Besides chasing their first big trophy in over four years, Astralis entered BLAST Open Lisbon with a clear objective: earn enough VRS points to secure a direct Major invite.
But so far that mission failed miserably.
On Friday, Astralis suffered a brutal 2-0 loss to FaZe, leading to an early tournament exit and potentially also the loss of their direct invitation to the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
“Out of our hands”
With the Major invite deadline set for April 7, Astralis has no more Valve-ranked matches left to improve their standing.
Speaking in a post-match interview with BLAST, Nicolai “device” Reedtz admitted that while the VRS points weren’t the primary focus, the team was aware of what was at stake.
– We spoke about it before the tournament, but I don’t think it was really the goal for this event. We showed a really good performance at PGL Cluj-Napoca and we wanted to build on that. But everyone knew back in their heads that one win or something like that would be almost enough. But now it’s out of our hands. Honestly, that’s just how it is.
– It’s always hard to say if it affected us too much or not – of course, the pressure of not going to a Major is high, especially in Astralis with us not having made it for quite some time now.
[post_preview url="https://pley.gg/astralis-out-early-at-blast-lisbon-as-they-lose-vital-vrs-points/"]What went wrong?
Speaking to the BLAST desk, device admitted that Astralis’ performance in Lisbon was unacceptable, suggesting that their energy wasn’t ideal.
– It’s not good enough how we performed here.
– There are a lot of things we’re not replicating good enough from event to event. We see the highs and we play to a very high level when we have the right energy and the right balance in the pace of our game. It’s just really annoying not knowing how to achieve that perfect pre-game energy.
With no more Valve-ranked matches left, Astralis now faces an anxious wait to see if they hold onto a Top 10 spot in Europe’s VRS rankings.
If Astralis fall out of the Top 10, they will have to battle through the MRQ in mid-April, a stage they have struggled with in past Major cycles.
Virtus.pro play their next match at BLAST Open Lisbon later today when they take on Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and the rest of Vitality.
The current VRS standing by Valve.
