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We continue to keep an eye on the action at PGL Astana 2025. There are 16 teams playing in the $1,250,000 tournament.
Spirit and Astralis are among the participants. Both teams are in a 2-0 basket and after their head-to-head match, one of the teams will earn themselves a slot in the play-offs.
Let's try to figure out which of the Astralis - Spirit pairing will be stronger and make it to the PGL Astana 2025 playoffs with a 3-0 score.
Let's go.
Team Spirit uniforms
Let's open the analysis of the match Spirit - Astralis with the analysis of Spirit's form. In this match, the Dragons are playing as favourites with odds to win at around 1.1.
The 2023 season has been a busy one for Spirit. The Serbian club has played wherever they can, but they have not managed to get significant results almost anywhere.
They started the previous season with an appearance at IEM Master Katowice 2023, where they finished in the top 12. Then there was the local CCT Central Europe Malta Finals 2023, where they finished in the top 6.
One of the biggest tournaments of the 2023 season for Spirit was ESL Pro League Season 17, where the Dragons finished in TOP-28. They tried to make it to the Major in Paris, but again all in vain.
From the middle and up to the end of the year Spirit played at local events of small calibre. And they were quite successful, it is worth mentioning: TOP-1 at CCT North Europe Series #6, TOP-2 at CCT Online Finals #2, victory at Dunav Party LAN and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2.
- Team Spirit roster: chopper, zont1x, sh1ro, donk, magixx.
At the end of the year, they won the BB Dacha. In 2024 BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024 was the first big event of the Dragons. Spirit played frankly poorly there: they finished in the top 16 at their debut BLAST Championship, advancing to the Spring Showdown.
At IEM Katowice 2024 Spirit started their performance at the Play-In stage. There they beat Apeks 13-0 without a chance, and then confidently (except for 2 maps) beat MongolZ 2-0, thus qualifying for the group stage. The group stage was not a problem for Spirit either: after giving up only 1 map to NaVi, they easily made it to the play-offs by beating CoL and FaZe Clan 2-0. The IEM Katowice 2024 play-offs confirmed Spirit's dominance, as they easily shut down Falcons (2-0) and it was even easier against FaZe in the grand finals (3-0).
After the triumph at Katowice 2024, Spirit went to PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach the play-offs, but Ledge and FaZe Clan in the first round of the main stage. Spirit took the top 8.
Spirit had a kind of successful performance at BB Dacha, but a 0-3 loss to MOUZ in the grand finals spoilt the feeling a bit.
At IEM Dallas 2024 Team Spirit had a very easy time in the group stage, not giving up a single map in the B basket. However, they didn't manage to beat everyone in the play-offs: Vitality intervened at the TOP-4 stage and knocked Spirit out of the tournament.
Later Spirit won the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024. And then came a string of poor performances, including Top 8 and Top 16 at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024.
ESL Pro League Season 20 Team Spirit started with Group B, where they defeated Ledge and MIBR in the second round of the upper grid and after dropping below, they had no trouble beating The MongolZ and 3DMAX, which allowed them to advance to the play-offs, where they beat FURIA 2-0 in their first match. Later they ran into NaVi, after their defeat they finished the pro league.
Spirit played at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they did not find success either. They only finished in the top 6.
At BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 Spirit started their journey from Group B, where they fought against G2 Esports, Team Spirit, Vitality and Liquid. They went 1-1, beating Vitality but losing to G2 in the playoffs seeding match. In the play-offs itself, Spirit made it directly to the grand finals, but there they were defeated 0-3 by Ledge and G2 Esports.
Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B Long They started with a win over B8. Then they lost to Passion UA, beat Aurora, lost to G2, but in the last match they beat Sashi Esports. At the Elimination Stage Spirit Long Sogpegos started with a loss to FURIA, but then defeated Wildcard and NaVi. Then in a match to advance to the full bo3, they handled Heroic. Spirit opened the play-offs of PW Shanghai Major 2024 with a win over Liquid. In the semi-finals of Shanghai Major 2024 they defeated MOUZ. In the grand finals they defeated FaZe, thus becoming world champions for the first time in the club's history.
BLAST Bounty Season 1 Long They started the qualifying round with two confident victories against Fnatic and FlyQuest. In the play-offs they also beat Heroic without any problems. Next - the expected victory against NaVi and triumph in the grand finals against Eternal Fire.
IEM Katowice 2025 Spirit started with the first round of Group B. There they demolished Astralis without much trouble, giving up a total of 9 rounds. In the match for the play-offs they played against NaVi, where they lost 1-2 in a protracted Bo3 with extra rounds on the third map Nuke. Having got to the bottom net they beat Liquid and GamerLegion, which allowed them to enter the play-offs. In the main stage they defeated Vp and NaVi in turn, making it to the grand finals, but in the match for the title they were unable to oppose Vitality: 0-3 and TOP-2.
The group stage of ESL Pro League Season 21 Spirit went the way they were expected to: 3-0. Playoffs Long Sogpegov with a hard win (2-1) over Eternal Fire. But then they lost to MOUZ and dropped out of the championship in the top 4.
At the BLAST Open Lisbon 2025 Spirit Long started with a 2-0 win over The Hans Esports. Then there was a super difficult match against MOUZ, where in an unreal series with extra rounds Ledgeili (1-2). Already in the lower net they beat FaZe with the score 2-0. In the play-offs match they closed Vp without much difficulty. In the first round of play-offs Spirit defeated their principal rival NaVi, shutting down "born to win" with the score 2-0. In the next round they met Vitality, where they gave battle, but Ledgeili with a 1-2 score, taking the top 4 at the tournament as a whole.
At BLAST Rivals Season 1 Spirit beat FlyQuest in the group, and then Ledge and Falcons. Thus, they reached the play-offs of BLAST Rivals Season 1, where they defeated Wildcard in the first round. In the next round met with Vitality, where they lost, taking the result of the match TOP-4.
At the PGL Astana 2025 Spirit Long Teams started with two wins: they defeated GamerLegion and NiP with 2-0 score in each of the games.
Team Spirit Mapple
The best map of Team Spirit remains Vertigo, where the Brazilians have played 5 times and won 3 maps. Next comes Mirage, already with 7 games and 4-3 statistics.
The neutral choice for Team Spirit will be Nuke and Ancient. The Brazilians have 6 maps and 3-3 score on each.
The worst is Overpass (2-3) and Inferno (1-2).
Astralis Form
We continue the Astralis vs Team Spirit match with the analysis of Astralis' form. In this match they play as an outsider with odds to win around 7.
The Danish club had a difficult period. They tried their best to "return" to the TIR-1 scene, but they were constantly falling short: Astralis finished top-20 at ESL Pro League Season 17 and top-14 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B.
At lesser tournaments, however, Astralis fared well. The world's most titled team finished Top 2 at Brazy Party, won CCT South Europe Series #4 and finished Top 4 at Pinnacle Cup V.
Returning to the S-Tier Championships, Astralis took Top 6 at IEM Masters Dallas 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups.
Prior to the BB Dacha, Astralis attended a number of other events. Those were ESL Pro League Season 18 and Roobet Cup 2023, where the once stellar Danes finished in the Top 16.
Just before the Long Convergence, BB Dacha Astralis finished in the Top 4 at CS Asia Championship 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals. The swing in performance is primarily due to roster manipulation.
- Astralis roster: dev1ce, Staehr, stavn, jabbi, HooXi.
Before IEM Katowice 2024 they played at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024. According to the results of the championship, the Danes made it to the top 6 and it was enough to reach the BLAST Premier: Spring Final. The IEM Katowice 2024 Astralis failed in the dust and dust: took the top 32, not passing the Play-In stage.
Then there were two attempts to get to the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but both were unsuccessful: TOP-11 at European RMR B and TOP-6 at European RMR Decider put an end to Astralis' participation in the home Major.
In the first match of IEM China 2024 Astralis played against steel helmet, as Monte could not make it to China. And if Monte had played there, the score would have been obviously not so crushing as 13-2 in favour of Astralis. Although, judging by the match with FaZe, where Astralis were a head and shoulders above FaZe, shutting down the top 1 team in the world with a score of 2-0, maybe Astralis are very energised for IEM China 2024. In the play-offs of the championship Astralis met FaZe Clan again, but this time they were weaker and lost with the score 1-2 and left the tournament.
Astralis visited ESL Pro League Season 19, where they reached the TOP-4, where in the match for the grand final Ledge and Vitality. Later, they had an identical result at CCT Season 1 Global Finals and YaLLa Compass 2024.
At BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024, Astralis played in Group A, where they finished in the top 3. They made it to the play-offs Ledge or Vp and left the tournament at the Top 6 stage. Later Astralis played at IEM Cologne 2024, where they finished top-12.
At the ESL Pro League Season 20 Long Season they were defeated by Fnatic (1-2). Next was a match against CoL (0-2). They finished ESL Pro League Season 20 as ignominiously as they started - losing to CoL and leaving the tournament at the TOP-28 stage.
After such poor results Astralis continued their attempts to return to the TIR-1 stage. For this purpose, they played at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they took TOP-8 and at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they were TOP-12. As you can see, the attempts were not successful.
Astralis did well in the group stage of BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, leaving behind MOUZ, FaZe and NaVi. After winning Group A, Astralis directly qualified for the semi-finals. However, that was the end of their journey through BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, and Spirit advanced to the grand finals.
Astralis Long Sogpeg at PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B with a loss against 9 Pandas, followed by Ledgeili and Sashi Esports. They managed to come together only by the third match against B8. However, the music didn't last long for Astralis and they failed to make it to Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
At BLAST Bounty Season 1 Astralis Long started with a victory over Wildcard, but then - NaVi and lost. At the end of BLAST Bounty Season 1, Astralis finished in the top 9-16.
Astralis also attended IEM Katowice 2025, where they made it to the group stage, but did not manage to take high places there. TOP-12 is not a good result. Later, Astralis had TOP-3 at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, which is a great result for Astralis.
After TOP-3 at Cluj-Napoca 2025 Astralis visited BLAST Open Spring 2025, where they finished TOP-12. At PGL Bucharest 2025 Long Sogpeg started with a victory over FaZe, who by the way knocked Astralis out of BLAST Open Spring 2025. However, they didn't go far, taking the PGL Bucharest 2025 TOP-11.
At PGL Astana 2025 Astralis Long Sogpegov with a victory over ODDIK and paiN.
Astralis Mapple
Astralis has two 100% mappers. They are Nuke with 9 wins in 14 matches, and Anubis with 5 matches and 4 wins.
They also play Ancient (66% wins in 3 matches). Still playing Mirage (9 matches, 4 wins). Vertigo with 2 wins and 3 losses and Overpass (2 wins in 7 matches).
Do not play Inferno.
History of head-to-head meetings Spirit - Astralis
Over the last year the teams have played each other three times. Two times Spirit won 2-1, and the last match at IEM Katowice 2025 Spirit closed 2-0.
Predicted result of Astralis vs Spirit at PGL Astana 2025
In this match I expect Spirit to win. Astralis today look like the stick that shoots once a year. However, maybe this is that year? I highly doubt it, especially against a team of Spirit's calibre.
Bottom line: 2-0 win for the Spirit.
