So far undefeated Players and Astralis faced each other in the first clash of the 2-0 teams. With the map picks being Ancient (Astralis), Dust2 (Players), and Inferno, the analysts were betting that this Bo3 would go the distance.
The match kicked off on Ancient where Astralis had the difficult task of starting on the T-side. The Danes struggled a bit, to begin with, going down 6-1 but ended up recovering nicely with seven rounds before halftime.
Astralis now only had to win nine rounds on a map that they have been very proficient on in the last couple of months, but they weren’t able to do so as “Ax1Le” and co. delivered an impressive offensive performance and took the map 16-13.
The action continued on Dust2 where the story of Ancient pretty much repeated itself. The Players delivered a good T-side despite a bad start to the game but were not able to replicate that same success on the CT-side as “gla1ve” carried his squad over the finish line at 16-12.
With both maps unexpectedly being stolen away, the teams were now headed to Inferno.
Starting on the T-side, the Players enjoyed a bit of early success as they took the first four rounds before Astralis were able to put their names on the board. The Danes, fortunately, managed to put some rounds together themselves, and only one round separated the two teams at the half.
As soon as the Players hit the CT-side everything was done and dusted. They completely destroyed the Danes who were only able to take a single round in the second half, resulting in a 16-8 win for the CIS-squad.
Highlight of the Bo3-series:
Players – Astralis 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR B
16-13 (Ancient) | {cflag:RU} Ax1Le – 1.53 Rating / 28-14 K-D / 91.4 ADR
12-16 (Dust2) | {cflag:DK} gla1ve – 1.25 Rating / 21-14 K-D / 72.0 ADR
16-8 (Inferno) | {cflag:KZ} HObbit – 1.73 Rating / 23-9 K-D / 100.7 ADR
MVP: {cflag:RU} Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov – 1.39 Rating / 70-51 K-D / 96.8 ADR
