Astralis secure victory in postponed Movistar Riders series

The Danes move on to Group B's winners' match after disposing of Movistar Riders in two maps.

Astralis kicked off Roobet Cup 2022 with a triumphant opening matchup against their Spanish opponents and eventually brought home the victory in two maps, overcoming Movistar Riders 16-14 on Mirage, and 16-8 on Overpass. The win brings the Danes just one series away from locking in their spot in the playoffs.

The Danish side announced on Wednesday that they would be without in-game leader Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander for their opening match as the 27-year-old was feeling unwell ahead of the series, with his replacement being Astralis Talent rifler Frederik "⁠Fessor⁠" Sørensen.

Due to the first game of the series being cut short following some technical issues, the action resumed the next day with Fessor required by the organizers to finish the first map, Mirage, from a 7-6 scoreline after having already started in it on the day before. gla1ve was then permitted to join his teammates on the server starting on the second map, Overpass.

On the other hand, Movistar Riders now find themselves in a do-or-die scenario after dropping their opening matchup. The Spaniards have been sent to Group B's losers' match, where they will battle it out against Complexity in hopes of keeping their Roobet Cup campaign alive.

Mirage was a back-and-forth affair early as both Astralis and Movistar Riders traded kills and rounds with each other. The Danes were then able to slightly pull ahead, behind Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth's impressive fragging leading the way, giving Astralis a 6-3 lead. Movistar Riders clawed their way back and won three out of the next four, but it was at this point that the match had to be stopped due to server issues, and was postponed until today, June 23.

The game then resumed at the 7-6 mark of the match, where both squads continued to deliver a close fight all throughout as Movistar Riders and Astralis found themselves level at the end of 24 rounds, with 12 apiece. blameF's individual performance merited him a whopping 33 kills, which proved to be decisive in the Danes' eventual victory on Mirage, narrowly closing out the map in regulation, 16-14.

Similar to the first map, Overpass was tightly-contested early on, with blameF and Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García serving as their respective teams' main providers of firepower as the scoreline remained equal after eight. Astralis started to string together rounds after successful attacks on the lower bomb site and built up an 8-4 lead over the Spaniards. Movistar Riders were able to convert the last three rounds of the half to reduce the Danes' advantage to just one by halftime.

Coming out of the break, Movistar Riders were unable to keep up with Astralis' total domination as the defenders, locking down both bomb sites and demonstrating a CT side masterclass on their map pick. The Danes ultimately took eight out of the nine rounds played in the second period behind blameF and Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen's 29 and 24 kills, respectively, wrapping up the map 16-8 and the series 2-0.