Today NiP went up against Astralis for a chance to qualify onto the New Legends Stage. Both the teams were on a winning high with NiP walking in having defeated VP and TyLoo whereas Astralis had defeated the likes of CompLexity and Rogue.
It was a high stake match in-between the 2 giants of competitive CS with the winner qualifying to the next group stage while the loser continues the struggle for that one last win.
The 2 faced-off on Mirage without the slightest idea of how heavily intense and insanely fantastic this match was going to be.
The match started off with NiP winning the opening 2 rounds playing as CT. Astralis quickly replied taking the 3rd round and showing complete authority over the next 5 rounds bringing the score to ‘5-2’. NiP managed to break the streak but couldn’t continue on as Astralis again strung 3 rounds together to take the deficit further apart. The last four rounds before the half were equally exchanged bringing the score to ‘10-5’ in favour of Astralis.
The Danes continued to win as they claimed the second pistol round as well. NiP held ground to win 4 consecutive rounds with some fantastic plays coming off in the nick of time. Astralis took the next round but NiP hadn’t given up yet as they rebounded off the defeat to take a hattrick bringing the scores to a tie at ‘12-12’.
Astralis broke the tie taking the lead in the following round only to witness NiP reach the map point by going on a 3-round streak. Pressure mounted on the Danes as they executed a couple of flawless plays to take the match into overtime.
After this, the match went on for 24 more rounds i.e. 4 overtimes.
The first overtime saw NiP making it to the map point yet again but Astralis managed to roll the match into another overtime. NiP now tired of playing around managed to win 3 rounds in a row, only to get countered by a triple from Astralis as well. NiP reached the map point for the fourth time in the third overtime but couldn’t manage to taste victory as Astralis again tied the scores at ‘24-24’.
The fourth overtime again observed NiP standing at the map point threshold with the scoreboard reading ‘27-26’ but this time around the stars did not align in favour of Astralis. As finally, NiP managed to take that final round and win this incredible match with a score of ‘28-26’.
With this NiP qualify for the New Legends Stage as a disappointed Astralis have to wait for another victory in order to join the next group stage.
Congratz @NiPGaming, our mirage games must be giving viewers heartattacks... New day tomorrow!
— Andreas Højsleth (@Xyp9x) 7 September 2018