Astralis Shock The MongolZ at PGL Cluj-Napoca, But I Still Have No Idea How Good They Are

Let’s all be honest with each other for a moment – none of us saw Astralis beating The MongolZ in the Playoffs of PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, let alone in comfortable 2:0 fashion. I myself didn’t have Astralis picking up a single map here, especially after watching them get dumpstered in the IEM Dallas qualifier against Heroic yesterday. I assumed The MongolZ were too good individually, and too tactically astute right now. How wrong I was.

Amidst the excitement, I made a big realization. I have no clue how good Astralis are right now. Are they great? Are they terrible? Counter-Strike is rarely black and white, and the answer likely lies somewhere in the middle of those questions. Still, it’s something I want to take a look at based on their win over The MongolZ at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025.

Staehr’s high ceiling is coming to fruition

When Astralis signed Staehr in mid-2023, he was touted as the next big talent in Danish Counter-Strike. In the period since, we’ve only seen glimpses of that talent, coming in waves that usually correlate with Astralis’ current form. He was brilliant when up against the force of The MongolZ, putting up a 43:31 performance across the series, with an impressive 83.7% KAST rating. He was getting stuck right into the action, and almost always coming out on top.

Staehr’s high ceiling has never been up for debate, but the consistency with which he reaches it has. With 15 maps under their belts at PGL Cluj-Napoca, Astralis have played a lot of Counter-Strike of late, yet he stands among the event’s best players so far. Remember, he plays some tough positions, and he’s putting up numbers far beyond the average. This is the Staehr we need to see if Astralis are going to find continued success.

cadiaN’s rifling remains a concern

If there’s one glaring weakness in Astralis, it’s cadiaN. The IGL has had to adapt to life as a rifler on Astralis, with dev1ce keeping his favored AWP role locked down. I thought he’d adapt better, to be honest. Instead, he’s continued to coast in the fragging department, and hasn’t been able to pull off the kind of epic clutches he was known for in his Heroic heyday.

All of this makes cadiaN’s calling more important than ever. If you’re not going to find impact with your guns, then you need to with your calls. Against The MongolZ, he thrived, especially on the CT-side, with his trademark gambles working in his favor as he made the right reads. This is kinda symbolic of Astralis’ inconsistencies, though, with the reads being spot-on in one match, and consistently wrong in the next, so this doesn’t exactly help define my perception of this team.

A confident dev1ce is still a world-beater

He may not have the flash of a modern AWPer like m0NESY, but there’s nothing quite like watching a confident game from dev1ce. Against The MongolZ, he made all the right decisions, never overstepping his mark while playing with a flair that has been missing from his game of late. It was a joy to watch.

Despite his longevity at the top, dev1ce is still a world-beater on his best days. They’ve not been frequent enough of late, but this PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 Playoffs performance offers hope that he’s here to win his first LAN since 2021 (with NIP of all teams!). I just hope this isn’t an anomaly, and we get more of these great stage games from dev1ce in Romania.

Can stavn continue this Playoffs performance?

“Group Stage stavn” is one of the most prevailing theories in modern Counter-Strike. The idea that stavn simply can not bring his form from Groups into Playoffs is one that has been proven right time and time again, but he’s managed to nip this one in the bud for now at PGL Cluj-Napoca. Against The MongolZ, he was immensely impressive, especially as the heat turned up on map two of Inferno.

Obviously, I’m not going to say stavn has dispelled years of Playoffs woes after one best-of-three versus The MongolZ. But if Astralis can continue to reap the benefits of a rejuvenated stavn at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, then it’s impossible to ignore them as challengers for this CS2 tournament.

To summarize, I’m going to do a little bit of fence-sitting. Despite what the hate-watchers might think, you can’t simply label Astralis as “good” or “bad.” They’re more than capable of beating great teams, and losing to poor ones. Winning PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 would go a long way to swinging the pendulum towards “good,” though, so let’s wait and see.