Astralis eliminate ATK in heartbreaking fashion
Losing to ENCE and Liquid in their opening two games, ATK had to take down Danish dynasty Astralis if they wished to keep their ESL Pro League Season 17 campaign alive. Starting out on the Dane's map pick of Overpass, ATK started strong by winning the pistol and taking an early 4-0 lead. ATK was unable to build upon their strong start unfortunately, with Astralis slowly working their way into the half on the T-side. Benjamin "blameF" Bremer and co. did not concede two consecutive rounds for the remainder of their T-side, going in at the break with an 8-7 lead.
Despite keeping the game close in the first half, the second half was a completely different story. ATK struggled to get a foothold on their T-side as Astralis immediately pulled away into a comfortable lead. Losing seven straight rounds, ATK could not find an answer on the offensive side as Astralis claimed map point at 15-7. Three kills from Gareth "MisteM" Ries secured ATK's first and only T-side round as Astralis closed out Overpass 16-8, sending the two sides to Mirage.
T-side on ATK's map pick of Mirage looked far more refined than Overpass, despite a slow start. Winning the pistol round and follow-up, it looked as if Astralis were going to run away with the series as the Danish team went up 6-3. Mid-round calling was the key to ATK's success, however, it took a bit of magic from Macedonian stand-in Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski who clutched 1v4 to give ATK a 9-6 lead for the half.
The second half was a similar story to the second half of Overpass, however, the roles were reversed as it was ATK who was the dominant force. The pistol round and the follow-up were all Astralis had to offer, as ATK pulled away on the CT side, closing the map out 16-8 and sending the two sides to the decider on Inferno.
ATK opened up their account on Inferno in flying fashion, storming out to an early 9-1 lead. Michael "Swisher" Schmid was a force to be reckoned with on the CT side, putting 17 frags up on the board in the first ten rounds as Astralis continued to flounder. Astralis recovered slightly toward the end of the half, moving over to their T-side down 11-4.
Astralis kicked off their comeback attempt in the right fashion, winning the pistol and follow-up rounds. A kill through the smoke onto blameF from Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm was the catalyst for ATK's first T round, with rounds being traded back and forth between the two sides. The Danish team slowly but surely clawed their way back into the map, shutting out ATK time after time and coming within a round of tying things up at 13-14, but ATK did eventually reach map point. Unable to convert the 5v3 post plant on B, ATK slipped up massively as Astralis sent the map to overtime.
Overtime was pure domination from Astralis, only losing one player across the opening two rounds. Three kills from CacaNito were not enough to secure a round for ATK as Astralis claimed an 18-15 lead in overtime. Astralis would close the game 19-15 and eliminate ATK to stretch the European losing streak to seven series in a row.
ATKAstralis| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aleksandar 'CacaNito' Kjulukoski |
64 - 58 | +6 | 75.8 | 62.2% | 1.10 |
 Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
55 - 57 | -2 | 75.7 | 67.1% | 1.04 |
 Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
51 - 64 | -13 | 76.0 | 62.2% | 0.89 |
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
42 - 50 | -8 | 57.5 | 62.2% | 0.89 |
 Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
35 - 54 | -19 | 46.0 | 69.5% | 0.73 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
68 - 44 | +24 | 81.4 | 69.5% | 1.34 |
| Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer |
64 - 55 | +9 | 93.7 | 75.6% | 1.22 |
| Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
53 - 49 | +4 | 75.7 | 78.0% | 1.12 |
| Christian 'Buzz' Andersen |
58 - 50 | +8 | 67.4 | 74.4% | 1.05 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
40 - 49 | -9 | 55.4 | 72.0% | 0.90 |
