GamerLegion ousts Astralis; Legacy tops group at IEM Atlanta

The final round of group-stage matches at IEM Atlanta concluded with GamerLegion eliminating Astralis and Legacy defeating Natus Vincere. The results settled the group standings: Legacy earned the top seed and a direct semifinal berth, while GamerLegion advanced to the playoffs; Astralis and Natus Vincere were eliminated from the group’s title paths.

GamerLegion beat Astralis in a best-of-three. GamerLegion won the opening map on Mirage and closed the series on Ancient, 13-8. Oldřich ‘PR’ Nový led GamerLegion with a 37-18 line, a 1.75 rating and 101.9 ADR. Milan ‘hypex’ Polowiec produced a 1v4 AWP kill on Ancient that shifted momentum for GamerLegion. The team converted an unusually high number of pistol rounds, which contributed to their Ancient map win.

Astralis had individual contributions but lacked consistency across the lineup. Victor ‘Staehr’ Staehr finished with a 28-28 line and a 1.20 rating. Jakob ‘jabbi’, Love ‘phzy’, Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen and Gytis ‘ryu’ Glušauskas posted lower ratings over the two maps and the team could not recover after falling behind on Ancient.

Legacy beat Natus Vincere 2-1 to take the group lead. Legacy won the first map, Inferno, 13-11 after a five-round run late in the match. Natus Vincere answered with a 13-8 win on Ancient, helped by an 8-4 defensive start and a 1v2 clutch from Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri. The decider on Dust2 ended 13-6 for Legacy, with Bruno ‘latto’ Rebelatto collecting 17 kills by halftime and Eduardo ‘dumau’ Wolkmer finishing the match with an ace.

Stat lines from the series highlighted individual performances. For Legacy, Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan went 46-46 with a 1.27 rating, latto was 52-40 with a 1.20 rating and dumau posted 42-36 with a 1.10 rating. For Natus Vincere, Ihor ‘w0nderful’ Zhdanov led with a 54-37 line and a 1.41 rating, and Valeriy ‘b1t’ Vakhovskiy had a 53-45 line and a 92.3 ADR.

With Legacy advancing directly to the IEM Atlanta semifinals as group winner, GamerLegion will play in the playoff bracket for a chance to reach the final four. The tournament schedule moves next to the playoff matches that will determine who faces Legacy in the semifinals.