Astralis end Aurora's 15-series winstreak to claim CCT North Europe Series 3 title

The Russian team's superb run of results hit a hitch as Astralis secured victory in the CCT event.

Astralis have handed Aurora their first defeat in over three months, netting a 2-1 series victory over the Russian team (16-8 Ancient, 8-16 Mirage, 19-15 Nuke) in the grand final of CCT North Europe Series 3.

Viktor "⁠Lack1⁠" Boldyrev's side have torn up the competition in the tier two scene since October, winning 30 out of 35 maps ahead of their match against Astralis and maintaining a streak of 15 series wins in a row. Aurora won CCT South Europe Series 2 during that string of victories, beating the likes of GODSENT, Bad News Eagles, and GamerLegion in the process, and rightly earned a berth into the top 30 ranking this month off the back of their results.

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Team ranking: January 2023

Buzz topped the board in Astralis' grand final series with a 1.15 rating

The event offered some much-needed practice for Astralis ahead of ESL Pro League Season 17. The team successfully qualified for the BLAST Spring Final through the Spring Groups to start 2023 off on the right foot, but are absent from IEM Katowice due to lackluster form in 2022 which left them below the invite threshold for ESL's world rankings.

Aurora began their run in the North Europe event from the Swiss group stage, whereas Astralis received an invite directly to the round of 16. The Russian side dispatched of HAVU, Sangal, and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski's new lineup Let us cook in 2-0 fashion to reach the playoffs, where they added wins over Endpoint, MOUZ NXT, and Illuminar to make the grand final.

Astralis worked their way past EYEBALLERS, 9INE, and Copenhagen Flames en route to the final, where they maintained their form with a 16-9 win on Ancient to kick off the title-deciding series. Aurora replied in kind on their own map pick of Mirage, but couldn't make up for a slow start on the Nuke decider and ultimately conceded the map to the Danes in overtime.

CCT North Europe Series 3Best of 3

Aurora

Matchpage

1

2

6th February 2023

Astralis

8

Ancient

16

16

Mirage

9

15

Nuke

19

Aurora	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vladislav 'lattykk' Vydrinlattykk	55 - 49	+6	69.6	1.13
Ivan 'SELLTER' MiroshnikovSELLTER	61 - 51	+10	79.7	1.12
Evgeny 'Norwi' ErmolinNorwi	65 - 58	+7	81.1	1.10
Viktor 'Lack1' BoldyrevLack1	42 - 54	-12	59.3	0.86
Aleksandr 'KENSI' GurkinKENSI	43 - 60	-17	67.6	0.82

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Christian 'Buzz' AndersenBuzz	61 - 53	+8	82.9	1.15
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	63 - 54	+9	78.1	1.13
Benjamin 'blameF' BremerblameF	56 - 53	+3	79.9	1.08
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	44 - 54	-10	61.0	0.88
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	44 - 54	-10	65.9	0.88

CCT North Europe Series 3 bracket stage final standings:

1. Astralis - $22,000
2. Aurora - $10,000
3-4. Copenhagen Flames - $5,000
3-4. Illuminar - $5,000
5-8. FORZE - $2,000
5-8. SINNERS - $2,000
5-8. 9INE - $2,000
5-8. MOUZ NXT - $2,000
9-16. GODSENT
9-16. EYEBALLERS
9-16. Evil Geniuses
9-16. HAVU
9-16. 9z
9-16. GamerLegion
9-16. Endpoint
9-16. 500