Astralis have just bagged a big one, taking down Natus Vincere NAVI 2-1 in the BLAST Bounty Season 2 Round of 16, claiming a $27.5K bounty and becoming the first team to punch their ticket to the LAN Finals in Malta. Not a bad day at the office for a team many had written off in recent years.

BOUNTY SECURED: @AstralisCS are our first successful Bounty Hunters as they take down @natusvincere and claim that $27.5K bounty! 💰 #BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/adTHFwmVlJ

— BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) August 9, 2025

device Turns Back The Clock

If there was ever a performance to spark flashbacks to Astralis’s glory days, Nicolai “device” Reedtz just delivered it.

No one from NAVI could stop device on Inferno🔥 pic.twitter.com/16DILNIfeU

— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) August 9, 2025

The Danish AWPer put on a masterclass, finishing the series with a 1.47 rating, 55 kills, and a +23 kill-death difference. He was everywhere, cracking open rounds on Inferno with a 22-kill, 1.88-rated display and finding multi-kill after multi-kill to keep NAVI at bay.

Image via HLTV.org

A win that feels different

Astralis have been through a rough patch. a “losing streak era” that saw them missing out on Majors and fading from the top tier conversation. This victory doesn’t erase all of that, but it feels like a turning point. With a spot secured at the Malta LAN from August 14-17, the Danes suddenly look dangerous again.

When you qualify for BLAST Bounty S2 LAN Finals😊 pic.twitter.com/YLUUuR2mkb

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) August 9, 2025

NAVI’s stumble

On paper, this was meant to be a closer affair. But NAVI came into the match without head coach Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy on the server, and some of their decisions didn’t land.
Their gamble to pick Dust2. a map Astralis were hoping to avoid, actually worked early on, as NAVI scraped through 13-11 thanks to a crucial quad-kill from Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy and a gutsy last-round B rush.

That was as good as it got. Inferno slipped away under device’s onslaught, and Nuke was over before NAVI found their footing, early clutch losses and a brutal 10-2 T-side from Astralis sealed the deal.
While b1t and w0nderful put up respectable numbers, the rest of NAVI’s lineup struggled to make an impact, with Aleksib, iM, and makazze all finishing the series with negative ratings.

Astralis dominate NAVI on the decider and qualify for the LAN Finals pic.twitter.com/F4WHMcJq2W

— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) August 9, 2025

What’s next

Astralis head to Malta looking revitalised, with their star man in red-hot form and the squad showing signs of cohesion. For NAVI, it’s back to the drawing board, and for the first time in seven years, they won’t be at a LAN, a stat that will sting until they can bounce back.

😵 NAVI couldn’t qualify for LAN for the first time in 7 years! pic.twitter.com/jPwZsZ0VzM

— CS2 NEWS (@CS2News_EN) August 9, 2025

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