Astralis beat the German side BIG in their upper bracket final of the IEM Katowice 2022 play-ins as they confirmed qualification to the IEM Katowice 2022 Group stage. They join the likes of FaZe Clan and Copenhagen Flames who all booked their seat at the main event on the first day of play-ins.
MAP VETO
- Astralis removed Vertigo
- BIG removed Inferno
- Astralis picked Ancient
- BIG picked Dust2
- Astralis removed Mirage
- BIG removed Nuke
- Overpass was left over
MAP 1: ANCIENT (ASTRALIS 16-9 BIG)
Astralis picked into Ancient again, still figuring out their map pool after the addition of blameF and k0nfig. Having had T side woes ever since BLAST Premier Fall Finals ended, Astralis looked good for a change on Ancient. Astralis went on a streak of 4 and BIG replied with 5 of their own and things looked dire for the Danes.
k0nfig, who had had a below-par rating since December showed up in buckets and spades as he found 20 kills on the T side alone, going 5-0 in opening duels, trading efficiently, and getting 8 multi-kills across the map to help Astralis to 10 T rounds, ending the half with 6 straight.
The CT side started the same way and Astralis sat at 14-5, looking to annihilate BIG. tabseN’s side did fight back to find 5 continuous rounds but it was too late and Astralis won the map 16-9 with ease.
MAP 2: DUST2 (ASTRALIS 5-16 BIG)
BIG started Dust2 in typical BIG fashion with a brilliant T side. Being the home map for BIG for almost 2 years now, today was no different. BIG started with 7 straight rounds to send Astralis reeling, as k1to recovered his form after a dismal first map. IGL tabseN too kept up with the entry fragger as he found 16 kills of his own to complement kit0’s 18.
After giving up 2 rounds, BIG went on a 4 round run again, including a 2v4 with the aforementioned, to find 11 T side rounds as the half ended 11-4 in their favour.
The CT side was no different for BIG, k1t0 continued his tear and Astralis could only find a single round, that too courtesy of a 1v1 by gla1ve. BIG won their pick 16-5 with ease as we moved to Overpass.
MAP 3: OVERPASS (ASTRALIS 16-13 BIG)
Astralis had a commendable T side yet again as they found 10 rounds on Overpass and BIG found it difficult to get a grasp on the game, only getting an odd round in between.
After the switch, a pistol loss reinvigorated BIG as they went on a streak of 7 T rounds to take a 12-11 lead.
But Astralis would let up only 1 round after that and bounce back with 5 CT rounds to confirm qualification to IEM katowice 2022 Group stages with a 16-13 win.
