• Tournament: POWER Ligaen Season 27
• Stage: LAN Finals Play-In
• Teams: Astralis Talent (Ligaen) and Astralis Women (3. Division A)

It's been an exciting week as the Talents qualified for the LAN Finals of POWER Ligaen S27 by beating Sashi Academy. A spot directly into the Grand Final was then at stake, but unfortunately, they lost 1-2 versus WOPA.

The top four teams of the Group Stage, all tied with 27 points, attended the Play-In for the LAN Finals, competing in a Double-Elimination, best-of-three format.

The POWER Liga top four

• Denial
• Astralis Talent
• Sashi Academy
• WOPA

Two weeks ago, Andreas "kiR" Kirstein and his companions fought for survival in the league but turned it around with three crucial victories to make the top four and even end second on the table.

Captain Leading the Charge

They first took on Sashi Academy in the Play-In, beginning on the opponent's map pick, Ancient. The home turf squad claimed a first-half lead of 5-7, but as the Talents switched to the T-side, they won six of the seven following rounds, making the score 11-8. All 24 rounds were then needed to conclude the match in the Talents' favor, 13-11.

On Nuke, Simon "sSen" Solnæs Iversen kicked off the match with three amazing glock frags to keep the CTs off the bomb and to win the first round of the map.

kiR, the captain, had everything under control and even topped the scoreboard with a 1.77 rating and 20 frags in the dominant 13-4 victory.

Match Result

• 2-0 vs. Sashi Academy (13-11 on Ancient, 13-4 on Nuke)

Grand Final Highway Denied

On the other side of the bracket, WOPA beat Denial, where the first-mentioned squad then took on the Talent team in the Upper Bracket Final, determining who would advance directly to the Grand Final at the LAN Finals.

As the former match, we once again had a tight first map, but thanks to a fantastic performance by Emil "kroK" Wiedemann, who reached 26 frags and a 1.32 rating, the map was in overtime 16-13.

Unfortunately, the win streak ended here as WOPA claimed both their map pick and the decider and won the match 1-2.

Match Result

• 1-2 vs. WOPA (16-13 on Nuke, 9-13 on Anubis and 5-13 on Ancient)

Upcoming POWER Liga Matches

By winning versus Sashi Academy, Richart "ANSG1" Saleela Nielsen & Co. secured a place in the Semi-final, where they'll meet Denial, who won versus Sashi Academy in the Lower Bracket Final to gain access to the LAN Finals.

The POWER Liga S27 LAN Finals are happening on Saturday, November 23, 2024, in Odense.

• Semi-final vs. Denial (November 23, 2024, at 13:30 CET)
• Possible Grand Final vs. WOPA (November 23, 2024, at 17:30 CET)