Astralis through to Malmö semi-finals over Vitality

Astralis have secured advancement to the semi-finals of DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 over Vitality after a 2-0 group A upper bracket final victory.

The group A upper bracket final kicked off on Vertigo, witnessing an explosive start to the series. The first two rounds featured a USP-S quad kill from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, followed immediately by an ace from Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz. The five-man wipe completely shifted the winds in Astralis' sails, as the Danes converted the ensuing six rounds to assume a strong lead on the offense right off the bat. Another quad kill from ZywOo ensured a second round for the French side, but this performance had no positive long-term impact on the team's defensive campaign, as but one additional round was accrued in the remainder of the half at 3-12.

Vitality secured a consecutive pistol round victory, but were once more caught off-guard, this time by a force buy from Astralis. Off the back of this momentum snatch, the Danes converted the following two rounds with ease, ensuring map point in the process. Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy managed to offset their subsequent demise by a single round with double kills, but Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth once more reminded the world of his nerves of steel, successfully sticking the defuse in a 1v1 situation in round 21, concluding Vertigo 16-5 in Astralis' favour.

Dust2 saw a convincing CT start from Astralis, who accrued the first two rounds, the latter featuring a MP9 quad kill from device. The Danes were served some of their own medicine, however, as Vitality found an opening in their first full-buy, which went on to yield fruit in the form of an additional four conversions, highlighted by a spectacular quad kill from Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire. Astralis posted their third round of the half to cut the steadily developing deficit, but it proceeded to spiral out of control immediately after, allowing the Frenchmen a six-round lead. The map leaders managed to soften the blow with two additional victories, concluding their defence with a 5-10 half.

Having switched to the T side, Astralis kicked off their re-entry into the map with a productive pistol round. A further two were accrued shortly after, and the Danes surpassed their opponents on their first full-buy, closing the round discrepancy to just one. Further struggles in the Vitality camp meant a total of eight consecutive conversions for Astralis, but footing was found in rounds 24-26, and coupled with a triple kill from RpK created a 13-13 stalemate.

Against the tide, Astralis were once more able to find success in back-to-back rounds, securing map and series point. A quad kill from ZywOo ensured the 30th round on Dust2, but an aggressive AWP double kill from device on Short gave the Danes the advantage needed in the final exchange to close out the series on a 16-14 note.