Astralis beat SK 16-13 on overpass in the ELEAGUE Group C winners' match to secure a place in the playoffs, sending SK to tomorrow's decider against the winner of Na`Vi vs ALTERNATE aTTaX.

After the picks and bans, Overpass was the map left standing for SK and Astralis to duke it out for the first place in Group C. SK started on the terrorist side, and three kills by Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo in a play on the B site gave the Brazilian side the first round of the match. The second round didn’t go as planned for SK, though, as Astralis were able to pick off four of their players ending in a 1vs1 afterplant clutch situation, which Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz resolved after killing Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David with enough time to defuse the bomb.

The next round saw another 1vs1 afterplant situation, again on B, but this time device was on the losing end as TACO peaked perfectly from short to deny device the defuse. Astralis tried another pistol and armor buy, with Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander even sporting a UMP. Another afterplant situation had the fourth round going down to the wire. This time Astralis were able to win it with Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye and device besting the terrorists and defusing the bomb.

The fifth round also went back and forth, with SK getting into the A site. With all three SK players low on health, though, Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth was able to clean the site and defuse the bomb in the 3vs2. Three kills by Kjaerbye then stopped SK’s mid push, giving Astralis a tiny advantage at 4-2. Able to get one more, Astralis finally started to get the half under control, forcing SK to call a pause before their forcebuy.

After the pause, SK once again managed to abuse the B site, winning a couple of rounds and putting Astralis in an eco after which the game would be tied, 5-5, and prompting Astralis to call a timeout of their own. Astralis won after the pause, stopping another B attempt by SK, but a series of errors after being too aggressive on the following round gave SK a man advantage and a 1vs1 clutch by Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga gave his team the tie.



Kjaerbye put in work with 25 kills to help Astralis secure the win

Finally, SK were able to prevail late in the half, bagging the last few rounds to take the lead into the half with 9-6 on the scoresheet. Astralis’ chances were vanishing quickly as Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau got three insta-headshots in the pistol round, but Xyp9x with three of his own and four total in the round put Astralis back on track.

With 9-9 on the board and both teams fully bought up, the game had freshly restarted and Astralis was now on the offensive. A quad kill by device, including two after the bomb was down, gave Astralis the lead for the first time in the second half, 10-9. With the first two gun rounds under their belt and 12-9 on the scoreboard, the Danes were starting to assert their dominance. Finally SK were able to get a couple rounds in, now behind 14-11, and caused Astralis to call another pause.

TACO went huge once again, with three kills, to get SK its twelfth round and forcing Astralis on a pistol and armor buy. With 14-13 on the board, it seemed as if old choking flashbacks were about to take hold of the Danes, but Astralis were able to pull out a little extra mental fortitude and closed out the map 16-13, securing a spot in the ELEAGUE Season 2 playoffs.

ELEAGUE Season 2 Best of 1 SK Matchpage 13 16 Astralis 13 Overpass 16