The series opened on Inferno where Team Spirit got off to a great start but Astralis
came back to form and finished the first half 8-7. On Astralis’ T side, gla1ve
took over the reins and ignited a spark in his teammates. Team Spirit only
managed to win a couple of rounds before the Danes sealed the victory 16-11.
Team Spirit got off to another strong start on Train and built a 10-5 lead on their
CT side at halftime. On a heavily CT-sided map, Astralis hoped for a comeback
to decide the match in their favor. After the Russian team also converted the
pistol round it became clear that this train had already left the station. Team
Spirit tied the series with a 16-13 win.
After taking each other’s map picks, the series continued on Dust 2 where Astralis’ hopes
of winning quickly turned to, well, dust. Team Spirit dominated on their CT
side and claimed a 15-0 half in which chopper put on a stellar performance. The
- not so - Great Danes barely managed to win the second pistol round. Astralis
could never build any momentum after that and the Russian squad claimed the
16-1 map win and the 2-1 victory in the series.
This was only the second time that Astralis lost a map 16-1. The first loss was handed
to them by North at the DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. With this win, Team
Spirit advances to the semifinals. Astralis goes to the quarterfinals and has
to shoot for the stars at IEM Katowice after this tough loss.
(This post refers to the match between Astralis and Team Spirit that took place on February 21st, 2021.)
