Astralis Fall 0-2 at the Stockholm Major after Consecutive Shocking Losses

Heading into the Major in Stockholm, tensions were already high for the former titans of Counter-Strike, Astralis. Following their qualification to the IEM Fall playoffs, the squad was simply battered against ENCE and Vitality and left the Danes scratching their head for a solution heading into Sweden. The organization shockingly pulled Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen, a key piece in their Major qualification run, from the starting five to make way for the storied IGL Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. Sparks began to fly as their first-round matchup against Copenhagen Flames caused some ruckus between the two organizations on social media. To everyone's surprise, it was quite the international stir that kicked off the PGL Stockholm CS: GO Major. Astralis' woes continued in the next round of matches and the team is now one map away from elimination.

From the get-go, the map vetoes certainly did not help Astralis’ chances. The map was Overpass, a map in which the Flames had a 9-game winning streak. Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi kicked off Stockholm with a flying start on Overpass and had continued impact throughout the first half to solidify a 9-6 CT side.

Things went from bad to worse for Astralis on their defensive campaign, regardless of the coveted 6 offensive rounds they were able to string together. The Danes were formerly known for clinical CT-sides. However, they could not muster a single round and fell flat in their domestic matchup, 16-7.

The pressure had already begun to build for Astralis and their 0-1 matchup against Entropiq would certainly not be easy. Much to their demise, Aleksey “El1an” Gusev and company came to play on Dust 2. There were signs of life throughout the defensive half for Astralis.

But the continued impact from every individual on Entropiq ran the economy of the Danes into the ground. An impressive triple from Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko in the second-half pistol made matters worse for the old guard and sent Astralis packing to a startling 0-2 record to begin their Stockholm campaign.

The legendary organization now has to win three BO3s in a row to save their tournament lives. The world waits in bated breath for the potential elimination of the 4-time Major winning core in Astralis as they may be gracing the stage one last time tomorrow on PGL’s main Twitch stream. Astralis is now 0-2 and will compete in the Round 3 Low matches tomorrow.

Tune in to esports.gg for continued coverage on the Stockholm Major.