Buzz stars as Astralis eliminate NAVI to make IEM Cologne quarter-final

Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev has failed to make it to the Lanxess Arena for the first time in his career.

Astralis have booked the final spot in the playoffs of IEM Cologne after dispatching of NAVI 2-1 (25-23 Ancient, 9-16 Nuke, 16-12 Overpass) in the lower bracket of Group B.

The Danish outfit barely managed to close out their map pick of Ancient before getting battered by a reinvigorated-looking NAVI on Nuke. They have an absolutely terrifying performance from Christian "⁠Buzz⁠" Andersen — who recorded the highest-rated map of his career — to thank for the victory in the end, though, as the Danish rifler completely dominated NAVI on Overpass to put his team through to the arena.

He single-handedly dismantled NAVI's Monster setups round after round on the T side, and secured a pivotal clutch early into Astralis' CT half to put his team on 14 rounds.

Astralis have set themselves up for a Danish derby in the quarter-finals as they will take on HEROIC on Friday, with the winner going on to face G2 in the semi-finals. The two Danish teams last met at BLAST Spring Groups at the start of the year, where HEROIC got the better of Astralis 2-1 with a pair of 16-4 wins on Vertigo and Mirage.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2023
04/08/2023	HEROIC 19:10 Astralis	Match
05/08/2023	G2 20:10 Astralis	Match

The result means that s1mple has missed out on qualifying for the Lanxess Arena for the first time in his career. He had made good on every previous chance he ever had to play in the German arena since his first ESL Cologne event in 2016, but this time around Astralis proved too strong.

Natus Vincere will head home disappointed after failing to take things over the line after having Astralis by the throat on Ancient, which could have made it a 2-0 win, and will also lament their early loss to MOUZ that cast them down to the lower bracket.