TeSeS shines as Heroic outclass Astralis to top DH Masters Spring Group B

The ESL Pro League champions were far too hot for their Danish rival to handle in this one-sided derby.

HEROIC have punched their ticket to the DreamHack Masters Spring semi-finals with a dominant victory over Astralis, who will fight for survival on Friday against G2 in the first round of the playoffs. Expectations were high for the first clash of the year between the two Danish sides, but this seemed like a match between teams from different levels as HEROIC faced little resistance against their rival, who were outfought and outthought.

Things are clicking well for the ESL Pro League champions, who finished the group stage without dropping a single map, avoiding a potential rematch against Gambit before the final. "It's a crazy feeling," Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck said after the match. "Beating Astralis is insane. We're confident in ourselves and this proves that we can do even more."

Astralis hopped out to a 3-0 lead on the CT side of Nuke off the back of a near-flawless pistol, but the shape of the game changed when HEROIC finally managed to afford guns. Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's side dictated the pace and effectively applied pressure across the map, punching holes in their opponents' shaky defence for a 9-6 half. René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen led the charge with some impressive numbers (20 frags, 4-1 opening duel record and 130 ADR), but some of the credit also had to go to sjuush, who had two vital 3Ks, including a 1v3 clutch.

The second half continued in a similar vein as Astralis came out flat on the offence. They failed to muster a single round as HEROIC kept their defence tight and won aim duel after aim duel, with Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali delivering a fatal blow in the 21st round when he pulled off a fast 1v4 clutch on the A site.

HEROIC were in no mood to take pity on their stunned opponents and came out all guns blazing on Inferno, limiting Astralis to just three rounds in a one-sided first half. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's troops found a lifeline after the break as they put some rounds together, but their comeback hopes were left in tatters in the fourth round as HEROIC won a key round with nothing but Desert Eagles thanks to a trio of frags from TeSeS. With the momentum back in their favour, HEROIC ran all over their opponents to bring the game to a swift conclusion.