FunPlus Phoenix beat Astralis 16-7 today in the first game between top-20 CS:GO teams on Ancient, the new map that replaced Train in the Active Duty map pool in early May.
It was Astralis’ decision to play the map since they removed Vertigo in the last round of the veto process. But things didn’t work as well as they may have planned because FPX seemed more prepared for it from the beginning.
FPX won the first pistol and the next two rounds to kick off their T side. Martin “STYKO” Styk and crew took the first half 10-5, and although Astralis had a chance in the second half after they grabbed the first two rounds, it was all FPX again, who won six in a row to close out the game with ease. Jesse “zehN” Linjala had the biggest impact, finishing with a 28-13 K/D, 116 ADR, and 1.85 rating.
It was a fast-paced game where Astralis tried to go hyper-aggressive on their CT side, but FPX seemed prepared and knew how to counter this strategy. And, most importantly, they won several clutch situations.
“We just happened to be better prepared or hitting better shots, I guess,” STYKO said in the post-match interview. “Probably 70 percent of what we have prepared and working in practice worked as well in the game. There were some rounds where we were quite surprised with the reaction of Astralis, but it’s understandable, we were playing in a previous tournament that still had Train in the map pool, so naturally, we had to practice that as well.”
Ancient could be a good card up FPX’s sleeve, according to STYKO, since other teams know that they can play well on the map. But now, the other teams also know some of their tendencies, whereas FPX don’t have any data to use.
Both teams will return to the server later and their matches will be played simultaneously at 12:55pm CT. FPX will face G2 in the upper bracket semifinal, while Astralis will play an elimination series against Extra Salt.
Published: Jun 3, 2021 08:31 am