds, aside from one where Jarosław "pashaBiceps" Jarząbkowski's misses gave away match point to MOUZ, as the match went to overtime.
One set wasn't enough to decide the opening map, as both teams clinched two rounds on the offense, with MOUZ going to the A bombsite for the first time in eight rounds to start it off. In the second set of overtime, Virtus.pro plowed through the defenses, in part thanks to MICHU who clutched a 1v2 along the way, grabbing the 22-18 victory.
mouz had a great start on the second map, Inferno, netting the pistol round as well as the first gunround for a 5-0 lead early on on the offense. Virtus.pro responded with three of their own, and one costly round going MOUZ' way allowed the Poles to reset their opponents to go even at 6-6.
However, from there on it was all in the hands of the European squad, who finished off the half 9-6 on the back of a halfbuy win in the 13th round, and went on to pick up another dominant start in the second half. It was 15-6 when VP finally converted a round, but it was too little too late, as MOUZ closed it out 16-7.
The deciding Mirage started out well for Virtus.pro, who won their first pistol round in the series. mouz then grabbed the first two gunrounds, in the second of which chrisJ and oskar combined for a 2v5 clutch, before a low forcebuy swayed things back in the Polish side's favor. The rounds then went back and forth until it was 8-4 in favor of VP, at which point MOUZ strung three rounds together to finish the half with seven rounds on the Terrorist side.
That number was soon 10 once ropz & co. converted the pistol round in large part thanks to oskar's position, hidden under balcony, and from there on Virtus.pro had a hard time finding success until the very end. Only the first gunround went their way as MOUZ swept their oppponents time and time again, including one in which two of their players found themselves stuck in underpass for a large portion of the round, to grab their first win in the Swiss stage 16-9, 2-1.
 MOUZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76 - 60 | +16 | 89.3 | 65.9% | 1.31 | |
| 70 - 55 | +15 | 77.1 | 77.3% | 1.21 | |
| 64 - 53 | +11 | 77.4 | 67.0% | 1.12 | |
| 52 - 56 | -4 | 74.2 | 67.0% | 1.02 | |
| 52 - 50 | +2 | 65.0 | 70.5% | 0.99 |
 Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78 - 62 | +16 | 89.7 | 69.3% | 1.24 | |
| 63 - 61 | +2 | 78.8 | 72.7% | 1.06 | |
| 45 - 60 | -15 | 61.4 | 63.6% | 0.82 | |
| 45 - 60 | -15 | 62.5 | 58.0% | 0.80 | |
| 41 - 71 | -30 | 57.8 | 51.1% | 0.66 |
MOUZK - D
+/-
ADR
KAST
Rating
76 - 60
+16
89.3
65.9%
1.31
70 - 55
+15
77.1
77.3%
1.21
64 - 53
+11
77.4
67.0%
1.12
52 - 56
-4
74.2
67.0%
1.02
52 - 50
+2
65.0
70.5%
0.99
Virtus.proK - D
+/-
ADR
KAST
Rating
78 - 62
+16
89.7
69.3%
1.24
63 - 61
+2
78.8
72.7%
1.06
45 - 60
-15
61.4
63.6%
0.82
45 - 60
-15
62.5
58.0%
0.80
41 - 71
-30
57.8
51.1%
0.66
The other match saw Astralis dominate Mirage, the first map between the Danes and Liquid, who found themselves unable to penetrate the defense in the first half for more than one round at a time. Great play from the entire team, especially the debuting Emil "Magisk" Reif, gave Astralis 12 rounds as CT and soon a 16-4 victory on the opener.
It was then time for Astralis' pick, Inferno, where the Danes once again got off to a fantastic start following Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen's 1v2 clutch in the pistol round, starting on the Terrorist side. It took Liquid seven rounds to finally get on the board with a half-buy, and they soon added two more on the back of five kills from the newest member, Keith "NAF" Markovic.
Astralis extended their lead to 9-3, but Liquid recovered, clinching the remaining three rounds, as well as the following pistol to equalize the score at 9-9. The next four rounds were traded evenly and the score was again even at 11-11 once Magisk clutched a 1v2. The North American side started to pull ahead as Astralis saved their guns twice in a row, and after a few rounds were traded Liquid forced the deciding map, Train, at 16-13.
There, Astralis kicked things off with a pistol round win on the offense to go up 3-0, later extending their lead to 6-1 after trading the first two gunrounds. Liquid began clawing back as Lucas "steel" Lopes and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski defended the B bombsite twice in a row, lowering the deficit to 5-6. The next two rounds were split, which meant Astralis had to go for a pistol buy. That ended up surprising Liquid who couldn't convert a 3v2 and a positional advantage into a round victory, allowing the Danes to eventually close out the half with a 9-6 lead.
With the second pistol round and both antiecos on the board, Astralis were favored to take the map and the series. Liquid replied in the first full buy, but they left themselves too little time to attack in the second as a well-timed smoke and dupreeh's deciding kill from an unchecked position behind the coils on B gave the Danes their 13th round. Astralis clinched match point shortly afterward thanks to a brilliant retake on A, which put Liquid on low economy, and it didn't take long for them to finish off the match 16-7, 2-1.
AstralisK - D
+/-
ADR
KAST
Rating
64 - 48
+16
93.0
72.2%
1.30
55 - 42
+13
83.0
65.3%
1.17
47 - 42
+5
75.8
70.8%
1.11
49 - 41
+8
64.6
81.9%
1.10
42 - 41
+1
73.9
70.8%
1.09
LiquidK - D
+/-
ADR
KAST
Rating
55 - 48
+7
85.4
65.3%
1.14
42 - 56
-14
71.0
69.4%
0.93
40 - 52
-12
67.4
72.2%
0.90
41 - 49
-8
70.3
63.9%
0.88
36 - 52
-16
53.0
65.3%
0.76
After the last set of round one matches, the standings of the Swiss stage look as follows:
| 1-0 | 0-1 |
 SK |
 MVP PK |
 Cloud9 |
 HEROIC |
 FaZe |
 TYLOO |
 Gambit |
 fnatic |
 G2 |
 Renegades |
 Natus Vincere |
HellRaisers |
| MOUZ |
 Virtus.pro |
| Astralis |
 Liquid |
Starladder have already drawn the matchups and determined the schedule of the second round, which can be found here.
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Bence 'DeadFox' Böröcz
Issa 'ISSAA' Murad
Hansel 'BnTeT' Ferdinand
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski
NotAvailableAnymore
| 
Brian_Furious
| 
| 
| 
| 
ShamanroyfromAVA
wordEXE
hltvmodsareretards
| 
| 
cartii
poly_scotland
| 
sirpj21
| 
| 
droh
| 
NEXYLL
