BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Astralis decimate Space Soldiers; Virtus.pro overcome Cloud9 at BLAST
In the second round of matches at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul, Astralis secured another comfortable win (16-6 Inferno), while Virtus.pro beat Cloud9 16-13 on Mirage.
Coming into the game against Space Soldiers, Astralis were able to continue their hot streak after winning the first game of the tournament and quickly grab a 6-0 lead as Terrorists as Inferno, not giving the Turkish team a chance to get on board early on.
Space Soldiers' upgraded pistols proved deadly in the followup, Engin "ngiN" Kor and Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş each finding a pick to bring them their first round, but unfortunately for them, Astralis bounced right back and put them in a tough economic situation for the rest of the half. The Danes capitalized on that and ran up a massive lead in the first half, finishing it 13-2 up.
Any chance of a comeback was quickly ruled out when Nicolai "device" Reedtz and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen combined for all five kills on the B defence, locking down the site with five headshots. Space Soldiers managed to sneak in a couple of rounds at the end, starting with a force buy win at 15-2, but Astralis then stacked the A site in a 4v5 and shut down the offensive of Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli and co., winning the map 16-6.
 Space Soldiers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 - 16 | 0 | 81.7 | 59.1% | 1.08 | |
| 13 - 16 | -3 | 65.8 | 59.1% | 0.91 | |
| 8 - 18 | -10 | 55.5 | 68.2% | 0.71 | |
| 11 - 17 | -6 | 53.0 | 68.2% | 0.66 | |
| 5 - 18 | -13 | 63.7 | 45.5% | 0.48 |
 Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 - 10 | +12 | 99.4 | 86.4% | 1.61 | |
| 19 - 9 | +10 | 75.8 | 86.4% | 1.58 | |
| 17 - 8 | +9 | 71.7 | 86.4% | 1.35 | |
| 13 - 12 | +1 | 82.2 | 68.2% | 1.20 | |
| 14 - 14 | 0 | 80.5 | 72.7% | 1.16 |
The match between Virtus.pro and Cloud9 took place on Mirage, with both teams coming into the game after losing their openers, to MIBR and Astralis, respectively. The Polish side was on a hot streak right from the start, grabbing a 7-2 lead the T side after losing the pistol round. The American-Swedish side then woke up, and with Timothy "autimatic" Ta leading the charge, mustered six rounds back-to-back to end the half with a minimal lead, 8-7.
Filip "NEO" Kubski's team had a great start to the second half as well, winning six out of the first seven rounds, before Cloud9 found their footing as T. Still, Michał "MICHU" Müller and Piotr "morelz" Taterka led their side to their first victory at the event, 16-13, by stringing together three rounds at the final stretch.
 Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 - 21 | +1 | 83.6 | 72.4% | 1.04 | |
| 21 - 23 | -2 | 81.8 | 62.1% | 0.99 | |
| 20 - 21 | -1 | 72.6 | 58.6% | 0.98 | |
| 17 - 20 | -3 | 63.4 | 58.6% | 0.87 | |
| 11 - 20 | -9 | 45.7 | 62.1% | 0.67 |
 Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 - 17 | +6 | 77.4 | 72.4% | 1.26 | |
| 23 - 18 | +5 | 89.3 | 75.9% | 1.24 | |
| 22 - 18 | +4 | 86.6 | 75.9% | 1.22 | |
| 19 - 16 | +3 | 73.2 | 75.9% | 1.16 | |
| 18 - 22 | -4 | 60.8 | 51.7% | 0.83 |
The group stage standing is as follows:
MIBR
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Janko 'YNk' Paunović
Faruk 'pita' Pita
| 
MIBR_NEVER_WON_AGAINST_BIG_LUL
smokepurpp
phvm
| 
shaak!
| 
| 
| 
| 
zwe
| 
| 
| 
ToxicUkaineKid
| 
HLTV_Nationalist
W1SHmaster
TACOwasbetterthandonk
rationale
ripper4
| 
| 
kleps0
Ez4Olof
memento_1
lil_ghost
nukkie
devve_2_major_s1mple_0_major
WorldIsAFuck
seized_the_goat
TarjaTurunen
| 
| 
insy
elskio
| 
iDontWantFriends_iWantAudis
M0nzaa
| 
| 
| 
iloviz
