New-look Astralis send fnatic to Group B lower bracket in ESL One Cologne

The Danes passed their first test with flying colors, setting up an exciting match against Vitality in the next round of the tournament.

Astralis are through to Group B's upper bracket semi-finals in ESL One Cologne's European division after beating fnatic in two maps. Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen and Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen showed no nerves on their debut for the Danish team, who put in a strong display to prove that they can play much better than what their current ranking of 17th suggests. The former MAD Lions player even boasted a series-high 1.25 rating after an impressive performance on Train, the closer of the two maps, while the ex-HEROIC player did his job well on his return to action after a six-month break.

"They've been adapting to the team so fast," Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen said after the match when asked about the two newcomers' performances. "It's nice for the old guys to learn something from the new guys. It's amazing to be back and to feel that it's fun to play Counter-Strike."

fnatic should be commended for not collapsing after a blowout loss on Nuke, though it is still worrying that they continue to have such a poor record on this map given that Vertigo remains their perma-ban. The Swedes acquitted themselves much better on Train, where they let one map point get away before losing the game in overtime, but they still haven't shown that they are better than the team that ended the previous tournament season on such a poor note.

The match began with an all too familiar feeling for Astralis, who won the pistol round thanks to three key frags by dupreeh, but soon the Danish team had to turn to their newest recruits as es3tag and Bubzkji turned a 2v5 situation around to prevent what would have been a painful anti-eco loss. fnatic then finally found a footing in the game as they restored parity at 3-3 following multi-kills by Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson and Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin, but the rest of the half was dominated by Astralis, who went into the break with a commanding 10-5 lead.

More misery was to come for fnatic, who saw their deficit increase even further after a slow start to the second half. Confidence was rippling through Astralis' players and they quickly wrapped things up, locking down the map in the sixth round after reaching map point in a 2v4 situation.

Astralis made a bright start to their CT side on Train as they raced to a 6-0 lead with ease. At this point, Brollan had just one kill to his name, but he took over in the rest of the half, which he ended with 13 frags as fnatic were able to able to reduce the deficit to a solitary round before switching over to the CT side.

The Swedes took control of the game after the break, losing just one of the initial seven rounds of the half as they gave Astralis' players very little room to operate. The Danish team then finally picked up the pace and shut down any chances of their opponents stringing rounds together, taking the game to overtime — where a flawless CT performance sealed the deal.