The first PGL semifinal match is a bit of a surprising one, with Aurora Gaming and Astralis going head to head; but how should you bet on it?
The expectation with Aurora Gaming, whether it’s under this banner or Eternal Fire, is a deep run in every tournament. That’s not the case with Astralis, though. The Danish organization has had some successes, but has generally struggled to place well in prominent tournaments.
PGL Astana has been a strong showing for Astralis, so is it worth finally buying into the team?
QUARTER-FINALS! NAVI vs Astralis – HIGHLIGHTS – PGL Astana 2025 | CS2
Aurora Gaming and Astralis have been paired up for a semifinals match in PGL Astana. The best-of-three match will determine one of the two finalists for the tournament. The loser heads into PGL’s signature third-place decider match.
Aurora Gaming has had an up-and-down run through PGL Astana. The team started with an upset loss at the hands of BIG but recovered with wins over HOTU and Ninjas in Pyjamas. A loss to NaVi put the team into a do-or-die round five match, but Aurora earned its playoffs spot by beating ODDIK. The team then took a strong win over The MongolZ to advance to the semifinals.
The Eternal Fire roster was acquired Aurora Gaming earlier this year:
Anubis and Nuke have propelled this squad to top-five status. It has a generally solid record on other maps, but those two maps are the only standouts. The roster also permanently bans Ancient.
Astralis’ roster shakeup has seemingly already worked out well for the team. The team had a relatively easy group stage journey, beating both ODDIK and Pain Gaming. A loss to Team Spirit proved to be a minor setback as the team then took a playoffs spot by beating Virtus.pro. There was still reason to doubt Astralis, but the squad took a win over NaVi to advance in the playoffs.
The Astralis roster currently includes a stand-in IGL:
Astralis has struggled on Dust 2 and Mirage in 2025, but has a winning record across all its other maps. Those winning records aren’t radically strong, though, capping out at 63% on the team’s favorite map, Inferno.
The last match time the current Aurora Gaming roster played against Astralis was in November 2024 as part of the European RMR ahead of the PGL Shanghai Major. The Aurora roster was with Eternal Fire at the time. Astralis won that match 2-1, and a month prior, Astralis also beat this same roster in a best-of-one in IEM Rio.
QUARTER-FINALS! TheMongolz vs Aurora – HIGHLIGHTS – PGL Astana 2025 | CS2
Aurora Gaming is a narrow favorite to beat Astralis in the PGL Astana semifinals, with the moneylines sitting at 1.74 to 2.03. Astralis is getting quite a bit of respect from betting sites after this win against NaVi. Either that or Astralis’ success against this team in the past has them ignoring how these teams are ranked.
Aurora Gaming should be able to defeat Astralis. While Astralis has made a good showing in PGL Astana and has done enough to inspire some renewed confidence, HooXi doesn’t seem to have wildly transformed Astralis. Aurora has been good enough for long enough that bettors shouldn’t start doubting them here.
Think you know who will win? Place your bets here!
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