K23 defeats Astralis after thriller match at Funspark Ulti

The former number 1 team in the world, Astralis, kickstarted their 2022 season with a match against K23 at Funspark Ulti 2021 Finals.

Mirage laid the ground for the first map. K23 found momentum at the beginning of the match leading 9-6 at halftime. After the break, Astralis managed to fight their way back and force the map to overtime. Worth noting was the return of Philip “Lucky” Ewald on the AWP, which proved to be a good idea for the Danes, who could see Lucky contributing with 21 AWP kills during the map. In the end, though, it was not enough against K23, who locked in their map pick by winning after double overtime.

The match continued on Astralis territory on Inferno. Here the Danes and especially the lethal blameF and k0nfig duo left no doubt of the outcome. Astralis plowed through their opponents and won the map in comfortable style.

Overpass was left as the decider. Here the Russians started as CTs and immediately started to dominate in the first half. The question was if the 10-5 lead was enough on the map, where CT’s often has the upper hand. During the second half, it became evident, that Astralis was not out of the match yet. The Danes took the lead for the first time on the map at 13-12.

K23 answered back with style, and for the second time in the match, we had to settle the score in overtime. Here Astralis only managed to win one of their CT rounds, which gave K23 the momentum needed for swinging the match in their favor. K23 won 19-16 and knocks Astralis down to the lower bracket of the tournament.

K23 - Astralis 2-1 | Funspark Ulti 2021 Finals

Mirage (22-19) | xsepower – 1.35 rating / 35-24 K-D / 81.3 ADR

Inferno (8-16) | blameF – 1.77 rating / 22-9 K-D / 99.6 ADR

Overpass (19-16) | blameF – 1.54 rating / 33-19 K-D / 104.3 ADR

MVP: Benjamin "blameF" Bremer | 1.48 rating / 88-49 K-D / 94.3 ADR