[hkes_show_google_ad] After two tight maps against Heroic (Train 16-12, Nuke 16-12), Astralis joined FaZe in the best-of-five grand final of IEM Katowice. The all-Danish second semi-final, aside from Andreas “MODDII” Fridh of course, began on Astralis’ pick Train, where Heroic got off to a flying 5-0 start as CT, denying bomb plants to keep their opponents’ economy low. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s team got their first two rounds on the board by abusing the B bombsite, where Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen was left alone. They attempted to switch it up in the next round with a quick A attack but to no avail, as Heroic extended their lead to 7-2 once niko got a triple on lower when Astralis tried to go back to what had worked before. With Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye picking up a triple kill during the following eco, as well as gla1ve winning a 2v3 alongside Nicolai “device” Reedtz, Astralis began to stabilize to pick up five of the remaining six rounds for a solid seven rounds on the T side. The favored side quickly took over the match as Counter-Terrorists, picking up the first six rounds for a 13-8 lead before the rounds kept going back and forth. Thanks to three kills from device and a quad from Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth, Astralis reached map point at 15-10 and closed out their map pick three rounds afterwards at 16-12. The Cinderella story comes to an end Nuke started off with Astralis shutting down an A execute that rockestarted the half for them as they went up 5-0. Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer’s two entries and a slow A execute then gave Heroic their first two rounds on the offense, but device’s five kills over two gunrounds pushed the half to 8-2. A split A from heaven and hut then forced Astralis to save two weapons as Snappi got two crucial kills again, but that was all Heroic could do until the end of the half, as the favorites picked up a 12-3 lead. The beginning of the second half saw the teams trading rounds as Astralis came to 14-5, but Heroic ended the back-and-forth and began closing the gap. With several one-sided rounds, Snappi’s squad lowered the deficit to just two rounds at 12-14, but Astralis’ eco then broke through the defenses with Kjaerbye and Xyp9x picking up doubles, and the favorites made their way to the grand final at 16-12. [hkes_show_google_ad]