Astralis through to playoffs over Heroic, Cloud9 eliminate DETONA

Astralis have toppled HEROIC 2-0 (Vertigo 16-7, Inferno 16-7) to advance to the playoffs at ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, while Cloud9 eliminated DETONA following a one-sided series (Dust2 16-4, Mirage 16-9).

HEROIC picked Vertigo to start off the Danish derby against Astralis, but they quickly found themselves trailing on the defense after they lost the pistol round in a 5v5 retake scenario. A short back-and-forth in the first few gunrounds ended with Astralis securing a 6-2 lead on the back of a clean B defense.

HEROIC replied with four in a row to bring the opening map to even keel, but they couldn't capitalize on the economic advantage to gain a lead, with Astralis locking down the half 9-6. After Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth clutched a 1v3 in the following pistol round, Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg's team were on the back foot and only a triple from the Swede stood in their opponents' way, and Astralis grabbed a series lead at 16-7.

Astralis chose their trusty Inferno as their map and looked to end things quickly after racking up a massive lead early on on the Terrorist side, finding ways to salvage several disadvantages, including a 1v4 clutch from Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander in a single spraydown on the B site.

There was still some life left in HEROIC, who won four out of the last five rounds on the back of individual plays, with Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer adding a quad-kill and an ace to his tally and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund putting up an ace of his own.

Despite losing the pistol round, Astralis took control of the proceedings on the back of a forcebuy win and rallied to a 16-7 victory after the two sides traded eco rounds.

Group A's second elimination match saw DETONA take on Cloud9. The Brazilians quickly found out they weren't up to the task on Dust2, with the North American side only dropping a single round on their CT side, to a quad-kill action from André "⁠tiburci0⁠" Rossetto, as they mounted a dominant first half and set themselves up for a 16-4 victory on the opening map.

Mirage followed and this time, DETONA were able to get off to a good start, leading 5-2 as Terrorists. That didn't stop Cloud9 from securing a double-digit result in the first half, as they went on an eight-round streak, putting themselves in a comfortable situation once again.

Wesley "⁠hardzao⁠" Lopes's 1v4 clutch in the second pistol round made things interesting as his team climbed back to a two-round deficit, but it didn't rattle their opponents, who closed out the series with another dominant streak for 16-9, 2-0.