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Astralis secured their spot at the BLAST Premier Fall Final in Copenhagen by defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) in a two-map series.
The Counter-Strike matches, held on Mirage and Inferno, ended with scores of 13-6 and 13-5, respectively, in favour of Astralis.
.@ASTRALISCS ARE HEADING TO THE FALL FINAL! ✅ #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/m1VPuRSN9f
— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 4, 2024
Nicolai “device” Reedtz expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance, acknowledging NiP’s potential despite their lacklustre showing.
“We played really well, and NIP are probably a better team than they showed today,” device commented post-match.
“It’s been a decent tournament. We had some really good moments against Vitality, even though we lost. We’re happy to get the season started.”
Artem “r1nkle” Moroz had a notably tough series, averaging a 0.62 rating and managing only four AWP kills.
Despite the setback, NIP’s coach, Richard “Xizt” Landström, remained optimistic.
“We can’t get too greedy with how good we want to be results-wise. We’re facing really good teams and have some young players, so we just need a bit of time and experience,” he said.
Astralis’ journey to the play-in match came after a second-place finish in their group, where they were defeated by Team Vitality.
NiP, on the other hand, fell to G2 Esports in their group.
The series commenced on Mirage, with Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard (1.78 rating) and Martin “stavn” Lund (1.57 rating) leading Astralis to victory.
Inferno saw NiP struggle further, posting only five rounds despite winning both pistol rounds, ultimately ending their campaign in disappointment.
In the final series of BLAST Premier Fall Groups, Natus Vincere (NaVi) claimed the sixth Fall Final spot by defeating Complexity 2-0 (13-11, 13-6).
.@NATUSVINCERE ARE HEADING TO THE FALL FINAL! ✅ #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/NxiPuyJcmN
— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 4, 2024
NAVI’s run through the groups was challenging, marked by two losses to Team Liquid.
However, they capitalised on their second qualification attempt against Complexity.
The match on Anubis was closely contested, with Complexity leading 6-1 on the counter-terrorist side before NaVi turned the tide.
Key performances from Justinas “jL” Lekavicius and crucial entries by Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen helped secure the map.
On Nuke, NaVi dominated from the start, concluding with a 9-3 offensive half and a quick series close.
Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski played a lone hand for Complexity throughout the series, finishing as their only player to record a positive kill/death difference (+5) and the third-highest rated player on the server (1.15).
Post-match, jL reflected on NAVI’s performance, emphasising the importance of their group stage struggles.
“It’s good that we got exposed here so that we can focus on Cologne,” jL stated.
“I think it was B1ad3’s master plan all along. Play five games so we get the most practice and be ready for Cologne.
“Jokes aside, our mistakes got exposed and we can fix them.”
Complexity and Ninjas in Pyjamas will drop into the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, joining the 14 other squads who will compete for the final two spots at the Fall Final.
Fall Final teams
- Team Spirit
- Team Liquid
- Team Vitality
- Natus Vincere
- Astralis
- G2 Esports
