Astralis’ Magisk reveals identities of shirtless stage crashers at CSGO Berlin Major

Following Astralis’ victory at the StarLadder CS:GO Berlin Major 2019, Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif spoke to Frankie Ward and Dexerto about the victory, and revealed the identity of the gentlemen who stormed the stage. 

The 2019 Berlin Major saw Astralis reach their third consecutive Grand Final at a Major, and the only team that stood between them and further glory was the Kazakh side AVANGAR.

Wanting to get to their victory ceremony as quickly as possible, the Danish powerhouse took down AVANGAR in dominant 2-0 fashion.

However, following the victory, the players weren’t alone as they celebrated on stage, as the Dexerto crew caught a couple of fans getting wild alongside the booth.

• Read more: Astralis make history with win at StarLadder Berlin Major

The fans banged on the booth glass and fell over, much to the delight of the victorious players inside.

After seemingly everyone was confused as to who those sloppy supporters were, Astralis’ Magisk spoke to Frankie Ward and Dexerto and revealed their identities.

“It’s gla1ve’s brother, so we knew them, we’ve seen them before,” he admitted to Frankie. “It happened at ECS in London as well.”

As for the other gentlemen, Magisk said he recognized them from the previous encounter in London, which means they’re likely to be the brother’s friends.

While that part of the celebration was unplanned, as was the breaking of the bottom part of the championship trophy, the Danish destruction of AVANGAR’s magical major run went all according to plan. Magisk acknowledged that preparation was key to to a dominant defeat, which echoed what gla1ve told Frankie and Dexerto the day prior.

• Read more: Gla1ve takes shots at NRG after eliminating them at Berlin Major

“We had a pretty good idea of how we should play the T side [of Inferno] against them, we found a lot of tendencies of how we could punish them.”

Magisk also gave credit to their slow play approach they used on the second map on Dust 2. He said the key was to slow down AVANGAR’s pushed into site by using lots of utility early in the round, which mimics the approach Astralis used against NRG Esports in their Train rematch in the semifinals.

The third straight major championship coincides with a special date, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz’s 24th birthday, and Magisk tells Frankie that he went above and beyond to get him a gift.

“I set [dev1ce] up so that he could get MVP on his birthday, so I would say that’s a pretty good birthday present,” the 21-year-old rifler told Frankie. “I’m really happy. It’s been a long time since we actually won something, so it’s a nice feeling to finally win.”

Counter-Strike and Astralis fans can be happy too, as magisk hinted that fans will see more of the Danes in the future, after they had skipped some big tournaments over the past few months.