SK won the third match of the day, and become the first team to make it to playoffs after beating Astralis, 16-12, on Inferno.

The first round went to Astralis, as a triple by Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and double by Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye eliminated SK who were trying to make a play onto the A site. On the first gun round, having lost the two prior, SK played A site again, but were this time able to make it into the site and plant with just six seconds on the clock to get on the board.

After saving four guns in the second gun round, Astralis made good use of all those weapons to stop SK for the first time in a full buy round to keep their lead, 4-2. With more slow play, SK won two rounds in a row, tying it up 4-4.

With a full save and an AWP, Astralis decided to stack B, and were able to stop SK, regaining some of their economy and doing the opposite to the Brazilian’s team. With this, Astralis quickly started to run away with the half, taking an 8-4 lead and forcing SK to take a timeout.



FalleN & co. will be on stage in Sydney

Down 9-6, SK took the crucial second pistol round. Having planted, though, Astralis were able to buy the third round, and didn’t allow SK to tie it up, keeping the lead after the first gun round, 10-8, which was further increased with an anti-eco, 11-8.

Not allowing SK were then able to take the first gun round, stopping Astralis from executing a late round play on the B site, with four players getting frags in a solid team effort. Winning the two following rounds, SK tied it up 11-11.

With SK dominating the CT side, and ahead 14-12, Astralis mustered up a three AK and two Tec buy, but it wasn’t enough as SK got on match point after stopping an A execute. The Brazilians then closed it out in the following round, 16-12.

IEM Sydney 2017 Best of 1 SK Matchpage 16 12 Astralis 16 Inferno 12



With SK making it through to the playoffs, this is what the Swiss stage looks like as of now: