Eternal Fire eliminate Astralis in first round of EPL playoffs

Eternal Fire came back on their Vertigo map pick to sweep Astralis on Inferno and secure a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın had great start to the series as the tip of the spear on the attacking side of Vertigo for Eternal Fire as he and his team fought to lead at the half. A 2vs5 by Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup in the 13th round broke the Turkish side’s momentum, however, and it was Astralis who edged ahead, 8-7, at the switch.

Eternal Fire failed to convert on a won CT pistol round and started to deflate, but a triple by Wicadia followed by Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş downing two in a 2vs2 retake the following round got EF right back on track. Close afterplant situations maimed Astralis, who despite reaching 14 rounds could not hit match point.

It was actually Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın, at 14-14, who hammered the Danes by scoring an ace off of a perfect flank to get his team on match point. Eternal Fire pushed it past the line in the thirtieth to stave off overtime and secure their pick.

Astralis denied a second-round conversion to turn a lost pistol round into a 3-1 lead, which Eternal Fire kept close in the early rounds. Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker showed his proficiency on Inferno, roaming around the map and finding impact kills with the AWP as Eternal Fire started to charge ahead.

Down in the pits, Astralis got two when trailing 4-8 to stop the bleeding, but were still far behind in the win probability matrix as they siwitched to Inferno's tricky defensive side with a three-round deficit on the board.

It was Eternal Fire’s time to spoil Astralis’ CT pistol win as they hit back in the second round. From there on out the half played out in favor of the attackers in incredibly dominant fashion as blameF and company flounder on every defense. Eternal Fire doubled Astralis’ score by the end of the 21st round, 14-7, and didn't stop there, smashing their way to 16-7.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
27/09/2023	BIG 15:30 Eternal Fire	Match

XANTARES, the series' top-rated player with a 1.41 rating after the two maps, will now face his former team, BIG, in the second round of the Pro League's playoff bracket. The match will take place on Wednesday at 15:30 for a chance at making the quarter-finals, where Natus Vincere is waiting.