Astralis best Heroic to set up G2 semi-final

Two dominant Terrorist sides helped Astralis secure a comfortable victory in the Danish derby.

Astralis became the final IEM Cologne semi-finalists after beating Heroic in a two-map affair (Ancient 16-7, Inferno 16-11), getting the better of their domestic rivals in a one-sided affair.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Christian "⁠Buzz⁠" Andersen had terrific games, the latter topping the server with an outstanding 1.59-rated performance that included a magnificent 1vs3 clutch. device wasn't far behind with a 1.45 rating, keeping himself in the top three highest-rated players at IEM Cologne behind Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut.

Buzz joined the broadcast for a post-match interview, touching on their preparation against Heroic. "We did some anti-strat on them, but of course blameF was a big part of that and making a good game plan. Everyone was good at talking and had some great individual rounds, it worked out great."

Astralis now set up a semi-final clash against G2, with the high-octane battle happening on Saturday at 19:00 .

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2023
05/08/2023	G2 20:10 Astralis	Match

On the other side of the server, Heroic's on-stage woes cost them once again. Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller was honest in saying that his team shouldn't lose against a team with three inexperienced players but admitted that Astralis deserved the victory. "Obviously, it is a spicy matchup, there's no denying that we really want to beat Astralis. The fact is that today they were better."

The desk shared that sentiment, with Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović and Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović adding that Heroic need to go through some roster changes before the release of CS2 if they wish to challenge for big titles.

The quarter-final started with a very close opening half on Ancient, where Astralis managed to take a one-round lead into the second half. Once the sides switched, though, Heroic looked disorientated on the favored CT half. They failed to post a single round in the second half, as Astralis' slow style looked imperious in a one-sided 16-7 victory.

The first half of Inferno was another close 8-7 affair before Astralis once again came into the second half like a team possessed. They lost just three rounds in the second half, impressing in their stage debut with their new-look roster and booking their semi-final spot without much trouble in the process.