Astralis move past Eternal Fire in EPL opener

An untimely crash on Overpass for XANTARES potentially prevented the Turkish team from forcing a decider.

Astralis came out the victors in their opening match of ESL Pro League Season 19 Group A after beating Eternal Fire 2-0 (13-5 Vertigo, 13-9 Overpass).

"We had two days off, but we knew coming here that we couldn't come super rusty and mentally hungover from China, so we had a couple of practice days," Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due said regarding Astralis' preparation coming into the event.

"We also took some time talking some theory, we wanted to develop the playbook a bit. Although we didn't show much in Chengdu, it was still nice to put a new touch on a couple of things."

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's second tournament as the leader of Astralis has started just as strong as the first, where the team beat FaZe and Virtus.pro to reach the semi-finals of IEM Chengdu before falling to FaZe in rematch on stage.

The very same matchup could play out should FaZe beat Imperial in their EPL opener, with device's side chomping at the bit for revenge and showing they could well rise to the occasion with their victory over Copenhagen Major quarter-finalists, Eternal Fire.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 19
23/04/2024	FaZe 19:30 Imperial	Match
24/04/2024	Astralis 19:30 FaZe	Match

The Turkish team looked a shadow of themselves at the onset of the series, falling completely flat on their map pick of Vertigo. Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund shone on the CT side to shut down A Ramp repeatedly, and Astralis breezed to victory on the T side with six rounds on the trot to go up 1-0.

"Before I played with them, I thought Staehr was the guy who could do whatever he wants with CS," device said on the couch after the game. "I still think that, but honestly I think everyone in the team has the X factor. stavn is very unique as well, I've never played with a guy like him before."

Pressed further by Mathieu "⁠Maniac⁠" Quiquerez, device further elaborated on what makes stavn unique. "Just his communication, and I think one of the things you just have to do is always be one step ahead. I think he knows how the river flows on the map and he just knows what's going to happen, how to communicate it and play while communicating.

"Then, mid-round, I think stavn is probably one of the smartest not-in-game-leader players I've played with in that regard."

Astralis' round streak was extended to ten in a row as Eternal Fire got off to a stagnant start on Overpass. Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın helped his side recover from a 1-5 deficit to tie the game at halftime, but just when it looked like they could make the scoreline competitive, an untimely crash for Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş meant Eternal Fire couldn't convert their pistol win after the side swap and they fell to a force-buy.

Astralis wasted no time in hitting double digits after that, but their economy quickly became unstable after Wicadia stepped up with a TEC-9 and MAC-10 in two rounds to keep the scoreline close, 11-9.

Again, tragedy struck for Eternal Fire as they fumbled a post-plant that would have broken Astralis' economy, a 10-second defuse by Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro in a smoke setting his side on series point before they closed out the game in the following round.