Cologne has witnessed the best teams from across the world clash to win the Masters. With the competition at its final stages, few remain to become a victor. We now finally have our first pair of semi-finalists with Astralis facing NAVI today.
Team Astralis
Astralis has always been one of the most fierce teams in the Counter-Strike world. The pride of Denmark- Astralis has picked up multiple titles, the last notable one being the BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019. While 2018 and 2019 served as their prime years, Astralis is still a force to be reckoned with. They surely have proved so with their current run at IEM Cologne 2022.
Astralis Roster
- Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander (IGL)
- Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
- Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke
- Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
- Asger “farlig” Jensen
- Martin “trace” Heldt
Astralis’ Run at IEM Cologne 2022
Astralis was one of the 16 Play-In teams that made it thanks to their ESL World Ranking. Following a Bo3 format, the first opponents to face Astralis at the lower bracket were Complexity and BIG. Both Complexity and the winners of the 2022 Roobet Cup lost to the Danish squad. Placed in Group B, Astralis faced some big, big names of the Counter-Strike scene. In round 1 of the upper bracket, Astralis clean sweeped FURIA Esports. They went on to do the same to Cloud9 in round 2 of the upper bracket. Their first loss came against FaZe Clan in the following round. While FaZe directly proceeded to the semi-finals of the competition, Astralis faced MOUZ (formerly known as mousesports) in the quarter-finals.
Astralis vs MOUZ
MOUZ was not at all expected to make it this far at IEM Cologne 2022. But they did. They beat the likes of Heroic, Team Vitality and Ninjas in Pyjamas to name a few. With new recruits torzsi and JDC, MOUZ gave Astralis a run for their money. MOUZ started off strong winning their pick of Mirage 16-8. Astralis took Nuke as their first pick and they leveled the series 1-1 winning 16-9. Ancient was the decider and Astralis just clinched it 16-12 ending what can be considered as a dream run for MOUZ. While Astralis have done a good job at taking care of Mouz, their biggest challenge yet awaits- NAVI.
Natus Vincere
NAVI has proven many times in recent years that they will destroy anyone that comes their way. Before we look into what may be in store for us, here’s how NAVI is lining up this Major:
- Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
- Oleksandr “s1mple”Kostyliev
- Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
- Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi
- Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev
Astralis vs. NAVI Preview
Astralis vs. Natus Vincere will be taking place at 19:30 ALMT today. It will be streamed live on Twitch right from Cologne. Since 2020, the teams have faced each other a total of 11 times. Astralis has only won thrice out of those 11 matches. NAVI has a win rate of 70% in the last 30 days while Astralis has won 62% of their matches. So, the odds are heavily in favor of Natus Vincere.
