The stars have finally aligned for Astralis as they take down Fnatic in two maps to secure a position in the ELEAGUE Major grand final.
Astralis win on de_Cache - 9:6, 6:9, 4:1 (19:16)
Astralis start on the Counter-Terrorist side.
The first semi-final matchup kicked off with Swedish hopefuls Fnatic taking on Astralis on Cache in front of the capacity crowd in Atlanta. Fnatic would begin the match on the Terrorist side, where they attempted to quickly determine the pace by rolling past Astralis on pistol round. Astralis, however, made sure that the tide would not sway in the Swedes’ favour, as they used a force-buy to catch Fnatic off guard and take the next round.
Astralis used this momentum to get out to a small and early 3-1 lead, but Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson’s squad did not lay down, as they used their first glimpse of a full economy to force their hand into securing another round. Astralis, however, continued to make adjustments on the fly thanks to the tactical mastery of Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. Throughout the series, gla1ve provided exceptional strategic expertise that allowed his teammates to punish Fnatic’s missteps.
After a brief push from Fnatic post-reset, the score was 6-6, but Astralis once again stifled Swedes’ momentum, as they put three rounds on the board to close the half out 9-6.
In a mirror of the first half, Astralis came out of the gate fast to take the pistol round, and subsequently dropped the next round to Fnatic’s anti-eco. Astralis seemed to falter a bit in the second half; admittedly, this was Fnatic’s selection, and they were being portrayed as the underdog - but after much round trading, and a brief scare for Fnatic when Astralis reached match point five times, both teams found themselves in an overtime situation, with the score at 15-15.
Ultimately, Fnatic’s effort waned in the extra rounds, as Astralis took control of the map to win 19-16, and take the advantage in the series.
Astralis win on de_Nuke - 12:3, 4:2 (16:5)
Astralis start on the Terrorist side.
The second match of the series pitted both teams against each other on Nuke, which was Astralis’ pick. Fnatic were now in the hot seat, having dropped a close match on their map selection, and now facing elimination.
Nicolai “device” Reedtz helped set the tone early for Astralis by killing four of the five Fnatic team members on the Terrorist-side pistol round, and the Danes didn’t look back from there. It very quickly became evident why Astralis chose Nuke, as they put their tactics on display to take the first half 12-3.
While the Swedes did not appear flustered, they knew in their minds that they would need a massive comeback to stay alive in this tournament, and taking only three rounds in the first half left them with very little room to work with.
Fnatic was able to secure two rounds in the second half before succumbing to the beast that is Astralis 16-5, which meant the Swedes would be heading home, and Astralis would make secure their position in their first ever grand finals appearance.
