G2 join ENCE in IEM Cologne finals
An unexpected matchup decided the finalist for IEM Cologne as it was Astralis coming out on top in the Danish derby. G2 may be breathing a sigh of relief after the match but, blameF's crew has proven that they are a worthy opponent and can knock G2 out if the international squad shows up cold. G2 however, were on fire from the get go as they dominated Astralis out of the Cathedral in two.
Starting Ancient off, G2 took the pistol round conversion for 3. A save round, a clean gun round and a Staehr ace made up the next 3 Astralis wins. Another set of gun rounds went over to G2 before Astralis took their fourth. Round 10 saw G2 come in with a single M4 on JKS and pistols around him, but walked out with 4 rifles alive and Astralis decimated. Round 14 was another eco for Astralis where they found themselves in a 3v2 advantage and got decimated by the Kovač brothers to secure double digits. Final round of the half, a must-win for the Danes and Device put his stamp on the map with a beautiful 4k on A to win out the 3v5 and close out the half 5-10.
Another Astralis Ace as BlameF took 5 with his Dualies and Astralis following it with two conversion rounds. Individuals were forced to carry Astralis as Staehr, b0RUP, blameF all put in massive rounds to narrow that gap down to 9-11. Astralis continued their bounce back, tying the game up 11-11 before G2 forced out the save in round 23. G2 kept going on the T side with device's collateral only taking away one round as HooXi's troops secured matchpoint with ease. NiKo's AK locked in the final kills to get G2 the 1-0 lead.
Moving onto their own pick, G2 got up to an early 5-0 lead. G2 were able to get two more before a Staehr 1v1 over NiKo set Astralis up for success. Slowly the Danes built their CT side up with 4 in a row. Round 13 had NiKo in a 1v1 he looked destined to win, but b0RUP defied all odds and stuck the defuse losing his life but winning out the round. Still G2 managed to stabilise in the final two and close out the half with a 9-6 half.
Astralis got the perfect start thanks to blameF in the pistol, but m0NESY found a double and a triple in back to back rounds to set G2 back on the path to the finals. Crucial gun round for Astralis but it too ended in heartbreak as blameF was forced to save. Nothing left in the Danish tank, tactically and individually the team was utterly drained as m0NESY stomped them out round after round. Up against matchpoint, device went absolutely massive to deny the bomb defuse and give Astralis a 9th round, but the legend was eliminated early in round 25 as G2 closed it out.
The final Cologne and device will once again be eliminate 3-4th as was the case so many times before. Meanwhile NiKo is in the finals, facing off against the perennial underdogs, ENCE. The Bosnian rifler has a chance to add one more prestigious trophy to his cabinet in the closing months of CSGO.
G2Astralis| G2 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
43 - 26 | +17 | 84.4 | 75.5% | 1.41 |
| Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač |
46 - 28 | +18 | 92.5 | 75.5% | 1.39 |
 Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov |
42 - 29 | +13 | 72.5 | 75.5% | 1.22 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
33 - 34 | -1 | 76.5 | 77.4% | 1.09 |
 Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen |
18 - 36 | -18 | 46.8 | 66.0% | 0.73 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer |
40 - 34 | +6 | 85.2 | 67.9% | 1.16 |
| Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
41 - 33 | +8 | 81.1 | 69.8% | 1.15 |
| Victor 'Staehr' Staehr |
31 - 37 | -6 | 67.3 | 62.3% | 0.93 |
| Christian 'Buzz' Andersen |
16 - 36 | -20 | 47.8 | 73.6% | 0.73 |
| Johannes 'b0RUP' Borup |
24 - 42 | -18 | 52.9 | 60.4% | 0.64 |
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