Astralis’ Counter-Strike team has been eliminated from ESL Pro League Season 17 after a best-of-three bout against old rivals Team Liquid, but this is just another link in a series of tournament bombs from the Danish org.
Liquid took the once-GOAT team down relatively quickly, besting them on both maps to secure the 2-0 victory with ease. This loss in the Group D Last Chance stage doomed Astralis to a 17-20th placing in Pro League, a spot they’re likely used to by now.
The last six big events have seen Astralis barely keep their heads above water. Their highest placing in a large-scale tournament in the last year was 13-16th in the previous Pro League, and since then, they’ve failed to qualify for the biggest events in CS:GO.
IEM Cologne 2022 saw Astralis almost clawing back to the finals of a tournament to only be beaten by the eventual finalist Natus Vincere. They placed 3-4th, with an arguably worse roster.
They then went on to miss qualification for both the BLAST Fall Finals and BLAST World Finals, IEM Katowice 2023, and the IEM Rio Major 2022.
Nicolai “device” Reedtz has yet to flourish in his return to Astralis. His statistics against lower-tier opposition may say otherwise, but the results show a floundering squad, in desperate need of multiple changes. What good are solid statistics if your team can’t win matches?
This match closes the door on the ESL Pro League Season 17 group stages and opens the playoff brackets where some of the best teams will battle it out to see who’s one step closer to winning the Intel Grand Slam Season 4 $1,000,000 prize.
Only time will tell now if Astralis CS:GO can find their feet again.
