Astralis claim first place in Group B at PCC

Imperial now face a playoff-deciding matchup in a best-of-three rematch with Finest.

Group B's winners' matchup between Astralis and Imperial went the way of the Danish squad, who emerged triumphant in a close game on their map pick Nuke 16-14, dropping Mirage 6-16, and ultimately clinching Overpass, 16-13. The victory solidifies their first-place status in the group and sets them up in a match against BIG in the playoffs' upper bracket.

On the other hand, Imperial find themselves in a last-chance scenario for the second and final playoff spot on offer in Group A, requiring another victory over first-round opponents Finest in their elimination series to advance.

Nuke was the first map of the series, which immediately saw three-round sprees from both Astralis and Imperial, the scoreline remaining level at 3-3, with Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau leading the way for their respective teams' fragging output.

Back-and-forth rounds ensued as Astralis continued to attack the upper bomb site finding success, before Imperial once again shut down the Danes' advances into the lower site, both teams inseparable after 12 rounds at six apiece. Neither of the pair could get the edge over the other as the first half played out, with Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and company eventually finding the 15th and a single round lead entering halftime.

Astralis kicked things off coming out of the break all guns blazing, demonstrating their CT side prowess on Nuke, winning six out of the first seven rounds and taking a 13-9 lead. Imperial brought themselves right back in the game with an eco-round conversion off the back of Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga's 1vs2 clutch, disallowing the Astralis defenders any chance to defuse the bomb.

The Brazilians once again managed to bring the game to a stalemate, rallying behind fer's consecutive multi-kill rounds en route to yet another deadlock at 13-13. Still anyone's map to win, both teams fought until the very end, which Astralis finally secured in the final round, winning their map pick 16-14.

The Danes opened Mirage with a swift 4-1 lead through their mid control, which Imperial quickly bounced back from despite blameF's monstrous killcount, erasing Astralis' lead and tying things up at 4-4. The Brazilians went on a roll in the latter part of the first half, taking five out of the last seven rounds, putting up a 9-6 score to end the period. The second half was utter dominance from Imperial, barely breaking a sweat and completely shutting out anything Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's crew threw at them in a flawless CT side performance, claiming the second map 16-6.

If the first two maps were extremely close affairs, you wouldn't believe how the first half on Overpass turned out; exactly along the lines of how the series has gone so far, with neither Astralis nor Imperial able to get a significant advantage over the other for the entirety of the half. Almost mirroring what happened over on Nuke, it's FalleN's men that edged out the Danes in the 15th round and entered the switch leading by one.

Half number two commenced with Astralis being the first to reach a double-digit score, as every member of the lineup bar gla1ve provided multi-kill rounds to regain the lead at 10-8. A quad-kill courtesy of fer in the 19th took one back for Imperial, however Astralis continued to find the bomb site and extended their advantage to 13-9. Despite Imperial's best efforts, even winning four out of the next five, Astralis were able to wrap the series up once and for all, clinching their spot in the playoffs.