Heroic defeat BIG to set up clash with Astralis; G2 knock out mousesports

The Danish high-flyers will take on their local rivals on Sunday for a spot in the semi-finals.

HEROIC are guaranteed a place in the playoff stage of DreamHack Masters Spring following a 2-0 victory over BIG in Group A's upper semi-finals, while G2 survived elimination as they beat MOUZ 2-0 in the second round of the lower bracket.

HEROIC's victory, which sets them up against Astralis in the group final, marked the return of Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen to a coaching role after he served his eight-month ban for using the spectator bug. "We are still trying to integrate him into our game," Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali said after the match. "We are not exactly sure how to do it, but we don't want him to do everything for us." When asked about his expectations for the match against a device-less Astralis, the 23-year-old said: "I'm not really scared of Astralis. I think it's going to be easier than if they had device."

The Danish team enjoyed an early spell of pressure, cruising to a 6-0 lead on the CT side of Mirage, BIG's map pick. There was a brief respite for the German team, who put some rounds together thanks to individual plays from Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş, but the rest of the half was dominated by the Danish side, who picked up an 11-4 lead. BIG came out of the break a more resolute side and began to chip away at the deficit, but HEROIC didn't let the game get away from them and locked down the map after hitting their stride.

The Danish team once again picked up an early lead on Nuke, punishing BIG in the second round after losing the pistol, but their stranglehold loosened as the game wore on. XANTARES was once again the main driving force behind BIG, racking up 17 frags as the team went 9-6 up. However, the complexion of the game changed after the side switch, as HEROIC kept the Germans at bay with a tight defence, securing the map with a five-round streak that was initiated by refrezh with a crucial 1v2 clutch.

Over on the secondary stream, viewers were treated to a one-sided affair as G2 eased past MOUZ, who were unable to capitalise on the momentum from Thursday's victory against FaZe. Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's troops fought back valiantly on Vertigo, bringing the deficit to a solitary round after being down 0-8, but then G2 picked up the pace and ripped through their opponents' defence.

G2 looked prime for a blowout win on Mirage as they cruised to a 15-4 lead, but instead came away with a narrow victory as MOUZ showed plenty of fighting spirit and took control of proceedings. In the end, it took a 1v2 clutch by François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay for G2 to wrap things up and seal a victory that puts them up against Virtus.pro in the group's lower bracket final on Saturday.