Credit: Stephanie Lieske ESL

Astralis overpower VP after thrilling battle at EPL

The blockbuster matchup at ESL Pro League between the Danes and VP didn’t disappoint.

2021-03-27 | @PleyTB

Astralis is now at the very top of Group D after they defeat Virtus.pro in a true nail-biter of a match. A triple-overtime win was not enough for VP this evening, as the mighty Danes proved their excellence.

Dzhami “Jame” Ali and his troops came out red-hot at the beginning of the match on Inferno, looking like a team in full-synergy with a stellar T-side, which resulted in an 8-1 lead. Despite being in control, VP’s levels decreased. Something, Astralis took advantage of by grabbing the 16-13 victory after two strong comebacks.

On Astralis’ map pick of Train, the two teams delivered some fantastic Counter-Strike with nearly every round going down to the wire. It was Virtus.pro who ruled the first half, in quite the dominant fashion, by setting the score at 11-4 going into the switch. However, the Russians couldn’t maintain the lead, as the mighty Danes crawled closer and closer towards VP.

Astralis managed to set up overtime through insane clutches 1v2, 1v3, 3v5 clutches by the likes of dupreeh, magisk, and device, even though things looked done and dusted towards the end of regulation.

In what ended in an insanely close and thrilling triple-OT battle and an early contender for ‘Map of the Year’, Virtus.pro showed great character by securing the 25-23 win, after a crucial 1v1 clutch by Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis.

On the deciding map on Vertigo, Astralis had to regain their confidence and poise after the devastating loss on Train, which went down up and down throughout the entire map. However, when things mattered the most, Astralis proved their class and showed why they are the most successful team in CS:GO history.

gla1ve and the rest of Astralis established a strong CT-sided half and could present a confident 9-6 lead before the last switch. A dominance they brought through to the second half, where they continued their impressive performance by cruising through VP’ CT-defence, which eventually ended in a 16-10 match-winning score.

Astralis – Virtus.pro| ESL Pro League Group D

16-13 (Inferno) | gla1ve – 1.46 Rating / 23-16 K-D / 99.1 ADR

25-23 (Train) | Jame – 1.16 Rating / 32-27 K-D / 74.5 ADR

16-10 (Vertigo) | gla1ve – 1.31 Rating / 22-16 K-D / 94.5 ADR

MVP

Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander – 1.16 Rating / 75-68 K-D / 82.8 ADR

Highlight of the match