Astralis move on in BLAST Premier Fall Finals lower bracket over G2

After a hard-fought battle on Inferno and a stomp on Dust2, Astralis eliminated G2 from the tournament.

The last tournament of the year for Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and co. ended with a 5-6th finish as Astralis took them down, 2-0, in the lower bracket semi-final.

G2 looked inspired as things kicked off on Inferno, Astralis' map pick, running up an 11-4 lead with a proactive CT side, but the Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen-inspired comeback and overtime win for Astralis took all the wind out of their sails. Following a long game of Inferno, Dust2 was concluded in no time, seeing Astralis move on in the lower bracket where they will face the winner of FURIA - Natus Vincere next.

François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay's ninja play in Apartments netted him four kills on the pistol as G2 got off to a hot start on the CT side of Inferno. Astralis managed to get on the board early, breaking their opponents money, but Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and co. replied with a low-buy victory to extend to 7-1. That dynamic continued for the rest of the half as G2's mixed-buys proved deadly, and nexa's strong form pushed them to an 11-4 advantage.

That lead melted swiftly as Astralis picked up their CT pistol confidently and started rolling. The score was equalized at 13-13 as Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz started coming online before a late-game back-and-forth ensued. G2 were unable to close out on their two map points, leading the game into overtime, where after two sets of added rounds Astralis came out as victors, 22-19.

The spirits of G2 looked broken after the failure to close out Inferno. Astralis was sitting on a 9-0 lead in no time, having given away just a handful of kills during the streak, before a half-buy B-split got G2 on the board. The Danish side bounced back right away, limiting their opposition to just two rounds in the first half, and closing out the map 16-2.