Astralis halt Gambit's winning streak; FURIA outclass Complexity in DH Masters Winter

It was the Russian team's first defeat in over a month.

Astralis and FURIA have advanced to the semi-finals of DreamHack Masters Winter following 2-0 wins over Gambit and Complexity, respectively. The Danish giants, who are the highest-ranked team still alive in the tournament following HEROIC's elimination, brought an end to Gambit's 19-match winning streak with a great all-round display in a series that wasn't as close as what the map scorelines indicate: The Russians proved worthy opponents and put up a good fight, especially during the early stages of both maps, but they struggled whenever the Danes put their foot on the pedal.

The Russian team, who had made it through the group stage with convincing wins over Cloud9 and Complexity, came out strongly on Vertigo, their map pick, as they raced to a 7-3 lead on the offense, but then Astralis tightened up and locked down the remaining rounds of the half, with Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif sitting at the top of the scoreboard with 16 frags to his name and a 103 ADR. The 22-year-old, who recently relinquished the in-game leader role, continued his fine form in the second half, adding 11 kills to his tally as Astralis went on an 8-0 run to win the map.

A 1v3 clutch by Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov gave Gambit an early lead, which only grew as the half wore on. They rallied to a 7-1 lead with some risky gambles in gun rounds, but their spell of dominance was brought to an end once Astralis picked up the pace, with only one round separating the two sides at the break. Gambit fought hard to keep the scoreline close in the second half, but Astralis were unwilling to let the game get out of hand and won four rounds in a row to lock down the map.

Meanwhile, FURIA brushed aside Complexity in a one-sided affair that was decorated by imperious displays from the team's star players, Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato. The pair combined for 52 frags as FURIA ran out comfortable winners on Mirage, their opponents' map pick, where the first half ended with a 12-3 scoreline.

FURIA carried their momentum into Nuke and went for Complexity's throats from the offset, cruising to an 8-2 lead. The European team fought back and brought the deficit to three rounds before the side switch, but their efforts were in vain as they were unable to post a single round on the offense.