Halfway through Oregon, it looked like XSET was going to pull the upset.
They were by far and away the underdogs in the matchup -- XSET was very nearly out of the running for the Major in regional play, Astralis was number one in their region. The regional grudge match was fought to overtime in both maps, but the result was the same, a commanding 2-0 victory. The upset bid faltered down the stretch, however, in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Astralis.
The first map, Border, featured exactly what you'd think out of an XSET vs. Astralis match: lots of playmaking. David "iconic" Ifidon scored the first kill of the series by using Oryx's Remah Dash out of the main door to kill an XSET player on rappel. The map didn't slow down from there.
Ultimately, XSET won Border off the playmaking ability of star support player Leo "Kyno" Figueiredo, who is having an excellent tournament.
Map two looked to be more of the same for the first half. XSET jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but saw it evaporate in a 7-5 Astralis victory -- once again spearheaded by the statistical brilliance of iconic.
Unfortunately for XSET's upset bid, Astralis did what they do so well in map three -- carry momentum. This Astralis team is a team that closes out maps, they don't just start hot. A 5-1 defensive start on Skyscraper doomed XSET, 7-2, behind a stellar performance from Roman "Forrest" Breaux.
Statistically, Forrest was the top-rated player in the server over the course of the three maps. A 1.24 SiegeGG Rating, 31 kills, and a 6-2 entry record while playing Hibana and Smoke is nothing to be sneezed at.
XSET's tournament run is over, but Astralis's might just be getting started. They advance to take on NAL foe Oxygen tomorrow.