Astralis take revenge on B8 for MRQ decider: "Before was online"

jabbi said pre-game that Astralis were the "better team" despite B8 denying them a spot at the Austin Major, and the Danes proved it in the server.

Astralis have avenged their defeat to B8 from the Major Regional Qualifier by beating the Ukrainians 2-0 in Cologne.

"I'm trying to forget it," Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard told Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers pre-game when asked about that MRQ match — the one that ensured Astralis missed their fifth consecutive Major.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Europe Regional Qualifier
17/04/2025	Astralis Finished 1:2 B8	Match

But he was still confident, adding: "I think we're the better team and we just need to show it on LAN. Before was online."

That prophecy came true almost immediately, as Astralis rushed to a 10-2 lead on the CT side of Mirage off the back of highlights from all three of their riflers.

After a lengthy technical pause due to a Steam outage, Astralis looked a touch more sluggish on their pick of Inferno and lost both pistols.

Two Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund clutches and jabbi's lurks were all that prevented a disaster as the latter pieced together seven multi-kills in regulation. On CT side, Astralis again started poorly but made it from 8-11 to 12-12.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, who was fragless for the first six rounds of Inferno and only had nine after 24 (four being exit frags), was the one to step up in overtime as Astralis closed the match out 16-12 and 2-0.

Meanwhile B8, who were playing without coach Ivan "⁠maddened⁠" Iordanidi behind them, go into the lower bracket knowing that Inferno was their map to close.

No Overpass just yet

Banning Anubis previously gives Astralis the luxury of keeping Overpass, a map we know Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen and device love, in its wrapper for now.

After playing the FPG final we know there will have been no time to practice the map, so it might be next event before we see how Astralis play on the new map.

jabbi credits HooXi for more focus on the gameplan

jabbi was asked pre-game about the differences between Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and HooXi, and gave a fairly illuminating answer:

"HooXi is really good about taking control on T side," he told Freya. "He really knows what to do and likes to go more into the gameplan.

"But in HEROIC and also in Astralis, with cadiaN, we had to be really proactive and do a lot of things in-game. We couldn't just say what we wanted to do from the game plan."

We heard similar noises from Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis after Liquid removed cadiaN, which begs the question of whether anyone can make cadiaN's on-the-fly, momentum, calling still work in tier one.

More highlights from Astralis vs B8:

• jabbi USP triple opens proceedings

• stavn locks down catwalk with fast 4k

• Staehr transfer turns the round with 3k

• stavn 1v2 kicks off Inferno for Astralis

• stavn clutches again, 1v3 on A

• B8 3v5 for 12 on Inferno

• device steps up with 3k Balc hold