Astralis to playoffs over dignitas

Astralis advanced to the quarter-finals at ESL One Cologne after beating dignitas 2-1 (16-19 on Cobblestone, 16-10 on Mirage, and 16-14 on Cache).

Astralis, who used Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen as a stand-in because Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen underwent a surgery, faced their fellow Danes Dignitas in the first decider match at ESL One Cologne.

The first map of the best-of-three series was Cobblestone and Astralis, who started on the CT-side, picked up the pistol round after Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's triple kill. Dignitas replied right afterwards, winning the force buy.

TFW when you miss the chance to become a Legend 

After Dignitas made it 4-1, Astralis took control with pistols and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth's continuous double and triple kills brought the score 9-5 in favor of Astralis. karrigan's quad AWP kill gave Astralis their tenth round as they had a big lead going into the second half.

karrigan & company grabbed the first three rounds of the second half but Dignitas responded with three of their own, making it 13-8. Astralis came alive after losing another three rounds and extended their lead to 14-11.

Just when Astralis were about to get 4 match points, Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke clutched a 1vs4, keeping his team alive and Dignitas later tied the map at 14-14. Dignitas captured the match point but couldn't win against four Tec-9s and an AK-47 as the match went to overtime.

Dignitas finished the first overtime half 17-16 ahead. Jesper "⁠TENZKI⁠" Plougmann's triple kill in the first round of the second overtime made it 18-16 and they closed it out 19-16.

Xyp9x delivered on all three maps

The series continued on Mirage where the CT-sided Dignitas picked up the pistol round but couldn't stop Astralis in the following one. Dignitas could not find any answer to Astralis and called for a timeout when they were trailing 1-7.

The timeout wasn't helpful as Dignitas got only four kills in the subsequent three rounds, extending Astralis'lead to 11-1. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz & Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander almost clutched a 2vs5 but Dignitas finally got a round thanks to Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen's 1vs1 victory but it was a pyrrhic one as Astralis led 13-2 at halftime.

karrigan & company faced a similar situation in the second half on Mirage as they did on Cobblestone but this time they prevailed and managed to close the game 16-10, preventing Dignitas' comeback.

zonic struggled as a stand-in 

The Danish teams went to Cache to decide it all and TENZKI's 1vs3 clutch sealed the deal in the pistol round as he gave his team the 1-0 lead. MSL & co. also secured the first weapon round but failed to make it 6-0 as karrigan's two insane AWP shots saved the round for Astralis in which they had a 2vs4 disadvantage (5-1).

Xyp9x's 1vs2 clutch made it 5-3 and Astralis took control of the half by winning close rounds and led 9-6 at halftime.

Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel did not get bored of clutching and won another one as he gifted his team the second half pistol round (9-7). Astralis gave up the lead to MSL's team but took it right back, making it 11-10. Astralis won the match 16-14 and the series 2-1 despite all the hardships and advanced to the quarter-finals. Dignitas, on the other hand, got eliminated in the group stage.

ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 3 AstralisMatchpage 2 1 7th July 2016 Dignitas 16Cobblestone 19 16Mirage 10 16Cache 14

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Group B decider match between Ninjas in Pyjamas and FlipSid3 will be next in Cologne. You can find streams for this best-of-three on our match page.

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Dignitas #14 Ruben 'RUBINO' VillarroelRené 'cajunb' BorgJesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannMathias 'MSL' LauridsenKristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 794 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 Jesper 'TENZKI' Plougmann Age: 22 Team: Dignitas Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 433 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 20 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 706 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Ninjas in Pyjamas #4 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmAdam 'friberg' FribergJacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi Ruben 'RUBINO' Villarroel Age: 22 Team: Dignitas Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 462 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 26 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 756 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.69 Astralis #8 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethNicolai 'device' ReedtzPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenMarkus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen Age: 21 Team: Dignitas Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 809 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.73 Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 21 Team: X Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 441 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Age: 29 Team: AstralisC FlipSid3 #23 Yegor 'markeloff' MarkelovAndrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyOleksandr 'Shara' HordieyevGeorgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinJan 'wayLander' Rahkonen Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Age: 19 Team: Dignitas Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 313 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 20 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 858 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.62 Astralis #8 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethNicolai 'device' ReedtzLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderDanny 'zonic' Sørensen