Astralis eliminated FaZe from ESL Pro League Season 23 after an overtime win on the Inferno decider, closing a three-map series that swung back and forth. FaZe took the opener on Dust2, 13–7, after recovering from an early deficit, but Astralis answered on Ancient, opening with a 9–0 run and taking the map comfortably to force the Inferno decider. On Inferno Astralis built a 9–3 lead before FaZe pulled the match into overtime; a chaotic exchange in OT left Gytis “ryu” Glušauskas to win a bizarre 1v2 and hand Astralis a match point that Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen’s side converted.
Astralis got a strong early impact on Dust2 from HooXi, he secured a force-buy round that helped them start the map hot, but FaZe recovered to close the half 7–5 and then control the CT side to finish 13–7. The series win underlined Astralis’ resilience across the three maps and handed FaZe another setback in a rough 2026 run for the European squad; Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and company have won just three of their eleven matches this year.
Major implications for FaZe
Before the match, FaZe’s chances of qualifying for the Cologne Major were estimated at roughly 50% by Mischief. That assessment appeared on X, and the loss reduced FaZe’s margin for error. They still have BLAST Open Rotterdam ahead of the Major invite cut-off and can try to boost their position via open LAN events, but their path to Cologne is more uncertain after this defeat.
Updated Europe 🇪🇺 VRS Race predictions to IEM Cologne.
Significant changes post the Liquid & 3DMAX schedule changes.
BIG is right on the cusp, Faze in danger pic.twitter.com/ZgH99b3FWU
— Finn (@MischiefCS2) March 8, 2026
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