Gambit Eliminate Astralis From IEM Summer; OG Defeat Virtus.pro To Secure Playoffs

Astralis was playing catchup throughout the series against Gambit as the two teams crossed paths in an early elimination match, with the Russian side reigning supreme (16-8 Inferno, 16-7 Overpass) and marching on in the tournament. To earn a place in the playoffs, Gambit will have to overcome one more team – Complexity.

Posting a 1.81 rating for the series, Sergey “⁠Ax1Le⁠” Rykhtorov was a thorn in Astralis‘ side, with a solid performance from Emil “⁠Magisk⁠” Reif proving insuficiend to keep his team afloat. Astralis‘ 9-12th finish in IEM Summer follows a 6th place from Flashpoint 3, with the Peter “⁠dupreeh⁠” Rasmussen and co. hoping for a better showing at the final event of the season, IEM Cologne.

Ax1Le was in the zone against Astralis, aceing the Danes on Inferno

In the match played on the B stream, OG brushed aside Virtus.pro (16-10 Mirage, 16-11 Overpass), building on their strong opening win over NIP and securing at least a place in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Dzhami “⁠Jame⁠” Ali‘s squad has been relegated to the lower bracket where they will have to overcome Spirit and the winner of NIP – Heroic to reach playoffs.

Gambit looked unstoppable early on Inferno as Ax1Le‘s sharp aim propelled them to a 5-0 CT lead. Lucas “⁠Bubzkji⁠” Andersen and Andreas “⁠Xyp9x⁠” Højsleth pulled off a 2v4 on B to get Astralis back into it, with Magisk coming online to make it a competitive half in the end. The Danes claimed the pistol and followup after the switch, only for Gambit to shut the door on the comeback with seven unanswered rounds (16-8).

The Russian team’s Terrorist side was equally dangerous on Overpass. With Ax1Le topping the scoreboard again, they dominated Astralis across the board, taking 10 rounds in the first half. Lukas “⁠gla1ve⁠” Rossander‘s team got a couple of rounds to start their offense, but Gambit closed out the series in no time as Timofey “⁠interz⁠” Yakushin clutched out a 1v1 on A in the final round.

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The momentum swung back and forth in the first half of Mirage as both OG and Virtus.pro went on five-round streaks, but Aleksi “⁠Aleksib⁠” Virolainen‘s team switched to the offense slightly behind, 8-7. That deficit was quickly nullified as Aleksib‘s men puz up a near-flawless T-side, winning their map pick 16-10.

On Overpass, Virtus.pro‘s pick, OG were barely contested in the first half as the European side got the upper hand after winning the second-round force and didn’t let go. Nikolaj “⁠niko⁠” Kristensen picked up a couple of key multikills early on and the rest of the team chipped in, building to an 11-4 lead. Down 13-4 shortly, Jame‘s team didn’t falter and brought the game back to 13-11 with a strong streak, but OG managed to break their bank and bring it over the line, 16-11.