Astralis wins first event in 778 days
Astralis is your CCT North Europe Series 3 champion.
It has been a long day for both Aurora and Astralis who played their semi-finals just hours before heading into the final against each other. Aurora took down the Polish team Illuminar 2-1 in their semi-final and Astralis dominated their rivals in Copenhagen Flames in a 2-0 fashion.
Starting off the final on their map pick was Astralis as Ancient came out as the first map of the final. The Danes played an impressive T side as their IGL Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander pulled off an impressive 1.56 T side rating. A 10-5 half in favor of Astralis was enough for the legendary team to take map one 16-8.
Heading into Mirage Aurora came out pressing the speeder from the very start. With rounds going in favor of the Russians, Astralis couldn't find their momentum as Aurora kept on playing well on. The Russians took map two 16-9.
The decider came down to the wire as both teams wouldn't let the trophy get out of reach. What looked like a great final map for the Danes ended up being a close game all the way as things got tied up at 14-14. Despite Aurora going into round 29 with the best buy, Astralis took down the Russians with only Tech-9s.
A force buy from Aurora took down the five players of Astralis as they once again ties things up, but this time at 15-15. Heading into overtime Astralis took their experience to advantage. With players like device, Xyp9x, and gla1ve Aurora stood no chance against the five-time major winners in Astralis. The Danes won Nuke 19-15 and the CCT North Europe Series 3 event.
It's the first trophy for Astralis in 778 days. The last time Astralis won a trophy was back in December 2020 when the mighty Danes took down their North American rivals Team Liquid at the IEM Global Challenge 2020.
With roster chances and legendary faces departing from the Danish powerhouse, Astralis has been down the bin for such a long time without reaching any success. However, winning a tournament over a good team in Aurora who had a 15-match win streak before facing Astrlis will give the Danes a huge confidence boost going forward with the 2023 season.
Aurora - Astralis 1-2 | CCT North Europe Series 3
Ancient: Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander - 1.28 rating / 18-11 K-D / 77.2 ADR
Mirage: Vladislav 'latt1kk' Vydrin - 1.57 rating / 21-11 K-D / 83.2 ADR
Nuke: Christian 'Buzz' Andersen - 1.31 rating / 30-20 K-D / 88.4 ADR
MVP: Christian 'Buzz' Andersen - 1.15 rating / 61-53 K-D / 82.9 ADR