Astralis run the gauntlet

While NA was imploding, the Europeans left in BLAST Spring Groups were more steely, more professional.

Well, sort of.

• Heroic defeated BIG, doing what Liquid could not, to secure a ticket to D.C.
• NIP put up a fight with stand-in maxster, but came up short against a rampant blameF.
• NAVI, after their comeback against Complexity, also qualified — though the U.S. Visa office might provide a sterner test to overcome than their CS teams.

And this is where it all got a bit... American.

If you thought Complexity vs EG was a fight to see who would lose first, then Astralis vs OG for the last Spring Final spot was even worse.

A ‘brawl’ is a generous way of describing the ‘match’. There were so many blunders you’d send HenryG back to NFTs and nearly outcompete my Chess.com 500 ELO slugfests all at once.

OG are the type of team to drag you into the mud with them. They 4-man pack into the A bombsite on Ancient 10 times a half. You either out-brawl them there or lose. It’s that simple.

But boy did Astralis get down and dirty. The deciding map had 9 clutches, a 2v5 from Buzz, and some vintage device entry frags to close it 19-17 in the Danes’ favour. It was classic OG: Awful CS, incredible entertainment.

OG’s magic seems to have run out. They have built an entire career out of winning in BLAST Groups. So what happens now they can’t even do that?

For Astralis, it’s a sign of promise. blameF and device, as anyone with eyes could have predicted, are one of the world’s best duos already. The old starship is starting to turn its cogs again.

BLAST Spring Final Attendees:

• 🇩🇰 Heroic
• 🇪🇺 G2
• 🇪🇺  FaZe
• 🇺🇦  NAVI
• 🇪🇺  Vitality
• 🇩🇰  Astralis
• EU Showdown Winner
• NA Showdown Winner

Both Showdowns begin on April 14.