The first team to qualify for the playoffs is Astralis after beating TyLoo, 16-9, on Mirage and earning the top spot in Group A.

The pistol round started with TYLOO taking control of the A site, and the Chinese team went on to win the round after planting despite Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander getting four kills and knocking his last rival down to single digit health points. Recomposing themselves after almost losing that 3vs1 afterplant clutch situation to gla1ve, TYLOO got the two anti-ecos. The first gun round, however, went the way of the Danes with Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz posting four big kills.

TYLOO ran into a wall for the five rounds following their last win, but their patience paid off as they found a way to sneak into B after trading Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye in mid and taking on Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen in the site. The next round, Kjaerbye got three under his belt, but was unable to finish it as YuLun "⁠Summer⁠" Cai won the 1vs1 having the position advantage in the B afterplant situation to tie the score back up, 5-5. From there on out, it was the Astralis show, as Kjaerbye tore it up en route to a 10-5 lead in the half.



Kjaerbye hit 30 frags on Astralis’ road to the semifinals

The start of the second half wasn’t so hot, though, as Astralis lost the pistol round once again despite gla1ve’s best efforts, killing three. After the anti-ecos went to TYLOO, Astralis got back on track without a hitch, winning the first round in a B execute which prompted the Chinese squad to take a timeout. The next round ended up with gla1ve and device taking four frags in an A site afterplant to bag the 12th round and force TYLOO on an eco.

Astralis then pushed relentlessly until they got the match point, 15-8, but in an overzealous attempt at taking the A site without using utility, the Danes got denied. The next round was the last, though, as Astralis slowly played mid grinding down what little was left of TYLOO, securing a semifinal spot.

IEM Oakland 2016 Best of 1 Astralis Matchpage 16 9 TYLOO 16 Mirage 9