We’re two months into the season and, finally, we’re out of BLAST’s group stage.
The Fall Showdown, an eight-team single elimination bracket to decide the final spot for Fall finals in Copenhagen, is the last event before the Major, and was a chance for Astralis — who have had a.. tough few weeks — to try and redeem themselves.
And, it was a great start. Astralis, still with MistR as a stand-in, managed to beat newly-crowned #1 in the world Vitality.
A Vitality that still had ZywOo in peak form, too. The Chosen One got a 1.55 rating and still lost. Meanwhile, the usual 30-frags-and-still-lose champion blameF got a 1.37 rating and WON. It’s all gone upside down.
Even if “it’s online” and “Astralis have that dead team bounce”, it’s a result that will annoy Vitality. zonic, Magisk, and dupreeh miss the Royal Arena for the second year in a row and, just as importantly, their considerable momentum going into Rio gets a hefty dent.
Naturally, Astralis didn’t stick the landing. In the final against Heroic, a Danish derby to decide which team would fly the flag in the Royal Arena, the wheels fell off the cart as normal.
Heroic ran out convincing 2:0 winners, meaning they’ll be Denmark’s sole representative at both the IEM Rio Major and BLAST Fall Finals.
Not that this guarantees a warm reception from the Astralis faithful in the Royal Arena, of course. We all remember the boos and borderline cheating from some in black-and-red in Copenhagen last year, and Heroic may well get more of the same this year.
Which seems a bit silly. Astralis have literally worked with HUNDEN this year, so it can’t be about Heroic’s cheating accusations. If you ask us, it’s time to get used to Heroic being your best team, Denmark. Astralis’ star is starting to look like a black hole.
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