Astralis and fnatic open ESL One Cologne group B matches with victories

Astralis and fnatic commenced their runs in Cologne with 16-4 and 16-11 victories over BIG and MIBR on Overpass and Inferno, respectively.

Group B's first opening match saw Astralis take on BIG on Overpass, where the German-majority roster kicked off with a 3-0 opening off the back of a fruitful pistol round. Multi-frags from Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif in the coming rounds meant an equaliser, and, in the long run, facilitated for a lead to be accrued by the Danes.

Having secured nine consecutive rounds through control of the enemy's economy, Astralis developed a healthy version of their own, and dropped but a single additional round over the remainder of the half, concluding it with an 11-4 lead.

On the offense, Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and company went on to land a comprehensive map closure, as both the pistol round and the following four rounds went in their favour, ensuring map point. A last-ditch force buy from BIG was insufficient in stopping the favourites from advancing onto the A site, and for that matter, to group B's upper bracket, as Astralis closed Overpass with a confident 16-4 scoreline.

The second opening match of group B witnessed fnatic and MIBR square it out on Inferno. The first round of the map kicked off a triple kill from Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga, who ensured a positive start for his team on the T side. Despite the outstanding play, only an additional round followed in favour of MIBR, as fnatic found footing off the back of a third-round pistol buy upset, snatching the momentum in their favour, snowballing to none less than an 8-2 surplus.

The Brazilians produced a third round afterward, but it did not mark a change in game dynamic, as fnatic kept their foot on the gas pedal, accelerating to a remarkable 12-3 CT half conclusion.

A 3v2 conversion in a post-plant on B from MIBR secured the team the CT pistol, sowing the seeds for a comeback. Unfortunately, much like in the initial half, the squad was unable to persist in maintaining early momentum, affecting the brittle CT economy in a disastrous way. Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström and his teammates went on to secure map point, prevented from closing out by Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles, who extended MIBR's life with an immaculate 1v2 clutch. Off the back of this individual showing, MIBR found a further five rounds, but subsequently faltered, conceding Inferno with an 11-16 score.