[CS2] Staehr shines as Astralis head to PGL Astana semi-finals over NAVI

[Hatsepsuta]

An Astralis side revitalized by HooXi's leadership were deserved winners over a lacklustre NAVI.

Astralis have continued their surprise run in PGL Astana by taking down Natus Vincere 2-1,
securing their semi-final berth with wins on Nuke (16-13) and Ancient (13-6) either side of a loss on Mirage (8-13).

Astralis kicked off their Nuke T side in the ascendency, thanks to Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr's efforts in the pistol round and a Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz clutch on a force-buy in the third. Once guns came up for Natus Vincere, however, they dominated, shutting down Astralis' Upper hits and controlling the map with intelligent, well-timed aggression.

With a winning first half under their belts Natus Vincere looked set to secure Nuke after winning their T pistol,
but Astralis won another force-buy to put themselves in control.
With Astralis creeping towards victory, 
Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan and Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius came up with impact rounds
to haul Natus Vincere to map point and put Astralis' economy in the bin.

Mirage was a more one-sided affair, with Natus Vincere showing why they are considered one of the best teams in the world on the map. Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov took control of his team's CT half to guide them to a dominant 10-2 advantage, and although some more force-buy shenanigans allowed Astralis to get back into the game and pad out their score, Natus Vincere duly secured a decider.

HooXi's calling was certainly a boon for the Danes in this series. On Ancient in particuar, Natus Vincere could not handle the T side he was throwing at them, and he made a risky gamble late on CT that paid dividends, as explained by Staehr: "The force-buy we had, we knew they would come B, it was just perfect. That's a HooXi masterclass."

 

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