Astralis brush BIG aside to reach PGL Cluj-Napoca playoffs

BIG fell off after an emphatic start in the first map and never recovered.

Astralis qualified for the PGL Cluj-Napoca playoffs on the final day of the Swiss group stage by beating BIG 2-0 on Ancient (13-7) and Inferno (13-8).

The German squad came out swinging on their Ancient map pick, taking a 5-0 lead on the attack, but were then beaten into submission as the Danes took full control by winning 12 uncontested rounds to hit map point. Three rounds later, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and company took the series lead heading into their pick.

Once the match moved to Inferno, it was only a matter of time before Astralis closed it out after taking an 8-1 lead on the attack (8-4 at the half). After winning the second-round forcebuy on the defense, the painting was on the wall, and a three-round streak by BIG was all but cosmetic.

The goal was more than to just make playoffs

Astralis see themselves as a team heading in the right direction and that, while they may not yet compete against the elite teams, have to take advantage of a tournament like PGL Cluj Napoca, where many of those teams are missing.

"A bit further was the main goal," cadiaN responded when Richard Lewis asked in the post-match interview whether Astralis had met their goal or it was to make it even deeper since several elite teams are not in attendance.

"Now we’ll see who we draw. It can go in many directions when you’re a 3-2 team, it can be a 3-0 team or a 3-1, so it depends a bit on who we draw, but if you want to consider yourself a team that wants to do something or aspire to do something when the top three isn’t present, then you need to aspire for more."

Staehr's room to grow

Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr is often seen as a quiet success for Astralis, a team player who keeps his nose to the grindstone. After a solid performance against BIG and a particularly good showing on Inferno with a 1.61 rating, he was given his flowers, but cadiaN still sees the 20-year-old has potential to become even more impactful.

"He still has a lot of room for growth, where he could become better," cadiaN told the broadcast crew, "because he picks up on things, and when he picks up on them, he executes them very well, but you can still see that he’s stressing and over-eager because that’s his nature, his play style, and right now we’re still trying to fit him into a role he hasn’t played that much before. But he has many influential rounds, and when there’s calmness around other parts of the map, he’s really strong as a CT, so we just need to help provide that."

Working out the kinks

Astralis are still very much in a place where they see their mistakes and are figuring out how to fix them, but cadiaN sees things moving forward positively.

"I don't think we are playing [at a] top level, we are far from our A game, but I still think that some things are moving in the right direction," he told HLTV after beating SAW on the second day of play. "I think overall people are also making it worse than it is."

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cadiaN: "We are far from our A-game, but some things are moving in the right direction"

The in-game leader added that their mistakes are workable and that some teams who beat them are not clearly superior. "At the end of the day, if you look at the Falcons game and the paiN game… the paiN game we should have for sure won, and the Falcons game you could argue a bit," he told the broadcast after securing a spot in the playoffs.

"But we’re still sitting with the feeling that most of the games we lose are because of our own mistakes and when you have that kind of feeling it means that you see errors in the game that you need to do better for the next time. You’re not just like: They’re outshooting us, or they’re outcalling us."