Astralis and Sashi both lost their first matches to 9 Pandas and BIG and thus played in the 0-1 pool of the Europe RMR B. Even with the stand-in for Nicolai “device” Reedtz in Alexander “br0” Bro, Astralis was caught off-guard by Sashi’s outstanding performance on the CT-side of Inferno.
With Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen, Astralis’ former coach, now coaching Sashi, they performed a perfect six-round T side in the second half to put Astralis on the ropes. This constant pressure did not allow Astralis to relax, and they failed to reach the 1-1 pool.
As it is, Astralis’ path to the Perfect World Shanghai Major has become a steep climb from here on. Depending on how the Buchholz seeding system works out, Casper “cadiaN” Møller and his team may have to win four straight best-of-threes to qualify. Of course, it is not impossible to achieve such a result, as GamerLegion did in Europe RMR A, so a comeback is possible.
But there are some worrying trends for Astralis. While the team’s core players — cadiaN, Martin “stavn” Lund, and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard — failed to meet expectations, only br0 had a good performance on the first day of Europe RMR B.
Astralis will now have its first elimination match tomorrow, while Sashi will have another best-of-one to decide whether they go to the 2-1 pool in Europe RMR B or drop to 1-2.
Major Absence Could Affect Astralis’ 2025 Goals
Astralis is one of Counter-Strike’s oldest and most decorated teams, but it’s feeling the heat after failing to qualify for the last two Majors. Sticker sales, a major source of income for teams that attend Majors, have never been a part of Astralis, which hasn’t attended the last three. While Astralis claimed a “satisfactory” financial result for 2023, most of the organization’s revenues were generated from selling the LEC spot rather than winning tournaments.
Astralis could lose money and competitive ground in Valve rankings if they do not qualify for the Shanghai Major. As all the tournament invites will be given out according to the Valve ranking starting from 2025, such a miss can pose long-term problems for Astralis in the Counter-Strike scene.
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