After Astralis clinched a spot in the IEM Katowice semi-finals with an undefeated run through the group stage, we got a hold of Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander to discuss the team's improvement from BLAST Premier and their focus on Vertigo.

The Danes have gone through to the semi-finals after beating Cloud9, Vitality, and fnatic without losing a single map, making a fantastic recovery at the Polish event following their fumble at BLAST Premier earlier in February.

Astralis have made Vertigo one of their priorities

In our interview, the team's in-game leader spoke to their improvements since the event in London, reiterating Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen's point that the team has introduced more structure again, and discussed other topics such as their biggest threats at IEM Katowice, as well their affinity for Vertigo and the current meta on the map.

You've had a great recovery here from the BLAST fumble at the beginning of the month, what do you see as the biggest difference between then and now?

I think BLAST was a bit of a wake-up call for us. We thought that we were really good in practice, but when we actually looked back after BLAST Premier we started to realize that we didn't play as structured as we used to. We played a little too loosely, and when you play against really good teams who are really prepared and warm individually you get shut down by playing too loosely. We tried to incorporate more structure after BLAST Premier and I feel like we're doing better now. When you get a kill, fall back, if you're alone you need to fall back, don't go for the next kill because there could be one or two more, you don't know. That's what we tried.

We knew that, when we started to permaban Mirage, Vertigo had to be a good map for us to have a good map pool. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander

You've been putting a lot of focus on Vertigo lately, picking it several times this year already, what is the thinking behind making that map one of your priorities?

Vertigo is a map that we've been practicing really hard. We knew that, when we started to permaban Mirage, Vertigo had to be a good map for us to have a good map pool. We've been working a lot on it and we're trying to play it as much as possible. We think the more we play it in official matches the better we get, that is where you really see how teams play. Right now, it's working out pretty well for us. Of course, the Vitality [overtime] game was a bit shaky, but I think they're a pretty good Vertigo team and just really good, individually skilled team, as well, so I'm pretty comfortable in our Vertigo.

What do you make of how the meta has been changing on Vertigo as a result of all the changes, now that it has stabilized again a little?

I think it's tough because, as you say, they made a lot of changes on it, but we try as well as we can to practice it as much as possible and make the meta ourselves. Right now, we're trying to do some offensive pushes on A as CT and see how that works out. On T side, it can be tough. I think A is pretty easy to hit, but a lot of CTs are stacking on A, that's why you want to go for the B executes, as well, so there are a lot of mindgames going on on the map. A lot of stacking, so it can be really tough to play T side against a stacking team.

It's crazy to see that when G2 got two new players in nexa and huNter-, even though they don't speak French, the team dynamic just changed completely. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander

At the beginning of the tournament, dupreeh picked mousesports out of the bunch as perhaps the biggest favorite. Who do you now see as your biggest threats after seeing how the competition has been playing out?

The favorites going into the tournament should probably be us and mousesports, maybe mousesports with a little advantage. I mean, we should have won in Odense, that Dust2 game was pretty bad and I myself lost us some key rounds that lost us the game, in the end.

G2, I see them as a big dark horse. They have been doing really well. It's crazy to see that when they got two new players in nexa and huNter-, even though they don't speak French the team dynamic just changed completely. You see all of them are like new players. JaCkz was was pretty good before, I think, but you see a player like kennyS who is just getting much better now that he has a really good, understanding in-game leader, it seems like. I feel really happy for them that they're getting some success again, and, hopefully, we'll play them this tournament.

We were really happy that the Astralis organization and the players went with ESL Pro League because that is where the best teams are. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander

Earlier this year the negotiations with the two competing leagues, EPL and FLASHPOINT, came to an end, and Astralis sided with the former alongside pretty much everyone who had a choice. Can you speak to the reasons why?

For us the players, we thought that we wanted to be in the most competitive league where the best teams were. In the end, we were really happy that the Astralis organization and the players went with ESL Pro League because that is where the best teams are.

What did you make of how the organization came under fire by Thorin for how the negotiations were handled?

I wasn't in the negotiations myself, so I can't talk too much about it. From our point of view, it was back and forth. I don't know too much about it, to be honest, so I'm having a tough time talking about it when I don't have the knowledge.

You alluded to the organization and the players making the decision together, was there a lot of back and forth between you and the organization?