Astralis’ hopes of receiving a direct invitation to Stage Two of the BLAST Austin Major are officially out of their hands after their disastrous performances at BLAST Open Spring 2025. All eyes are now on Virtus.pro, the only team who can leapfrog Astralis in the Valve Regional Standings and take the Stage Two invite for themselves.
What does this mean for the team? Well, quite a lot, actually. Let’s go over some Astralis talking points at the moment after they crashed out of BLAST Open Spring 2025 at the hands of FaZe Clan.
Astralis need Major qualification
Astralis have missed the previous four Counter-Strike Majors, last appearing (and crashing out of) PGL Major Antwerp 2022. For an organization like Astralis, whose history as four-time Major winners makes them record holders, it’s unthinkable that they could be in danger of missing out on a fifth consecutive event.
It’s not just for status, either. Many organizations in Counter-Strike rely on Major sticker money for their continued existence, so Astralis missing out on five of these hefty paydays would be an enormous loss to swallow. It’s known that Astralis sold its LEC spot in League of Legends back in late 2023, but that was some time ago now, and results on the server for the organization won’t exactly have topped up the bank balance.
Now, I’m not suggesting that Astralis are in danger of going out of business any time soon – I don’t have a clue. But there’s no doubt frustration that their BLAST Open Spring 2025 performance has put the team in a position where Major qualification (and thus that sweet, sweet sticker money) is out of their hands. Just one win here would have essentially guaranteed their spot in Stage Two of the Major, with the April 7th invite deadline approaching.
What went wrong for Astralis at BLAST Open Spring 2025?
Astralis just couldn’t get going at BLAST Open Spring 2025. They were dealt a tough opening draw against Vitality, comfortably the best CS2 team in the world right now. You can forgive them for that, but losing 2:0 to a FaZe Clan who yesterday were 13:0’d by Virtus.pro was just properly miserable. Hatewatchers were in ecstasy as cadiaN dropped a disasterclass for Astralis, sending them home in last place.
But of course, we’re here to talk about the VRS implications of these matches. Well, it’s not looking good. Astralis are now likely to drop below 3DMAX in the April 7th VRS update, marking another EU invite to Stage Two of the Major gone. That leaves one direct invite remaining. When the invites go out, it’ll all come down to two teams: Astralis and Virtus.pro. That would be fine, if Virtus.pro weren’t still involved in BLAST Open Spring and in a position to win more points. To make matters worse, Virtus.pro even beat FaZe at the event, bringing the gap even closer.
Essentially, a deeper run for Virtus.pro will likely take them above Astralis in the Valve Regional Standings, and there’s nothing Astralis can do about it. The reason we don’t know exactly whether VP have managed it until April 7th is the fact that it will all come down to points decay, which naturally occurs to remove past results from the VRS.
How can Astralis still qualify for the BLAST Austin Major?
It’s not all bad news for Astralis. Yes, they’re out of BLAST Open Spring 2025, and it’s going to be a photo finish for the invites to the BLAST Austin Major. The good news is that there’s every chance Virtus.pro don’t win another match at BLAST Open Spring, which should still be enough to make it through. Most assumed VP would go home in 0:2 fashion, and their win over FaZe was a slight spanner in the works in this regard.
Virtus.pro now face Falcons at BLAST Open Spring, which is a 50/50 matchup if I ever saw one. Astralis will be holding their breath in the hope that their old pals Magisk and zonic can do them a favor and knock out Virtus.pro, and given Falcons’ recent form, it’s not a situation I’d love to rely on. There’s something fun about it being that duo that has the chance to give Astralis their first Major appearance in so many years, but Astralis probably don’t feel the same way.
If all else fails and Astralis do lose their direct invite to the Major, they can still qualify. They’ll just have to do it in the new MRQs, which are essentially replacing RMRs going forward. You only have to look at Astralis’ history in RMRs to understand why they won’t be too thrilled about that.
