Astralis decimate Space Soldiers; Virtus.pro overcome Cloud9 at BLAST

In the second round of matches at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul, Astralis secured another comfortable win (16-6 Inferno), while Virtus.pro beat Cloud9 16-13 on Mirage.

Coming into the game against Space Soldiers, Astralis were able to continue their hot streak after winning the first game of the tournament and quickly grab a 6-0 lead as Terrorists as Inferno, not giving the Turkish team a chance to get on board early on.

Space Soldiers' upgraded pistols proved deadly in the followup, Engin "⁠ngiN⁠" Kor and Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş each finding a pick to bring them their first round, but unfortunately for them, Astralis bounced right back and put them in a tough economic situation for the rest of the half. The Danes capitalized on that and ran up a massive lead in the first half, finishing it 13-2 up.

Astralis were barely tested in the first two games they played in Turkey

Any chance of a comeback was quickly ruled out when Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen combined for all five kills on the B defence, locking down the site with five headshots. Space Soldiers managed to sneak in a couple of rounds at the end, starting with a force buy win at 15-2, but Astralis then stacked the A site in a 4v5 and shut down the offensive of Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and co., winning the map 16-6.

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Best of 1 Space SoldiersMatchpage 6 16 28th September 2018 Astralis 6Inferno 16

Space Soldiers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	16 - 16	0	81.7	1.08
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	13 - 16	-3	65.8	0.91
Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN	8 - 18	-10	55.5	0.71
Ahmet 'paz' Karahocapaz	11 - 17	-6	53.0	0.66
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	5 - 18	-13	63.7	0.48

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	22 - 10	+12	99.4	1.61
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	19 - 9	+10	75.8	1.58
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	17 - 8	+9	71.7	1.35
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	13 - 12	+1	82.2	1.20
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	14 - 14	0	80.5	1.16

The match between Virtus.pro and Cloud9 took place on Mirage, with both teams coming into the game after losing their openers, to MIBR and Astralis, respectively. The Polish side was on a hot streak right from the start, grabbing a 7-2 lead the T side after losing the pistol round. The American-Swedish side then woke up, and with Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta leading the charge, mustered six rounds back-to-back to end the half with a minimal lead, 8-7.

Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski's team had a great start to the second half as well, winning six out of the first seven rounds, before Cloud9 found their footing as T. Still, Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller and Piotr "⁠morelz⁠" Taterka led their side to their first victory at the event, 16-13, by stringing together three rounds at the final stretch.

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Best of 1 Cloud9Matchpage 13 16 28th September 2018 Virtus.pro 13Mirage 16

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	22 - 21	+1	83.6	1.04
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	21 - 23	-2	81.8	0.99
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden	20 - 21	-1	72.6	0.98
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	17 - 20	-3	63.4	0.87
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	11 - 20	-9	45.7	0.67

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	23 - 17	+6	77.4	1.26
Piotr 'morelz' Taterkamorelz	23 - 18	+5	89.3	1.24
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	22 - 18	+4	86.6	1.22
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	19 - 16	+3	73.2	1.16
Michał 'snatchie' Rudzkisnatchie	18 - 22	-4	60.8	0.83

The group stage standing is as follows:

Group A TEAM M P Astralis 2 6 MIBR 2 4 Space Soldiers 2 3 Virtus.pro 2 3 Ninjas in Pyjamas 2 1 Cloud9 2 0 Cloud9 #21 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaMaikil 'Golden' Selim Engin 'ngiN' Kor Age: 25 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 601 KPR: 0.61 DPR: 0.63 Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Age: 23 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.23 Maps played: 822 KPR: 0.87 DPR: 0.70 Cloud9 #21 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaMaikil 'Golden' Selim Soham 'valens' Chowdhury Piotr 'morelz' Taterka Age: 24 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 616 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Virtus.pro #28 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaMichał 'snatchie' Rudzki Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 31 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1535 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Space Soldiers #39 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor Canpolat 'hardstyle' Yıldıran Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1288 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1168 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Virtus.pro #28 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaMichał 'snatchie' Rudzki Jakub 'kuben' Gurczyński Space Soldiers #39 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor MIBR #4 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoTarik 'tarik' CelikFernando 'fer' AlvarengaJake 'Stewie2K' YipMarcelo 'coldzera' David MIBR #4 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoTarik 'tarik' CelikFernando 'fer' AlvarengaJake 'Stewie2K' YipMarcelo 'coldzera' David Janko 'YNk' Paunović Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli Age: 27 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 610 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Michał 'MICHU' Müller Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1149 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner Faruk 'pita' Pita Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 813 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67