Astralis top ECS EU Week 4 to qualify for LAN Finals

Astralis booked a spot at the ECS Season 8 Finals after defeating BIG 2-1 in the grand final of Week 4.

The Danish team will fly out to Arlington next month looking to add a fourth ECS title to their cabinet after securing a spot at the prestigious event at their first attempt. After beating m1x and FaZe in convincing fashion in the opening rounds of the tournament, the StarLadder Major champions were made to work hard to overcome a stubborn BIG side, despite opening the series with a blowout victory.

For the second match in a row, Astralis went for a Nuke pick, and they ran over the German team, who even began on the CT side but simply could not keep up with the pace set by their opponents. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz led the charge with a 2.55 rating - which goes straight into the top five rated performances of the AWPer's career.

device topped the scoreboard thanks to an incredible Nuke display

BIG looked a completely different side on Dust2 and were in control during a large portion of the first half before Astralis battled back to secure a narrow one-round lead before switching sides. The Danish team showed some good pace during the early stages of the second half, but then BIG tightened up their defense and won seven rounds in a row en route to a 16-11 finish.

It all came down to Train, where BIG managed to secure a respectable six rounds on the Terrorist side, half of those off the back of a 1v2 clutch from Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield. After switching to the CT side, the German team were in control of the game with a deadly double AWP setup, eventually taking a 14-12 lead. With their backs against the wall, Astralis dug deep to grind out a 16-14 victory after punishing their opponents for letting a crucial 5v2 situation slip in the 29th round.

ECS Season 8 Europe Week 4Best of 3 AstralisMatchpage 2 1 24th October 2019 BIG 16Nuke 3 11Dust2 16 16Train 14

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	66 - 44	+22	86.1	1.32
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	47 - 48	-1	68.5	1.11
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	49 - 45	+4	75.2	1.08
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	51 - 50	+1	68.5	1.03
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	40 - 45	-5	70.4	0.94

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschtiziaN	46 - 48	-2	75.7	1.04
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	48 - 51	-3	78.9	1.00
Owen 'smooya' Butterfieldsmooya	48 - 49	-1	68.3	0.97
Johannes 'nex' Magetnex	49 - 53	-4	67.8	0.91
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	41 - 52	-11	58.9	0.80

With this victory, Astralis become the fifth team confirmed for the ECS Season 8 Finals, which will be held from November 28 through December 1. A sixth team will be determined later tonight, through the North American clash between Liquid and ATK, with the final two spots being filled by the winners of week five, scheduled for October 28-31.

The team list for the ECS event currently looks as follows:

AVANGAR
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Astralis
Week #5 winnerSharks
Evil Geniuses
Week #4 winner
Week #5 winnerm1x #43 Guy 'anarkez' TrachtmanRigon 'rigoN' GashiFilip 'tudsoN' TudevDionis 'sinnopsyy' Budeci FaZe #21 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Evil Geniuses #3 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov AVANGAR #6 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevSanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Liquid #2 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Owen 'smooya' Butterfield Age: 20 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 433 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.65 BIG #26 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşOwen 'smooya' Butterfield ATK #32 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryIan 'motm' HardyJosh 'oSee' Ohm Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 24 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1387 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Sharks #28 Raphael 'exit' LacerdaLeonardo 'leo_drk' OliveiraJhonatan 'jnt' SilvaIgnacio 'meyern' MeyerLuca 'Luken' Nadotti Ninjas in Pyjamas #11 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergSimon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora