North upset Astralis; Heroic eliminate fnatic in Stockholm

In two exhilarating best-of-threes, North surprisingly beat their Danish rivals in Astralis after overtime to reach playoffs, while fnatic were eliminated by HEROIC on home soil at DreamHack Masters Stockholm.

The Danish derby between Astralis and North in Group A kicked off on Nuke, where Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's men quickly took the first pistol round as terrorists. North weren't fazed, though, as they answered back in the eco round and also won the next.

Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen's men managed two more rounds, until Astralis mowed down the majority of the opposition with CZ-75s to make it 4-2 and take the weapons out of the hands of North. Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth then - once again - showed his prowess in clutches as he won a 1v2 post-plant situation in the following round.

Astralis tied things up at 4-4 before North started figuring out their rivals' ways into the bomb sites, managing three rounds in a row to make it 7-4. Astralis answered back with three of their own to tie things up, eventually winning one more to lead by one at the break.

North were the victors of the second pistol round as terrorists, but couldn't convert the following anti eco, bringing gla1ve's men to a 9-8 lead. This marked the beginning of a dominating period from Astralis, who cruised all the way to a 16-8 win on Nuke, increasing their Nuke win streak to 16 in a row on LAN.

Things then moved on to Inferno, where Astralis won the first pistol round but failed win the next, which quickly tied up the map. The Danish rivalry then turned into a close fight, neither team being able to pull ahead before 5-5, where MSL showed the way with great AWP play to put his team in the lead, eventually finishing the half 9-6.

North kept their grip on the match after the switch, winning both the pistol round and the following anti-ecos for a 12-6 lead. MSL's troops increased their lead by two more before Astralis fired back. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and co. won four more rounds, but in the end, Inferno was North's to take, finishing the second map 16-10.

Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif decimated North in the first pistol round in the Mirage decider, as the 20-year-old prodigy killed four to win it as terrorists. Astralis won the next to anti ecos, but with guns in the third, North put themselves on the board. After a couple of incredibly close defuses, MSL's men tied things up at 3-3. Astralis then won two, but their Danish rivals found their stride as CTs and strung together rounds to reach a 10-5 halftime lead.

North pressed on in the last pistol round of the series to win it, but Magisk closed out the following eco for Astralis to make it 11-6. The No.1-ranked Danes took two more on the back of two shoddy buys from North, but a brilliant, sneaky 1v3 clutch from Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså initially halted their comeback. North made it all the way to 14-9 before Astralis attempted one last dash to come back, reaching a 14-12 in favour of their rivals. North reached match point but were unable to finish things off, as gla1ve and his men managed to force overtime.

The first half of overtime saw Astralis start out strong, winning two rounds out of three on the CT side on the back of a double-AWP setup. North came back stronger after the switch, though, and finally found the strength to close out Mirage 19-17 and the series 2-1.

Meanwhile, in Group c, another Scandinavian skirmish saw HEROIC go up against fnatic. Things started out on Mirage, where William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin became the hero in the first pistol as he managed a 3k to win the round on the T side.

The Swedes won the following anti ecos without much trouble and took two more before HEROIC put themselves on the board to make it 5-1. What followed as a period where the Swedish/Danish team started consolidating their CT side, taking consecutive rounds while only being interrupted a twice by a fnatic round win. Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström’s troops eventually came all the way back, though, to tie things up at 7-7 before taking the one-round lead at the switch.

The second pistol round was a hard fought battle, which HEROIC won in spite of a brutal knife kill by Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell. They easily won the following anti two ecos for a 4-round lead. The Swedish/Danish side then turned up the heat, making it to 13-7 before Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist got a 4k to give his team their eighth round. The Swedes managed a few more rounds, but HEROIC held on to their lead, eventually winning Mirage 16-11.

Inferno was up next, as fnatic won the first pistol round as terrorists, but couldn’t convert the followup, putting HEROIC back on 1-1. They won two more as the sides starting trading rounds, reaching 4-4 before Xizt’s troops started stringing together wins. fnatic only gave away one more round before the switch to gain a 10-5 lead.

Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg and co. initially looked stronger after the break and won the second pistol round, but threw the anti-eco, which put fnatic in a commanding position. The Swedes never looked back from there and finished off HEROIC 16-8 to take it all the way to three maps.

Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh’s men came out on top as CTs in the first pistol round of the Train decider. They took the following anti eco, but fnatic had money for rifles to win the third. HEROIC kept them to one round for a while, though, as they cruised ahead to a 7-1 lead. Xizt’s troops then started to decrease the deficit, coming back all the way to 7-8 before the teams switched sides.

HEROIC won the last pistol round of the series and with that embarked on a mission to reach the series win. They made it to 13-9 before fnatic answered back with two rounds. Finally, Asger "⁠AcilioN⁠" Larsen and co. were able to put the lid on the match, winning Train 16-11 and the series 2-1