Astralis Defeat Extra Salt; Complexity Send Vitality To Lower Bracket In DH Masters

Both Astralis and Vitality debuted new lineups in the opening matches of DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 group B, but only the Danes walked away with a victory.

Two roster changes were the main talking point of the opening matches of DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 Group B: Nicolai “⁠device⁠” Reedtz‘s departure from Astralis, which caused some role shuffling for the four-time Major champions, and Vitality‘s benching of Cédric “⁠RpK⁠” Guipouy in favor of youngster Jayson “⁠Kyojin⁠” Nguyen Van.

dupreeh had a solid debut with the AWP

Any hopes for a North American upset were wiped away by Astralis quickly as they picked up a 7-0 start on Nuke against Extra Salt. Emil “⁠Magisk⁠” Reif was leading the way, but Peter “⁠dupreeh⁠” Rasmussen on the AWP as well as Lucas “⁠Bubzkji⁠” Andersen, now a permanent fixture in the active lineup, provided firepower to secure a 16-8 win over the FunSpark ULTI 2020 Europe runners-up.

Kyojin‘s debut for Vitality was spoiled by Complexity and an in-form Justin “⁠jks⁠” Savage. The Australian posted a 24K-15D scoreline alongside nine multikill rounds and a clutch to power his team to a 16-10 victory on Nuke, sending the French powerhouse to the lower bracket.

The winners of the two matches, Astralis and Complexity, will face off on Friday in the upper bracket semi-finals, while Vitality will have to stave off Extra Salt if they wish to avoid their fifth group stage elimination in a row.