Astralis clinch Spring Final spot after banger series against BIG
We're now on play-in day at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, and our first game saw the new Danish team of Astralis face off against resurgent German giants BIG.
A series that turned out to be an absolute banger, let's get into the action.
Map one - Vertigo (BIG's pick)
Astralis were quickest out of the gates on Vertigo, they opened up with five straight rounds on their T side.
However, BIG thought back, winning seven rounds in a row to end the first half 7-5 up.
With their confidence shattered, Astralis then lost to a round where BIG's buy looked like this...
Astralis regained composure to force OT from 12-8, but they quickly lost that momentum in overtime as s1n beat jabbi in a 1v1.
From that point on, overtime was a white wash, and BIG took the map 16-12.
Map two - Overpass (Astralis' pick)
Keen to get recover after their disappointing collapse in the final stages of Vertigo, Astralis kicked off Overpass going 4-0 up on their T side. They even pulled out some classic 2018 tactics in doing so, too.
BIG weren't going to let them take the map without a fight though, and mantuu pulled off this clean 1v3 on round six.
9-3 to Astralis at the half, BIG fought back strong on their T side, but Staehr made sure they knew who owned the B site as he put the final nail in the coffin before the map ended 13-9.
Map three - Ancient (Decider)
With everything to play for in map three, we had the closest map of the series yet. A certified banger, we knew it was going to be good when it started out like this.
3-2 by round five thanks to BIG winning the pistol round, the Germans looked like they might win another eco round in round six, but Astralis captain blameF wasn't about to let that happen.
Still, he couldn't prevent Krimbo from pulling off a huge 1v3 in the very next round as he became the first to fall at the hands of the wunderkind.
It was going to take some maghic for Astralis to get back in to the game after that, and stavn pulled the rabbit out of the hat from Cave to do so.
6-6 at the half, things remained all square in the second half, and eventually BIG took us to the second overtime of the series.
During that overtime we had possibly the strangest moment of the entire event, so we'll just let you watch it unfold rather than attempt to describe it.
Fortunately for jabbi, that jump may have cost Astralis the round, but it didn't cost them the game. They immediately bounced back to win 16-14 and secure their Spring Final place.
Catch the highlights
Starting with BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, we have a brand new highlights channel bringing you the best of every BLAST Premier game.
Check out all the action here.