Astralis might have to win four best-of-threes in a row to qualify for the Shanghai Major.
Astralis are one defeat away from missing their fourth Counter-Strike Major in a row after a 13-11 defeat to fellow Danish team Sashi at the Europe RMR B on Nov. 21.
Astralis and Sashi faced off in the 0-1 pool after they lost to 9 Pandas and BIG, respectively, in the opening round. Astralis were the undisputed favorite despite playing with Alexander "br0" Bro in place of Nicolai "device" Reedtz, but they were stunned by Sashi's powerful CT-side on Inferno.
Sashi, coached by Astralis' former coach Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen, won six rounds in a row on their CT campaign in the second half. This left Astralis with no room to work on, and they fumbled the opportunity to move to the 1-1 pool of the Europe RMR B.
Depending on how the Buchholz score affect Astralis' seeding, Casper "cadiaN" Møller and co. might need to win four best-of-threes in a row to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major. It's a tough task, but GamerLegion proved it is possible in Europe RMR A.
The main issue is that only br0 played well in the first day of Europe RMR B. The team's main stars — cadiaN, Martin "stavn" Lund, and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard — had an atrocious individual performance thus far.
Astralis will come back to the server tomorrow to play their first elimination match. Sashi, on the other hand, will play another best-of-one to determine whether they move to the 2-1 or 1-2 pool of the Europe RMR B.
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Missing the Major could affect Astralis' plans for 2025
Despite being one of the biggest organizations in Counter-Strike esports, Astralis too rely on the sticker money that comes from attending Majors.
The organization already sat out of the three past Majors, so it has been missing this important source of income since 2021. Although Astralis said its financial result for 2023 was "satisfactory", most of it came due to the organization selling its LEC spot.
While it's just speculation at this point, missing the Shanghai Major could be a significant blow to Astralis' finances. Not to mention that missing the Major would deeply affect Astralis' position in the Valve ranking. In 2025, all tournament invites will be determined through the Valve ranking.
