Photo credit: Freja Borne
Our first tournament under the new set-up was a roller coaster experience straight out of Six Flags Magic Mountain!
A rough start to the tournament with tough losses put us in a spot with our backs against the wall, but the work around the players' mental strength seemingly paid off.
On January 28, we won 2-1 vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas, which gave us a final chance to qualify for Spring Finals. On January 29, our team sat face to face with OG Esport in a must-win match, and after a staggering 95 rounds of intense play, we secured the first of hopefully many positive results of 2023.
The first match was on our map pick, Inferno, where a tense back-and-forth was a continuous trend throughout the entire series. The first half ended with eight rounds to Astralis' T-side, whereafter OG broke our defenses in the second half and edged a victory, 14-16.
After a quick break, the teams were back on the server for a game on Vertigo. A three-round start in both halves and some audible roars from the red-shirted side were enough to intimidate OG into giving us the win, despite an 11-14 scoreline, which we turned around to 16-14, securing the third and final map - Ancient.
After winning the knife round ahead of Ancient, we decided to pick T-side on the updated Ancient to start as the aggressors. This led to a strong start, with a 10-5 scoreline at the halftime point.
In the second half, OG also showed their T-side strength, managing to force us into overtime in this marathon of a series.
In overtime, we took two rounds on each side and closed the match, thus the series 2-1. The win against OG means we have qualified for BLAST Premier Spring Finals, which will be played in Washington D. C. on June 7 - 11, 2023.
Well done to the team and the team behind the team!
2023 has officially begun!
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