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Astralis are through to the grand final of the SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 event after beating Natus Vincere 2-0 (16-8 on Overpass and 16-10 on Nuke).

The series began on Na`Vi's map choice, Overpass, but the end result would have suggested otherwise. Astralis came out the better-looking team, taking the pistol round with three quick kills from Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye to deny their opponents the chance to plant the bomb.

After losing both eco rounds, Na`Vi's offence flourished as they won four of the next five rounds. One would think that Na`Vi had finally cracked the code behind Astralis' defence, but they would soon call a timeout after a round went awry.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz wowed viewers and casters with a trio of kills in the following round, one of them a wallbang through a smoke. Despite their best efforts, Na`Vi's attempts to break down Astralis' defence proved fruitless, with the half ending in an 11-4 scoreline in favour of the Danes.

Na`Vi kept their hopes alive in the second half by taking the pistol thanks to a triple kill from Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin, only to be caught off-guard by Astralis' tec-9 push in the following round.

Astralis advance to the StarSeries final 

The Danish team kept their foot on the gas and eventually hit 14 rounds. A triple spraydown from Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev handed Na`Vi a lifeline, but their comeback hopes would soon be crushed by Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen, who picked up a series of kills to power Astralis to win the last two rounds they needed to take the map.

Map two, Nuke, saw Astralis get off to a flying start, winning nine of the first ten rounds to put Na`Vi in danger of getting blown out. It was only then that Na`Vi put managed to find a way to break through the Danes' defence and they ultimately finished the half with four rounds on the board.

Astralis piled even more misery on Na`Vi by taking the pistol round on the Terrorist side, with Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander winning a 1v1 situation to complete a triple kill. With no room for error, Na`Vi tightened up their defence and won six rounds in a row to cut the gap to 10-13.

With Astralis losing their grip on the game, gla1ve called a timeout in an attempt to halt Na`Vi's momentum, a decision that proved decisive as the Danes would go on to win the next three rounds to secure a spot in yet another tournament final.

PotM: Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth gets the award after topping the scoreboard with an impressive +15 KDD. On top of that, he also had the highest ADR of the series at 89.

SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 FinalsBest of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 0 2 9th April 2017 Astralis 8Overpass 16 10Nuke 16

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	41 - 26	+15	89.0	1.36
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	40 - 33	+7	86.4	1.22
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	39 - 32	+7	77.2	1.18
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	35 - 29	+6	85.8	1.17
Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeKjaerbye	27 - 31	-4	63.1	0.99

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	29 - 34	-5	74.8	0.96
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	32 - 37	-5	82.7	0.96
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	32 - 37	-5	71.0	0.89
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	29 - 39	-10	58.8	0.84
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	29 - 36	-7	59.9	0.79

Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Age: 29 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 909 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.67 Denis 'seized' Kostin Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 906 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 21 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 700 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 24 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 976 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 21 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 880 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 21 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1034 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.62 Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Age: 18 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 738 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65