NRG secure Legends spot over Astralis

NRG have earned a spot in the playoffs of the StarLadder Major Berlin following a 2-0 victory over Astralis.

Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz and company kicked things off on their own map pick of Train, managing a six-round spree on the offense to take an early lead. Astralis finally got themselves on the board as they won four of the ensuing five rounds in reply, but were only able to add one more to their tally courtesy of a triple kill by Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz as NRG took a commanding 10-5 lead at the half.

The script was flipped as Astralis were the ones in control following the side swap, stealing away the lead as they fought to secure seven rounds straight for a 12-10 scoreline. Three kills on the AWP by Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov helped net NRG their first round in the second half, but a trio in reply from Astralis saw the Danes push up to match point immediately. stanislaw's side refused to capitulate however, rallying back for three rounds of their own to force overtime.

The teams began a back-and-forth as they both fought for any edge they could, with CeRq securing an ace to keep his team in the running and force a second overtime. A prolonged battled between the sides saw them match the record for the longest overtime at a Major, with device, CeRq, stanislaw, and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth all contributing to push the scoreline up to 27-27. It was here that NRG finally reigned supreme, conceding a single round before edging out their own map pick 31-28.

Nuke saw a stark departure from the close brawl on Train, with NRG repeating their performance from the start of the previous map as they took a commanding 7-1 lead to kick off the map. A 1vs4 ace clutch by Xyp9x was what finally granted the Danes their second round on the offense, but multi-frag rounds by stanislaw and Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik in reply saw NRG continue to pull ahead as a 12-3 scoreline put them on the brink of victory as the sides swapped over.

stanislaw ensured that Astralis had little hopes of a comeback as a quad kill in the second pistol round allowed for NRG to immediately notch match point, with the Danes edging out one last round thanks to a triple kill by Xyp9x before CeRq's side claimed a 16-4 victory.