Astralis simply lacked the firepower to best their opponent, and the pressure got to them during crucial moments, so much so that they looked completely lost on the broadcast. The first map, Mirage, started in a neck-to-neck fashion, but HEROIC’s 5v2 clutch amped up the momentum in the second half, where Astralis were not able to secure a single round besides a force-buy round. The momentum carried on in the second map, Ancient, where HEROIC secured a 6-1 lead, only for Astralis to equalize but that’s all that they could do since HEROIC won 13-7.
What did stavn say?
While many have been seeing Astralis’ disappointing run so far as karma for the controversy they cooked up back in BLAST Fall Final, Martin "stavn" Lund has been taking it especially hard. For Martin "stavn" Lund, losing 2-0 to HEROIC meant losing to his former teammates, as, let’s not forget, he, too, used to be on HEROIC with cadiaN. Moreover, his stats on Astralis were quite good back when Nicolai "device" Reedtz was the IGL, but he has struggled to maintain his form under cadiaN, something that he also touched upon in his interview with HLTV.
When asked about what went wrong in the match, stavn said
On MIrage we had a really good start on the CT side, and then on the T side we didn't manage to find the solution. I think they pushed us a lot on the side and we got caught by it. Our communication was just not good enough on the T side. On Ancient, I feel like we had a decent T side but it's kind of the same thing again, we get caught off-guard from their plays and then it's over. It's so fast in CS2, it's GG.
When asked about what it has been like playing under cadiaN, stavn said
Yeah, I think it's great to be playing with Casper again. We've had our controversies of course, but we have also known each other for six years or something like that and played so much CS together, had ups and downs together, but we have always enjoyed playing together and I'm happy to playing alongside him again.
When asked about the differences between playing under device and cadiaN, stavn said
Our playstyle is a lot more... loose, I would say, and it requires that everyone is on point with communication and stuff like that, which we've been lacking in these games. The main difference between Casper and device's in-game leading style is that Casper can call stuff on the fly, and you have to be... it's a new style and you have to be ready to adapt in high-pressure moments in games to be able to do something you haven't done before, and I think we just need more time.
When asked about his personal performance so far and confidence levels, stavn said
I've had trouble finding my peak form as I had in CS:GO. I've showed it at times in CS2 as well, right now I think everyone is maybe lacking confidence, me included. We just need more time and then the confidence will come again. Changing in-game leaders is always hard, and going into a new team and stuff like that. it's a personal feeling for me, that you just need to... I've tried it many times in my career, when you have a hard time you just need to find your way back and hopefully I'll be able to do that.
