Tickets to Romania have been booked as the Danes qualified for the European RMR after beating PERA 2-0.
Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz: - Overall, I'm happy that we won Nuke because it became tough on the CT side. It was crucial that we closed it.
Before this matchup, Astralis had a 2-1 score in the Swiss System after victories against Ex-Thunderflash and Preasy and was defeated by AMKAL. Likewise, PERA won two matches against IKLA and EYEBALLERS but was slain by Eternal Fire.
The first half of Vertigo was quite even as it ended 7-5. dev1ce showed his skills early in the match by winning a 1v3 clutch on the T-side. Moving onto the other side, the game became one-sided, with Astralis earning six out of seven rounds to close the map, 13-6.
On their own map pick, Nuke, the Danes began on the T-side, where they looked furious. Five consecutive rounds were quickly earned, but PERA responded with five of their own, tying the score 5-5. Two rounds were collected from blameF & Co. before switching sides and continued their round-winning streak on the defense, making the score 10-5.
Once again, PERA fought back and eventually tied the score 10-10. It was anyone's game - right until dev1ce woke up and proved why he's one of the world's best players. In the span of two rounds, the 28-year-old AWP'er succeeded a 10-second defuse and got an incredible 4K. The Danes won the map 13-10, meaning they've secured qualification for the European RMR in Bucharest, Romania.
In a post-match interview, dev1ce spoke about the start of the new season.
- We've worked hard since we began on January 2. It's been intense, and now we're playing BLAST soon and maybe also playing Katowice, and then going to Romania for the RMR.
The legendary rifler was also asked about his new teammates:
- I think both of them are insanely talented. They're very proactive, communicates well and have incredible aim.
The European RMR begins on February 14 and finishes on February 22.