AVANGAR take down G2 and qualify for CS:GO Major playoffs

AVANGAR defeated G2 2-1 today to qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major playoffs.

This will be the Kazakhs’ first time at a CS:GO Major playoff. They struggled at the New Challengers Stage last week, but are playing better on the New Legends Stage. AVANGAR upset Team Liquid yesterday and now defeated G2, a team that was showing promise so far.

AVANGAR showed they’re resilient as they were down a game against G2, who won the first map 16-9 on Dust II. Lucas “Lucky” Chastang topped the scoreboard with 24 kills.

The second map, Inferno, was all about team effort. Neither of AVANGAR players got a large number of frags in the 16-11 win, but most of them got between 17 and 19 kills each. Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev, the one that finished with 14 frags, carried AVANGAR to map point as he got a triple kill hold on the A bombsite.

But AVANGAR’s strength shone through on Overpass. They took down G2 16-9, in one of their opponent’s best maps. And it wasn’t a casual win as AVANGAR demolished G2 in the first half with a 13-2 score. Alexey “qikert” Golubev, one of the AVANGAR’s star players, finished the game with 22 kills and 107 average damage per round.

It’s quite a surprise that AVANGAR is the first CIS team to qualify for the Major playoffs. Everyone else would expect that Natus Vincere, the best-ranked team in the region, would qualify first since AVANGAR didn’t play well at the first phase of the StarLadder Berlin Major.

G2, on the other hand, were expected to defeat AVANGAR today. This defeat puts them in a dangerous spot as they’ll likely face a better team tomorrow in the elimination match.

AVANGAR will have four days to rest and prepare for the playoffs. You can keep up with the StarLadder Berlin Major New Legends Stage results and standings here.