Astralis secured yet another confident victory on Inferno in Istanbul, beating Cloud9 16-7, while Ninjas in Pyjamas took all three points from a back-and-forth game against Virtus.pro on Cache, 16-13.

Similarly to their first two games, Astralis kicked off their match against Cloud9 on Inferno perfectly, grabbing a 3-0 start as CT, and then resetting the North American side just after they added their first to the board thanks to Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham's heroics.

The score was 6-1 shortly, with Astralis winning all of their rounds without allowing even a bomb plant. Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim then unlocked the A site defence with two kills and Cloud9 held the afterplant, but were then once again reset and Astralis pounced, extending to an 8-2 lead. Cloud9's lifesaver on the T side was a force-buy win on B, after which they managed to grab some momentum and switch to the CT 9-6 down.

device and co. are strolling past their opposition at BLAST

Astralis were quick to assert themselves on the Terrorist side, taking the first three rounds with ease, and then Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth won an unwinnable 2v5 to all but secure the victory (14-6). Cloud9 managed one CT round, but that was all she wrote as Astralis closed out the game to go three for three in Istanbul.

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Best of 1 AstralisMatchpage 16 7 29th September 2018 Cloud9 16Inferno 7

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	23 - 6	+17	101.3	1.74
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	19 - 14	+5	104.8	1.53
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	20 - 9	+11	70.7	1.22
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	13 - 9	+4	66.8	1.14
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	15 - 12	+3	77.3	1.13

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	13 - 15	-2	54.8	0.84
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	12 - 18	-6	91.1	0.84
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden	11 - 18	-7	54.3	0.68
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	6 - 18	-12	28.5	0.52
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	8 - 21	-13	58.1	0.51

Virtus.pro took on Ninjas in Pyjamas on Cache, winning the pistol round but dropping the ball in the next one as Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson won the force buy for his side with three Deagle headshots. The Swedes ran up a 5-1 lead before the Poles managed to strike back, finding entries in the following three rounds and managing to close them out to narrow the gap (5-4).

Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki was the main man for Virtus.pro on the T side, clutching a 1v2 on A towards the end of the half to allow his team to finish it with a minimal, 8-7 advantage. The back-and-forth continued in the second half and despite losing the pistol, Ninjas in Pyjamas had a chance to assert dominance early on. However, the Swedes lost to just upgraded pistols and snatchie's P250 triple (12-10 for Virtus.pro), making it seem like Virtus.pro could grab the win.

The final stages of the game were all about the veteran duo Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund and Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg, with the former opening up rounds and the latter getting a key clutch for his team that enabled the Ninjas to close out the game with a B rush, 16-13.

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Best of 1 Virtus.proMatchpage 13 16 29th September 2018 Ninjas in Pyjamas 13Cache 16

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michał 'snatchie' Rudzkisnatchie	25 - 20	+5	83.2	1.23
Piotr 'morelz' Taterkamorelz	20 - 19	+1	78.7	1.05
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	17 - 20	-3	77.6	0.95
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	18 - 22	-4	62.0	0.84
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	14 - 23	-9	61.4	0.70

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	28 - 19	+9	111.6	1.64
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	23 - 16	+7	76.6	1.26
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	19 - 20	-1	82.1	1.12
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	18 - 18	0	66.3	1.00
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	16 - 21	-5	52.1	0.78

Group stage standing after three rounds played is as follows:

Group A TEAM M P Astralis 3 9 MIBR 3 7 Ninjas in Pyjamas 3 4 Virtus.pro 3 3 Space Soldiers 3 3 Cloud9 3 0 Cloud9 #21 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaMaikil 'Golden' Selim Cloud9 #21 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaMaikil 'Golden' Selim Soham 'valens' Chowdhury Virtus.pro #28 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaMichał 'snatchie' Rudzki Space Soldiers #39 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor Canpolat 'hardstyle' Yıldıran Michał 'snatchie' Rudzki Age: 20 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 538 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Maikil 'Golden' Selim Age: 24 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 400 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.69 Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Age: 28 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1415 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.63 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1174 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Virtus.pro #28 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaMichał 'snatchie' Rudzki Jakub 'kuben' Gurczyński Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson Age: 25 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 626 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham Age: 25 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 994 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.58 MIBR #4 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoTarik 'tarik' CelikFernando 'fer' AlvarengaJake 'Stewie2K' YipMarcelo 'coldzera' David Janko 'YNk' Paunović Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1351 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.62 Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Age: 30 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1386 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.65 Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner Faruk 'pita' Pita