Astralis defeat Liquid 2-0 to qualify for BLAST Fall Final

The Danes will be back in the Royal Arena after notably missing out on a spot in the Fall Final in 2022.

blameF continues to frag despite his pivot to the in-game leader role, posting a sublime 1.74 rating in the series

Astralis earned a spot at the BLAST Premier Fall Final after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Liquid, which sent the European cohort down to the Fall Showdown following a 16-11 victory on Overpass and a commanding 16-9 showing on Inferno.

Astralis will be breathing a sigh of relief after qualifying for the BLAST Fall Final. The Danes originally found themselves relegated to the knockout stage as Group B's bottom seed following regretful losses to Natus Vincere and BIG, but battled back with crucial wins over Complexity and Liquid to ensure their participation at the $450,000 event on home soil.

Astralis notably missed out on a place at the Fall Final in 2022, back when the roster featured Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth, but will now return to the Royal Arena and play in front of the home crowd when the Fall Final plays out on November 22-26.

Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis and company, meanwhile, exit the BLAST Premier Fall Groups in 7-9th place, a regretful end to their tournament campaign after initially showing signs of promise with opening wins over G2 and FaZe. The team lacked the stamina to go all the way in Denmark despite the strong start, and will instead need to pull off a successful run through the BLAST Fall Showdown in October to earn their own berth to the Fall Final.

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Play in the must-win bout began on Astralis' pick of Overpass, but it was Liquid who enjoyed the stronger start. Impactful fragging from the two new European imports halted the Danes' offensive efforts early on. A flashy 1vs2 clutch from Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr in round seven helped prove why Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz believes he is "one of Denmark's best talents in five years" and also prevented Liquid from getting comfortable in the server as Astralis got one step ahead and went into the break with a one round advantage.

Astralis turned it up a gear once they were on the more favored CT side, leaning on device's AWP and Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup's AK-47 to post a near impenetrable CT-side effort throughout the half. The two Danes combined for 46 kills over the course of the map, holding Liquid to just four rounds — split across two even sprees — on the T side and being key pieces in Astralis eventual 16-11 victory on their map pick.

Astralis' dominance in the server didn't fade over the intermission, and the Danes quickly picked up where they left off and raced to an unblemished 5-0 lead on the CT-side. It took a double kill from Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic in the sixth round for Liquid to get on the board, but from that point forward, the race was very much on. The YEKINDAR-led squad, utilizing a B-heavy and Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov-powered T-side gameplan, were able to cut through Astralis defensive set-ups like a hot knife through butter, adding eight of the ensuing 10 rounds in the half to sit on a slender one-round cushion at the interval.

Alas, the start of the second half coincided perfectly with the start of Astralis return to form; the Danes all woke up in unison, so much so that the squad only conceded six casualties over five rounds in their sprint to a 12-8 scoreline. Liquid's woes only went from bad to worse as the rounds flew by, with Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer even cackling as his team made their way to map and series point with eight in a row before wrapping things up a short time later, 16-9.

BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023Best of 3

Liquid

Matchpage

0

2

22nd July 2023

Astralis

11

Overpass

16

9

Inferno

16

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Robert 'Patsi' IsyanovPatsi	34 - 34	0	76.1	75.0%	1.10
Aleks 'Rainwaker' PetrovRainwaker	32 - 35	-3	71.5	69.2%	1.00
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	33 - 34	-1	64.2	65.4%	0.91
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	24 - 36	-12	60.9	53.8%	0.76
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	24 - 39	-15	59.7	53.8%	0.70

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	41 - 28	+13	89.4	73.1%	1.29
Victor 'Staehr' StaehrStaehr	35 - 29	+6	86.5	73.1%	1.21
Benjamin 'blameF' BremerblameF	32 - 27	+5	73.8	75.0%	1.20
Johannes 'b0RUP' Borupb0RUP	39 - 32	+7	63.3	69.2%	1.09
Christian 'Buzz' AndersenBuzz	30 - 32	-2	60.9	69.2%	0.96