The Danish team, the current Number 1 team in the world has proven itself worthy of yet another Grand final. Astralis won 2-0 over Mousesports at ESL Pro League Season 8 LAN semifinals. The series started with Mousepsorts’ map pick of Mirage.
The team had decent success against Astralis in previous tournaments on this map. The match started with several back-and-forth rounds between the two teams. However, Astralis finally managed to break the Mousesports economy. They won six consecutive rounds and managed to close the half at a comfortable 9-6. This score is not an insurmountable score and Mousesports tried their best to win this map. Despite a strong performance from the entire Mousesports roster, they fell short of their target. They were never able to break Astralis economy.
The fact that Astralis managed to win the first four rounds also added a lot of pressure on Mousesports. They had to ensure a near flawless T side once they started winning rounds. However, unfortunately for them, they were unable to do so. Device had a splendid performance on Mirage. By now, it is never a surprise to see Device being the star performer on Astralis.
The second map – Inferno
Mousesports lost their map pick, Mirage. When they got to Astralis’ map pick, there was little that Mousesports had in reply to the Danish team. The Astralis T side never allowed Mousesports to gain any semblance of an economy. For the longest time, the teams would keep on trading rounds, which always favours the terrorist side. They had the lower cost to their weapons as well as superior weaponry.
When the second half started, Mouseports was unable to secure a single round in the match. Their inability to crack the aggressive CT defence on Astralis saw them almost give up by the end of the map. For Mousesports, this was a decent finish since they eventually lost to Astralis. The Danish team has shown a strong presence on the various maps that they play. Their performance might not be the most dominant anymore, but that has not stopped them from winning tournaments.
With this result, Astralis waits in the Grand Finals. They will face the winner of Liquid and MiBr.
