Vitality knock Astralis down to the lower bracket at BLAST

Yesterday’s two winners in Group A clashed in the Upper Final at BLAST Premier Fall Group. The tournament where the two best in each group qualifies for the LAN BLAST Premier Fall Finals event at the Royal Arena later this year. Based in Denmark, the tournament has a high priority for Astralis, who could secure their participation with a win against Team Vitality today.

The Danes had shown promising signs with their 2-0 win against Evil Geniuses in the opening round. But today the opponents were at another level. On Overpass Vitality got the better of Astralis with a solid performance from the two experienced leaders on the team. Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire and Richard 'shox' Papillon acted as two excellent bodyguards for Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut, who once again proved his incredible talent with a fine performance. Vitality won the map 16-12.

Astralis had picked Nuke as the next map. A good choice for the Danes, who like yesterday showed an excellent T-side. Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen was on fire, and it seemed unthinkable, that the Danes could throw the lead away. But in spectacular fashion, Astralis lost the map and match after being ahead 14-7. A devastating loss for the Danes and in-game leader Emil 'Magisk' Reif, who made some "save" calls in the end of the match, that gave Vitality several "easy" rounds, where they did not have to defend against a retake.

Team Vitality is now through to the Group Final, and has at the same time secured a spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. Astralis will have to beat the winner of EG vs Team Liquid to advance.

Astralis - Team Vitality 0-2 | BLAST Premier Fall Group

12-16 (Overpass) |  ZywOo – 1.53 Rating / 24-13 K-D / 99.7 ADR

14-16 (Nuke) |  dupreeh – 1.34 Rating / 33-21 K-D / 88.4 ADR

MVP:  Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut | 1.32 Rating / 43-30 K-D / 86.4 ADR