Astralis breeze past EG to qualify for IEM Katowice playoffs, Gambit eliminate mousesports

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth combined for 90 frags in 48 rounds to lead Astralis to another playoff appearance in IEM Katowice.

Astralis are the first team through IEM Katowice playoffs following a 2-0 victory over Evil Geniuses in Group A upper bracket semifinal. Meanwhile, Gambit defeated MOUZ 2-0 in the first round of the Group A lower bracket, eliminating the international team from the competition.

This is the eigth time in a row that the core of device, Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen, and Xyp9x have made it to the playoffs of the Katowice tournament. The Danish powerhouse will play the Group A upper bracket final on Sunday, the result of which will decide who will go straight to the semi-finals and who will have to play in the quarter-finals. Gambit, on the other hand, will play another elimination match against the loser of Spirit vs. HEROIC on Saturday.

Astralis were off to a great start on Train and secured the first three rounds of the half until the North Americans broke their streak in the first gun round. The Danes won three in a row again later and won their CT side by a minimal margin despite device having finished the half with 21 frags. Astralis dictated the pace in their T side and quickly secured a 13-7 advantage. Evil Geniuses were able to win two in a row off the back of a passive setup with an AWP and AUGs, but Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander crushed their hopes as he won back-to-back 1v1 clutches and Astralis closed the match right after.

The series proceeded to Dust2 and Astralis displayed a strong defensive playbook as they secured an 11-4 lead after shutting many of Evil Geniuses's attempts, who didn't string more than two rounds in a row. The Danes ran a fast-paced pistol round and device secured it with a quad-kill after gla1ve grabbed the first kill. The North Americans were with their backs against the wall as the Danes successfully handled the two anti-ecos, but they bought a lifeline after winning the first two gun rounds. Astralis lost one more round after securing map point and closed the series with a scrappy-buy as dupreeh hit two Desert Eagle headshots and followed up with two AWP kills to cement the map.

In the meantime, MOUZ dominated the Terrorist side on Dust2 against Gambit after they lost the pistol round and the anti-ecos.The international team switched to the defensive side with a 9-6 lead, but the Russians displayed an even better offense as they chained six together after conceding the pistol round. MOUZ broke their streak off the back of a force-buy but couldn't follow up and saw Gambit ran away with the game as their economy was in shambles.

MOUZ chained five together after losing the pistol round on Vertigo, but Gambit reacted and won seven in a row to salvage their T side and play the second half with a minimal advantage. The Russians put up pressure on the international team as they secured the pistol and the following two rounds. MOUZ won the first gun round, but Gambit continued to dominate after and grabbed four in a row to reach series point. Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's men won only two rounds until the Russians closed the game as Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and Timofey "⁠interz⁠" Yakushin, their two top-fraggers, helped shut down MOUZ' last attempt.