Fans of the Danish CS:GO giant Astralis woke up to disappointing news today, as the four-time Major winners suffered a 13-9 defeat to 9 Pandas in the opening Swiss round of Group B at the European RMR tournament.
On Nuke, Astralis struggled on their T side, which faltered and allowed the Russian squad from 9 Pandas to gain the upper hand in the second half of the map.
Astralis played without their star AWPer Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, who has withdrawn from competition for the remainder of the year due to illness. Stepping in as a replacement, Alexander “br0” Bro delivered a commendable performance, ending as one of only two Astralis players with a positive kill-death ratio.
donk dominates
Meanwhile, G2 and Team Spirit began their campaigns at the Shanghai event with dominant wins. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets was the star of Spirit’s match against B8, putting on an incredible display with a 2.46 HLTV rating as Spirit cruised to a 13-1 victory. The young Russian prodigy proved once again why he’s one of the most exciting players to watch.
Virtus.pro upset
Virtus.pro, however, faced an upset, falling 14-16 in overtime to Passion UA. Despite the efforts of Dzhami “Jame” Ali, Virtus.pro couldn’t avoid the surprising loss.
The day ahead
The opening round will conclude with BIG vs. Sashi and 3DMAX vs. TSM before all teams return to action later today for the second round.
Today’s results:
Spirit – B8 13-1
G2 – Ninjas in Pyjamas 13-7
Virtus.pro – Passion UA 14-16
Eternal Fire – Aurora 13-8
Heroic – PARIVISION 13-8
Astralis – 9 Pandas 9-13
