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Astralis and mousesports are through to Group B's upper bracket semi-final at IEM Sydney after defeating NRG and B.O.O.T-d[S], respectively.

The main stream match between NRG and Astralis began with a blazing fast start from the North American team, who picked up the pistol round and the first gun round to secure a 5-0 lead. But once Astralis had money to work with again, the landscape of the game changed dramatically, with the Danish side answering back with a five-round streak of their own, forcing Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele to call a tactical pause.

NRG's slow and methodical approach was just ineffective against Astralis' defensive setup, so the North Americans tried to up the pace towards the end of the half, but all they got a sole round, courtesy of a 1v2 clutch from daps, with the Danish team leading by three at half-time.

dupreeh kept Astralis in the game against NRG

The North American team came out of the break with a vengeance, winning four rounds in a row to reclaim the lead. It would not last long, though, as Astralis'offence finally came to life, which saw the lead reversed once again.

That was when Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov finally stepped up to the plate. The Bulgarian sniper kept Astralis' players at bay in multiple rounds, allowing his team to build up a solid bank. The North Americans would eventually hit match point in a very messy round and on a weak buy, but Astralis made one final push and sent the game into overtime.

Starting out on the CT side, NRG picked up back-to-back rounds in convincing fashion to give North American fans some hope. But Astralis came fighting back and secured the final round on the offensive side before setting up a tight defence in the second half to pick up a hard-fought victory.

IEM Sydney 2018Best of 1 NRGMatchpage 17 19 1st May 2018 Astralis 17Overpass 19

NRG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	30 - 22	+8	79.1	1.25
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	25 - 26	-1	77.4	1.12
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	22 - 29	-7	65.6	0.89
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	22 - 28	-6	70.3	0.83
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	16 - 28	-12	57.8	0.81

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	34 - 23	+11	93.8	1.42
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	27 - 24	+3	85.6	1.10
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	21 - 23	-2	81.8	1.10
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	22 - 24	-2	81.9	1.02
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	27 - 21	+6	59.6	0.96

Meanwhile, MOUZ and BOOT-d[S] faced off on the secondary stream, with the Europeans picking up a convincing win on Mirage. The early stages of the match were highly contested as neither side could stamp their authority on the game, but then MOUZ picked up the pace and won five of the last six rounds of the half to take a 9-6 lead.

The second half was a complete blowout, with MOUZ winning six rounds straight to hit match point before Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk clutched a 1v2 in a scrappy round to secure the win. 

IEM Sydney 2018Best of 1 MOUZMatchpage 16 6 1st May 2018 BOOT-d[S] 16Mirage 6

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	24 - 13	+11	130.0	1.91
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	19 - 11	+8	79.4	1.43
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	16 - 11	+5	88.0	1.28
Chris 'chrisJ' de JongchrisJ	15 - 13	+2	59.9	1.02
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	15 - 14	+1	67.2	0.97

BOOT-d[S]	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Alikhan 'w1nt3r' Kopzhanovw1nt3r	14 - 18	-4	78.4	0.86
Anthony 'ImpressioN' LimImpressioN	13 - 17	-4	59.4	0.79
Nevin 'splashske' Awsplashske	13 - 17	-4	56.0	0.77
Kumaresan 'Tommy' RamaniTommy	13 - 17	-4	58.4	0.74
Benedict 'Benkai' TanBenkai	9 - 20	-11	62.0	0.60

 

Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Age: 18 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 480 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 MOUZ #5 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýChris 'chrisJ' de JongMiikka 'suNny' KemppiMartin 'STYKO' StykRobin 'ropz' Kool Martin 'STYKO' Styk Age: 22 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 784 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Damian 'daps' Steele Age: 24 Team: NRG Rating 1.0: 0.90 Maps played: 592 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.67 BOOT-d[S] #53 Nevin 'splashske' AwBenedict 'Benkai' TanAnthony 'ImpressioN' LimKumaresan 'Tommy' RamaniAlikhan 'w1nt3r' Kopzhanov NRG #18 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov