BIG take down Astralis to qualify for IEM Global Challenge playoffs

The Germans came back from two huge deficits to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

BIG are the first team qualified for the IEM Global Challenge playoffs. The German side showed resilience as they defeated Astralis 2-0, despite the Danes having great starts to both maps of the series, Vertigo and Dust 2. The partnership between Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische and Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne proved too much for Astralis to handle as they combined for 105 frags in the series.

Astralis made a strong start to the series as Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen shut down BIG's pistol round with a quad-kill on the B bombsite. The Danes were 7-1 up before the Germans managed to break their defensive setup and grab five more rounds to keep their comeback hopes alive before the second half.

It seemed Astralis would have an easy run on their T side as dupreeh once again had a brilliant quad-kill in the pistol round. The teams, however, started a force-buy war and it was BIG who finished on top of it, forcing Astralis into some questionable buys. The German side won eight rounds in a row with the help of k1to, who went from a 0-7 score to becoming the top-fragger for BIG during the second half.

Astralis didn't handle the map easily, though, and converted four consecutive rounds to push Vertigo to overtime. BIG had a 18-15 lead, but the Danes didn't surrender and tied the game. syrsoN really came alive in the second overtime, carrying his teammates to win the map with 10 kills and only one death in those five rounds.

Dust2 began in almost the same fashion as Vertigo, with Astralis establishing a 9-3 T-side lead, much thanks to their pistol round victory and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz going 18-4. Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's troops grabbed three rounds in the end for another 6-9 half.

BIG went on to win their first pistol round of the series as they exploded out of B tunnels. syrsoN won a decisive 1v1 clutch in the 20th round, when he silently walked from A long ramp to knife Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif while the Dane was defusing the bomb. Astralis still called a timeout once BIG were 13-10 ahead, but the Germans were firing on all cylinders by then and quickly closed the map.