Astralis didn’t have a great time last weekend at BLAST Pro Series Madrid. They lost to ENCE in the group stage and then in the grand finals, and their 31-game win streak on Nuke was also snapped.
Astralis were only one victory away from tying the all-time longest map win streak in CS:GO history, which was accomplished by NiP on Nuke.
Astralis played their worst T-side of all-time on Nuke with their current lineup, winning just four rounds. Nicolai “device” Reedtz was the only one with a positive rating at the end of the match.
But Astralis’ coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen doesn’t think this represents a lack of effort from the team on the map.
“ENCE played a really good final, and I would never discredit them and their performance,” Zonic said. “As we have stated before, it is harder to stay on top than it is to get there, and it is the same with a streak like the one we had on Nuke.”
Zonic added: “We have put plenty of effort, and continue to do so, in all our maps, but when you have more than 30 wins in a row on a map, that’s a lot of information the opposing team can benefit from. ENCE were ready and kudos to them.”
After Madrid and IEM Sydney, the first big tournament won by Team Liquid, the North Americans have started to close the gap in the HLTV rankings. For now, Astralis and Liquid will only meet at the finals of ESL Pro League season nine in June.
For a small share of CS:GO fans, Liquid are already the best team in the world. Zonic said that it’s up to Astralis to prove that they’re still the best.
“Liquid is a super strong team and I think their win in Sydney was a testament to how much they have grown over the past year,” Zonic said. “With that being said, we are competitors, and we want to be the best. If people claim that we aren’t, we just have to prove them wrong, one tournament at a time.”
Astralis will have almost a month to prepare for their next match. Zonic and crew are set up to play at the ECS season seven finals on June 6.
Published: May 16, 2019 05:11 pm