fnatic, Astralis eliminated from Roobet Cup

Apeks and OG have given themselves a second shot at making the playoffs.

The group stage of Roobet Cup 2023 is nearing its end as the last two losers' matches have concluded, keeping Apeks and OG's tournament hopes alive and bringing an early end to Astralis and fnatic's campaigns.

Just the decider matches across the four groups are left to be played, with HEROIC and 9z set to play rematches of their opening games while OG and Apeks are met with novel matchups.

Date	Matches
Roobet Cup 2023
29/10/2023	HEROIC 15:00 Aurora	Match
29/10/2023	Movistar Riders 15:00 9z	Match
29/10/2023	Ninjas in Pyjamas 18:00 OG	Match
29/10/2023	9INE 18:25 Apeks	Match

fnatic started out in control of their elimination series by scoring six rounds on the T side of their Overpass pick, but couldn't keep that momentum going into their defensive effort. OG gained ground on the attack and held fnatic to just three isolated rounds in the second half, with Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković adding insult to injury with a 1v2 clutch to win the map.

The loss on their own map pick didn't seem to dissuade fnatic as they stabilized in spectacular fashion on Anubis, converting a 6-1 start into an 8-4 lead on the T side thanks to powerful performances from Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson and William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman. They wasted no time in closing that lead out in the second half to force an Inferno decider, but that dominant show of force didn't carry into the last map.

OG stepped up with an excellent CT side effort, posting a 9-3 lead on the defense, and reached map point right at the start of the second half before eventually closing out the map, 13-9.

Astralis, who have rumors swirling of possible roster moves after Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund were revealed to be in talks with the Danish outfit, will be kicking themselves after a slow start on Mirage came back to bite them in the series.

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The Danes might have been able to close the series in two were it not for an immensely poor 0-7 start on the CT side of Mirage. They simply could not find a way to counter Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson and Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski, who powered Apeks to that initial lead before a late resurgence from Astralis allowed them to reduce the deficit to four at the break.

A pistol round and subsequent conversion by Apeks added extra pressure as they sat upon a 10-4 lead early in the second half, but Astralis didn't crumble. The teams battled their way into overtime, where Astralis took the lead for the first time in the map, but just taking the lead wasn't enough as Apeks dug deep and stole away the victory, 22-19.

Astralis had a much better showing on their pick of Overpass, garnering five rounds on the T side before completely running away with the game in the second half as they gave up just one CT round en route to a 13-8 finish.

Their struggles returned on Ancient, though, an early 2-0 start on the CT side rapidly giving way to a stellar offensive showing from Apeks, who ran away with an 8-4 lead at the break. Astralis didn't bow out easily, adding six rounds to their tally in the second half, but Apeks' lead in the first half paid off as they used the margins to close out the game, 13-10.