Getting Into the Spirit of the Closed Qualifier

March 31, 2023

Our third matchup against Team Spirit in two months resulted in a fantastic 2-0 victory, with our youngster, Buzz, claiming the top fragging spot.

The Astralis main squad competes in the IEM Dallas 2023 Europe Closed Qualifier after qualifying through the Open Qualifiers a week ago.

Today, March 31, the opening round of the double-elimination bracket is concluded, and the qualifier lasts until April 3. Two teams will then qualify for IEM Dallas 2023, which runs from May 29-June 4.

Participating teams and initial matches:

  • Cloud9
  • sYnck
  • Ninjas in Pyjamas
  • OG
  • Spirit
  • Astralis
  • GODSENT
  • fnatic

Before this game, we were tied 1-1 in recent matchups against Team Spirit - and this time, we came out on top again!

gla1ve and co. picked Nuke as the first map, where Spirit beat us in ESL Pro League 12-16. Despite starting on the less favorited T-side, we got off to a great start by claiming a 7-round streak after Team Spirit's first two rounds.

Xyp9x led the scoreboard after the 6-9 half, achieving 11 frags and a 1.19 rating. Our CT side was even better as we began by winning the first four rounds in a row, scoring 13-6.

Spirit responded lightly, but it wasn't anything that blameF and Buzz couldn't handle as Counter-Terrorists. Both players reached ten frags in the 11-round half, and blameF even achieved a 1.78 rating.

In total, blameF won the rating race with a 1.37 rating, but Buzz took home the award for most frags in the first map with 20. With these fantastic performances in the 16-10 win, we were excited to play Vertigo as the following map.

Team Spirit took ownership of Vertigo during the first six rounds as they came in front 1-6.

We responded very well, and with the help from our veterans, gla1ve and Xyp9x, we got ahead 8-7 at halftime.

On the T-side of Vertigo, we witnessed a genuine team effort as the rounds bounced back and forth between Team Spirit and us.

The trio of gla1ve, Buzz, and dev1ce reached 21 frags, respectively, significantly impacting the 16-13 map victory.

With a 41-33 K/D, an ADR of 84.0, and a 1.21 rating, Buzz was our 'Man of the Match' in the 2-0 win.

Because of that, we are through to the Upper semi-finals, where we're facing GODSENT tomorrow, April 1, at 12:00 CEST.

Stay tuned on our social media for more information and a livestream link!

Day 2 matches:

Upper bracket

  • Cloud9
  • Ninjas in Pyjamas
  • Astralis
  • GODSENT

Lower bracket

  • sYnck
  • OG
  • Spirit
  • fnatic
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