Two legendary organizations with rich histories — Astralis and NAVI — faced off in the quarterfinals of the PGL Major Astana 2025. After a tense best-of-three series, it was the Danish side who came out on top, securing a spot in the semifinals and ending NAVI’s run at the tournament.
Road to the Playoffs
Both teams finished the group stage with a 3-1 record, though their paths to the playoffs differed in intensity.
NAVI began their run with a confident 2-0 victory over M80, followed by another clean 2-0 win against BIG. In their third match, they suffered a surprising loss to The MongolZ, but quickly bounced back by defeating Aurora 2-0 in the qualification match. Throughout the group stage, NAVI looked solid and well-organized, with their star players showing strong individual form.
The team thanked their fans on social media platform X with the following post:
“Thank you, Astana, for having us! Sadge to leave so early
Massive respect and a big shoutout to everyone who cheered for us. Gotta be stronger!”
Astralis, on the other hand, had a more challenging journey. They narrowly defeated ODDIK 2-1 in their opening match and then repeated that result against Virtus.pro in another tight series. It wasn’t until their third match that Astralis claimed a clean 2-0 win over paiN. A loss to Spirit added pressure, but the team showed resilience and secured their playoff spot. By this point, it was already clear that Staehr was in excellent form and playing a key role in Astralis’ success.
Quarterfinal Match Recap
The series kicked off on Nuke, where NAVI looked in control, closing the first half with an 8:4 lead. But Astralis mounted a comeback, mirroring the scoreline in the second half and ultimately closing the map 16:14 in overtime.
On Mirage, NAVI started strong again, winning the first half 10:2. Astralis, however, didn’t go down easily, clawing back six rounds before NAVI closed the map 13:8. A standout moment came when Staehr nearly single-handedly shut down an A-site push, showcasing his individual brilliance.
The decider was Ancient, where Astralis quickly seized momentum by winning the opening three rounds. NAVI struggled to respond, and key losses in force-buy rounds proved costly. The final score was 13:6 in favor of Astralis.
Staehr was the undisputed MVP of the match, finishing with 64 kills, 105.2 ADR, and an overall rating of 1.51 across all three maps.
One humorous moment came from stavn, who tried to bait the crowd reaction by shaking his crosshair at a potential enemy position — hoping to hear a reaction from the audience. However, the observers had turned off X-ray for viewers, so the trick didn’t work.
Astralis Are Back in Business
Astralis proved that, despite recent struggles, they are far from done. The Danish squad overcame NAVI and now advance to the semifinals, where a new challenge awaits. As for NAVI, they leave the tournament without fully unlocking their potential in the most crucial match of their run.
