BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Astralis keep perfect record by defeating Cloud9; NiP edge out Virtus.pro at BLAST
Astralis secured yet another confident victory on Inferno in Istanbul, beating Cloud9 16-7, while Ninjas in Pyjamas took all three points from a back-and-forth game against Virtus.pro on Cache, 16-13.
Similarly to their first two games, Astralis kicked off their match against Cloud9 on Inferno perfectly, grabbing a 3-0 start as CT, and then resetting the North American side just after they added their first to the board thanks to Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham's heroics.
The score was 6-1 shortly, with Astralis winning all of their rounds without allowing even a bomb plant. Maikil "Golden" Selim then unlocked the A site defence with two kills and Cloud9 held the afterplant, but were then once again reset and Astralis pounced, extending to an 8-2 lead. Cloud9's lifesaver on the T side was a force-buy win on B, after which they managed to grab some momentum and switch to the CT 9-6 down.
Astralis were quick to assert themselves on the Terrorist side, taking the first three rounds with ease, and then Nicolai "device" Reedtz and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth won an unwinnable 2v5 to all but secure the victory (14-6). Cloud9 managed one CT round, but that was all she wrote as Astralis closed out the game to go three for three in Istanbul.
 Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 - 6 | +17 | 101.3 | 78.3% | 1.74 | |
| 19 - 14 | +5 | 104.8 | 91.3% | 1.53 | |
| 20 - 9 | +11 | 70.7 | 73.9% | 1.22 | |
| 13 - 9 | +4 | 66.8 | 82.6% | 1.14 | |
| 15 - 12 | +3 | 77.3 | 65.2% | 1.13 |
 Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 - 15 | -2 | 54.8 | 60.9% | 0.84 | |
| 12 - 18 | -6 | 91.1 | 52.2% | 0.84 | |
| 11 - 18 | -7 | 54.3 | 56.5% | 0.68 | |
| 6 - 18 | -12 | 28.5 | 47.8% | 0.52 | |
| 8 - 21 | -13 | 58.1 | 39.1% | 0.51 |
Virtus.pro took on Ninjas in Pyjamas on Cache, winning the pistol round but dropping the ball in the next one as Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson won the force buy for his side with three Deagle headshots. The Swedes ran up a 5-1 lead before the Poles managed to strike back, finding entries in the following three rounds and managing to close them out to narrow the gap (5-4).
Michał "snatchie" Rudzki was the main man for Virtus.pro on the T side, clutching a 1v2 on A towards the end of the half to allow his team to finish it with a minimal, 8-7 advantage. The back-and-forth continued in the second half and despite losing the pistol, Ninjas in Pyjamas had a chance to assert dominance early on. However, the Swedes lost to just upgraded pistols and snatchie's P250 triple (12-10 for Virtus.pro), making it seem like Virtus.pro could grab the win.
The final stages of the game were all about the veteran duo Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund and Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg, with the former opening up rounds and the latter getting a key clutch for his team that enabled the Ninjas to close out the game with a B rush, 16-13.
 Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 - 20 | +5 | 83.2 | 65.5% | 1.23 | |
| 20 - 19 | +1 | 78.7 | 72.4% | 1.05 | |
| 17 - 20 | -3 | 77.6 | 75.9% | 0.95 | |
| 18 - 22 | -4 | 62.0 | 55.2% | 0.84 | |
| 14 - 23 | -9 | 61.4 | 48.3% | 0.70 |
 Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 - 19 | +9 | 111.6 | 82.8% | 1.64 | |
| 23 - 16 | +7 | 76.6 | 72.4% | 1.26 | |
| 19 - 20 | -1 | 82.1 | 72.4% | 1.12 | |
| 18 - 18 | 0 | 66.3 | 65.5% | 1.00 | |
| 16 - 21 | -5 | 52.1 | 62.1% | 0.78 |
Group stage standing after three rounds played is as follows:
MIBR
Space Soldiers
Janko 'YNk' Paunović
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund
Faruk 'pita' Pita
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MIBR_NEVER_WON_AGAINST_BIG_LUL
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HLTV_Toxicity_Neutralizer
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nilssonxdd
| 
Jakobit
TACOwasbetterthandonk
| 
Phancy11
| 
elskio
Cesar76
MetatronKbh
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m4atty09
iejesus
