Astralis take down Liquid to secure first win in Copenhagen

Astralis picked up their first points at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen after defeating Liquid 16-10 in a one-sided Nuke game.

The Danes bounced back from their poor start to the tournament with a convincing victory to stay in the race for a spot in the best-of-three final. In a match between the two best teams in recent history, Astralis were clearly the better side as they took control of proceedings practically from the offset and never let go against a Liquid side who were outfought and outsmarted.

The North Americans quickly realised that they were facing a hostile environment at the Royal Arena as Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski's 1v2 clutch in the pistol was met by jeers from the vociferous home crowd, who then roared aloud as Astralis answered back in the next round.

Liquid went through a dry patch as they lost five rounds in a row without planting the bomb even once, forcing Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella to call a tactical pause in an effort to halt Astralis' momentum. But the pattern of the game would not change for them: any round that Liquid round was quickly countered with a round by the Danes, who set up great crossfires and won the vast majority of the duels as they strolled to a 12-3 lead.

Astralis were far too strong for Liquid to handle

Now playing on the CT side, Liquid took the pistol round with a great ramp hold to find some much-needed breathing room. But just like in the first half there would be no follow-up as Astralis hit back immediately off the back of two entry kills from Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif on the upper site.

Astralis kept the momentum going and reached match point at 15-5 as Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen came up huge with a trio of kills to turn a 2v4 situation around. With their backs against the wall, Liquid dug deep in search of overtime, but their resistance collapsed in the 26th round as the Danes laid the game to rest to keep their qualification hopes alive.

BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019Best of 1 LiquidMatchpage 10 16 2nd November 2019 Astralis 10Nuke 16

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	20 - 22	-2	89.4	1.07
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	18 - 20	-2	76.5	1.01
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	12 - 18	-6	51.1	0.80
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	15 - 19	-4	58.4	0.79
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	9 - 20	-11	57.3	0.62

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	25 - 14	+11	95.4	1.45
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	27 - 17	+10	105.7	1.44
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	23 - 15	+8	85.9	1.23
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	12 - 12	0	57.2	0.98
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	12 - 16	-4	57.2	0.98

Group A TEAM M P FaZe 2 6 Ninjas in Pyjamas 2 6 Natus Vincere 2 3 Liquid 3 3 Astralis 3 3 Cloud9 2 0 Natus Vincere #10 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1182 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 26 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1512 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Nick 'nitr0' Cannella Age: 24 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1207 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Cloud9 #37 Oscar 'mixwell' CañellasDamian 'daps' SteeleTimothy 'autimatic' TaKenneth 'koosta' SuenYassine 'Subroza' Taoufik James 'JamezIRL' Macaulay Emil 'Magisk' Reif Age: 21 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 972 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.63 Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif FaZe #21 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Janko 'YNk' Paunović Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Eric 'adreN' Hoag Ninjas in Pyjamas #12 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergSimon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Faruk 'pita' Pita