AVANGAR overcome Renegades as Astralis overpower NRG
Day three of the StarLadder Major Berlin New Champions stage has ended in tragedy for North America as Renegades and NRG have been sent packing following 2-0 losses to AVANGAR and Astralis.
The day started off with Renegades facing off against AVANGAR on Mirage. Renegades started their T-side off strong as they won the opening pistol and the following two conversion rounds. Following this, AVANGAR quickly tied the map with three rounds of their own, before the two teams split the next four rounds evenly. AVANGAR managed to pull ahead, claiming four out of the last five rounds to end the half up 9-6.
After switching sides, Renegades were quick to regain the momentum after Justin "jks" Savage started the half off with a 3k pistol round hold on the B site. Following this, Renegades managed to climb up to 12 rounds after winning five out of the next six rounds. AVANGAR followed up with three rounds of their own to once more reclaim the lead before Renegades claimed map point by winning the next three. In the last two rounds of regulation, the Kazakhstani team rallied to force overtime as Dzhami "Jame" Ali lead the way for his team.
In overtime, the two squads locked horns once again however every single AVANGAR player had stellar moments, with a quad hold by Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev and a 2k by Alexey "qikert" Golubev notably pushing AVANGAR over the edge to secure the map 22-19.
Moving onto Dust2, Renegades looked like they were ready to shake off their overtime Mirage loss as they started the map off by finding the first four rounds in a row. However, their CT-side began to fall by the wayside as AVANGAR battered their defenses, winning the next ten rounds in a row. Renegades finally managed to put one more round on the board but they had a lot of work ahead of them as AVANGAR ended the half up 10-5.
Moving on their T-side, Renegades did not put up much of a show as the Australians only found one more round before AVANGAR ran away with Dust2, claiming the map 16-6.
RenegadesAVANGAR| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
57 - 44 | +13 | 94.8 | 65.1% | 1.24 |
 Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai |
33 - 46 | -13 | 66.0 | 61.9% | 0.85 |
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
38 - 50 | -12 | 66.9 | 54.0% | 0.81 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
34 - 46 | -12 | 66.8 | 60.3% | 0.79 |
| Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas |
20 - 44 | -24 | 42.5 | 58.7% | 0.62 |
| AVANGAR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dzhami 'Jame' Ali |
51 - 31 | +20 | 84.9 | 79.4% | 1.41 |
 Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev |
58 - 40 | +18 | 94.5 | 69.8% | 1.39 |
| Timur 'buster' Tulepov |
55 - 39 | +16 | 88.1 | 74.6% | 1.32 |
| Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev |
30 - 37 | -7 | 68.8 | 68.3% | 0.96 |
 Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev |
36 - 35 | +1 | 58.7 | 71.4% | 0.95 |
The second series of the day saw NRG attempt to avenge their NA comrades as they faced off against Astralis on Train and Overpass.
NRG's start on Train was incredibly rough, with Astralis mounting a rock-solid defense and climbing up to eight rounds before NRG managed find a single round. Once they finally broke through Astralis' defenses, they finally started to found rounds, however Astralis still managed to end the half up 10-5.
After switching sides, NRG finally got some skin in the game as they won four out of the first five rounds to nearly tie things up 9-11. NRG's chances of getting back in the map quickly faded though as once Astralis' economy got rolling, they battered NRG, taking five out of the next six rounds to take Train 16-10.
On Overpass, Astralis once again started in the lead as the Danes won the first three rounds in a row on their T-side before NRG answered back with three of their own. Following this, Astralis continued to dominate NRG, as they won the next seven rounds in a row, before NRG found the last two in the half.
On their T-side NRG won the opening pistol though it mattered little as Astralis continued to hold strong, keeping NRG at bay to claim Overpass and secure their spot in the finals with a 16-9 finish.
NRGAstralis| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
50 - 35 | +15 | 104.3 | 78.4% | 1.51 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
33 - 36 | -3 | 71.0 | 62.7% | 0.94 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
29 - 37 | -8 | 55.1 | 66.7% | 0.82 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
27 - 38 | -11 | 67.0 | 58.8% | 0.81 |
 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
20 - 37 | -17 | 59.1 | 60.8% | 0.71 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
42 - 30 | +12 | 90.7 | 70.6% | 1.30 |
| Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
38 - 30 | +8 | 81.7 | 72.5% | 1.13 |
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
37 - 32 | +5 | 72.8 | 74.5% | 1.12 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
36 - 34 | +2 | 80.2 | 72.5% | 1.12 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
29 - 35 | -6 | 63.2 | 62.7% | 0.91 |
With the semifinals completed, all that remains at StarLadder Berlin Major is the Grand Finals. With the series set to begin tomorrow at noon EDT, will Astralis claim their third Major in a row, or will underdogs AVANGAR bring the Danish juggernaut to heel?
