Astralis have assured themselves of a grand final spot at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul after defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-11 on Nuke.

Astralis kicked things off on a positive note, winning their Terrorist pistol, in which Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz got a triple kill to his name, and they followed that up with the subsequent anti-ecos. In the first gun round, Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman came up huge with a quad-kill in a 2v4 situation, but the Danes replied immediately and increased their lead to 5-1.

Ninjas in Pyjamas responded well with a three-round winning streak, but Astralis regained control of proceedings and restored a four-round lead. The Ninjas refused to back down, however, and rallied back on a shoddy buy, following that up with the next two rounds to bring the deficit to 7-8.

Xyp9x led the way for Astralis

With a triple-kill from Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander, Astralis picked up a near-flawless pistol in the second half. Ninjas in Pyjamas won a force buy, which marked the start of a four-round streak from them, but then Astralis tightened up their defence and locked down the map without losing any more rounds.

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018Best of 1 Ninjas in PyjamasMatchpage 11 16 29th September 2018 Astralis 11Nuke 16

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	19 - 17	+2	85.3	1.19
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	19 - 21	-2	83.4	0.95
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	15 - 19	-4	61.4	0.95
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	12 - 19	-7	55.7	0.72
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	13 - 20	-7	56.5	0.70

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	27 - 15	+12	97.5	1.44
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	20 - 17	+3	76.5	1.18
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	19 - 14	+5	76.2	1.18
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	17 - 14	+3	81.8	1.13
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	13 - 18	-5	63.3	0.89

The group stage standings currently look as follows:

Group A TEAM M P Astralis 4 12 MIBR 4 10 Ninjas in Pyjamas 4 4 Cloud9 4 3 Virtus.pro 4 3 Space Soldiers 4 3 Cloud9 #21 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaMaikil 'Golden' Selim Soham 'valens' Chowdhury Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1017 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.66 MIBR #4 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoTarik 'tarik' CelikFernando 'fer' AlvarengaJake 'Stewie2K' YipMarcelo 'coldzera' David Janko 'YNk' Paunović Space Soldiers #39 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor Canpolat 'hardstyle' Yıldıran Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1174 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner 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 Dennis 'dennis' Edman Age: 27 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 849 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner Faruk 'pita' Pita