"We are moving on. We have had a few days off after returning home from Poland. There has been a need to recharge our batteries, and as I said, we have spent time finding out where we need to improve rather than just jumping on the server and expecting things to improve by themselves. We have made a specific plan for how much and how we want to train leading up to Romania," Straube states.
"In Romania, it is essential that we feel tactically in place - and we are very far along after training with the team this week. We have to be true to the agreements we have as a team. What we as a team need to bring to the table, and how each individual is responsible for contributing their best," the sport director adds.
Fresh off a 2-0 series victory over the newly assembled Falcons in the opener, the Main team came out firing on all cylinders against Vitality, the #1 team in the world, in the upper bracket final. Martin 'stavn' Lund and Nicolai 'dev1ce' Reedtz popped off against the superstar AWPer Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut and Co.
The Danes grabbed an impressive win over the European roster after an intense fight with dev1ce and his teammates clawing their way to a decider duel on Overpass. A masterclass performance on Overpass pushed the Danish lineup series over the line, sending the ZywOo and Vitality to the consolidation final.
Talk about fate's cruel joke: Another Vitality showdown in the group final. This time, Vitality managed to reset after dropping Inferno, and despite a close battle, the Danes fell. Benjamin 'blameF' Bremers' crew went deep against BIG in the 5th-6th decider, taking the chaotic 2-1 series with two OT maps. They punched their ticket to the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, June 12- 16, with a hefty $425,000 prize pool.
"Overall, we were very pleased with our performance at Spring Groups. A lot of hard work and a closed RMR qualifier preceded this tournament, and I think we mostly succeeded in what we had agreed on leading up to this. We displayed our teamwork values both competitively and personally, showing what we're capable of and that we had the qualities to compete against and beat the world's best teams. However, we learned that complacency gets you nowhere. You have to bring your A-game in every match, no exceptions," says Kasper Straube.
"The BIG match was mentally tricky for us, which was also reflected in what we delivered on the server, but for me, it is the essential quality to win when you are not playing well. We must remember that we are still a new lineup and that our level will have instabilities. We'll focus on ironing out these inconsistencies to maintain our top level," the sports director states.
"When we sat down at the beginning of the year and looked at the tournament schedule, Spring Final was certainly one of the tournaments we quickly prioritized highly. Since the finals are played in June, it gives us time to reach a level where we expect to be able to compete for the title," Straube adds.
"We have spent a lot of resources on why things went as they did in Katowice, and we are now working on the issues we have addressed. One of the things that hurt me the most was the expression we had as a team. We lacked energy and joy," the sports director states.
"We lost three maps to two really good teams, which they have also proven after their match against us, but we need to focus on ourselves. Game-wise, we were below par and made a lot of team and individual mistakes for which we were punished. Clearly, our mindset was not where it needs to be to deliver the performances we expect from ourselves," Straube adds.
You can as see all the Main teams matches on our community website Astralis Watch.
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