Astralis are finally figuring things out at BLAST Bounty Fall 2025

Astralis have become the first team to qualify for the BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 LAN Finals, securing their flights to Malta when the action kicks off later this month. A leap to sixth place in the Valve Regional Standings has all but secured a spot in the next CS2 Major for the Danes, who finally seem to be on the right track.

BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 has come at a great time for Astralis. A mixed start to the season saw a Grand Final loss to underdogs TYLOO at FISSURE Playground 1, as well as a disastrous showing at IEM Cologne 2025. Momentum, well and truly halted. However, if this early showing at BLAST Bounty is any indication, things might finally be coming up Astralis.

stavn and jabbi are the key to Astralis unlocking the top CS2 teams

For a while now, Astralis have felt like a gatekeeper to the best CS2 teams. Beat them, and you’re probably quite good. Lose to them, and it’s time to head back to the drawing board for a moment. But with HooXi onboard, Astralis’ ambitions are a little loftier, and to win, they’d need to see more from their rifling duo of stavn and jabbi.

As a pair, the former HEROIC players haven’t lived up to their reputations in the Astralis jersey, putting a hard cap on the team’s ceiling. However, when the Danes faced NAVI against BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 for a spot in the Malta LAN Finals, it was stavn and jabbi who were the difference-makers. From the likes of dev1ce and Staehr, you can always expect a certain level of output. That’s why having at least one of stavn or jabbi online is essential for Astralis if they really want to compete like the good old days.

Of the three maps vs. NAVI, it was the Nuke decider where the deadly duo shone the brightest. The pressure was on in BLAST Bounty’s brutal single-elimination format, but Astralis put NAVI to the sword in a decisive 13:2 victory. They just had no answers to jabbi’s impactful lurks and stavn’s trademark aggression, the former putting together six multikill rounds in total across the one map. With these two singing, Astralis stand out to me as a real contender to actually win BLAST Bounty Fall 2025.

Overpass could be the key for Astralis to go further in BLAST Bounty

As a general rule, Overpass has historically been a great map for every iteration of Astralis. It’s typically where dev1ce does some of his best work, so you adapt to the needs of one of Counter-Strike’s greats. On paper, Astralis should be one of the biggest beneficiaries of its return to the CS2 Active Duty map pool, and we’ve already seen some signs of that with this lineup.

One win, one loss is the record so far, but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. That loss came at the hands of a dominant Vitality at IEM Cologne, and even then, the Danes put up a valiant fight. When Astralis played Overpass at BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 vs. Rare Atom, we saw a much more convincing 13:6 win. I’ve seen enough to suggest Astralis are net winners from the latest map pool change.

At this early point, we’re still going to see a lot of teams shaking off the rust on Overpass. After all, the map had been out of the pool for well over a year before its reintroduction. Astralis need to see this for the opportunity that it is. Use that natural aptitude for the map, pick into it where possible. An event like BLAST Bounty Fall 2025 features a format that lends itself to upsets, and that means Astralis should head to Malta and fancy themselves as a real trophy contender.