Ranked 127th in the world, 5star have become the sensation of FISSURE Playground 3 by sending Astralis packing from the $1,000,000 event in Suzhou.
The Mongolian squad had already stunned their compatriots The MongolZ earlier in the tournament, but few expected lightning to strike twice. Yet the underdogs delivered another shocking performance, leaving the European heavyweights searching for answers.
The opening map Inferno saw 5star race to a commanding 9-3 lead, with 29-year-old Dulguun "hoolig4n" Batsaikhan leading the charge. Despite Astralis clawing back, the Mongolians closed it out 13-10.
Astralis responded on Ancient, returning to form with a decisive 13-5 victory powered by Victor "Staehr" Staehr's quad-kill in the pistol round.
The decider on Cache became a tense back-and-forth affair. Gerelt-Od "clouden" Jargal clutched a crucial 1v1 to give 5star a 7-5 halftime lead, but Astralis rallied with intelligent retakes and the CT pistol to surge ahead 11-9.
With the world number 12 side seemingly in control, 5star refused to fold. Clouden delivered another clutch in round 21, followed by an economy-breaking round 22. Trailing 11-12 and facing a 2v4 deficit, Ariunjargal "ariucle" Yadam and Uuganbayar "NEUZ" Nyam-Otgon produced a stunning final clutch to complete the upset and advance to the top eight.
