Astralis eliminate NIP from BLAST after overtime

The Swedish team wasn't able to convert an 8-0 lead on Nuke and went out to an unconvincing Astralis.

A 2-1 win for Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's troops sees them march on in the lower bracket of the BLAST Premier World Final, where their next opponent will be the loser of Gambit - Liquid.

Astralis opened the series with a statement win on Inferno, 16-7, dominating Ninjas in Pyjamas on their map pick, but the next two maps were quite different. Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant and Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner came alive to help their team to a 16-14 on Mirage and an early lead on Nuke, but Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and gla1ve showed up to save the series after overtime.

"We need more time for sure," blameF said after the victory, admitting that Ninjas in Pyjamas have been playing well with a stand-in, but a defeat to them "would be pretty sad for us". The team having just a month together leads to certain struggles, the 24-year-old explained, such as the T side on Nuke.

"We are trying to find solutions in the middle of the game," he explains, but regardless of the limited time, the Danish favorites are expected to do better. "We need to show more," he said in the post-match interview, with overcoming their next opponent at BLAST looking like a tough task with their current level.

Read more

Xyp9x: "NAVI are the clear favorites but the contenders for the top 4 are all up in the air"

A 1v1 clutch between Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth and Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen went the way of the four-time Major winner and got Astralis off to a good start on NIP's map pick of Inferno, Philip "⁠Lucky⁠" Ewald's anchoring setting them on course for a 5-0 lead. Astralis displayed a dynamic and aggressive CT side from that point, with Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke shining as they went on a tear.

Ninjas in Pyjamas managed sporadic rounds, but failing to chain any together allowed gla1ve's team to finish the half 12-3 ahead. blameF's clutch ace in the second pistol made the rest of the game a formality, which was finished 16-8.

On Mirage, Ninjas in Pyjamas were blessed with a strong start (4-0) to wash away the bitter taste of Inferno, but the T side calling from gla1ve and blameF was on point, seeing Astralis win eight of the next 11 rounds. Ninjas in Pyjamas responded with the same approach after the switch, REZ and phzy leading the fragging as they took the lead with a brutal offense of their own. The Danish team finally got going at the end of the half, but couldn't recover from a 14-10 deficit as Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora quad kill concluded Mirage 16-14.

Read more

Vitality dismantle Astralis to secure upper semis at BLAST

phzy and REZ reached a double-digit number of kills in no time on Nuke as Ninjas in Pyjamas put their foot down on the defense of the decider map (8-0) Having suffered 16-4 and 16-1 losses in their last two outings on the map, things got worrying for Astralis, but blameF's fragging helped them recover at the end of the half and shrink the gap with the second pistol (10-8).

Ninjas in Pyjamas pulled ahead with a four-round streak with rifles, but the A duo of Lucky and k0nfig found their rhythm and started locking down the approaches, equalizing things at 14-14. es3tag's heroics earned Ninjas in Pyjamas match point, Astralis responded with a strong B hold, and overtime was on the menu to decide the winner. Three big clutches from gla1ve made the difference in the added rounds as the in-game leader ensured a 19-16 and 2-1 for the series.