The Danish side kicked off the new season with a 2-1 victory.

The first game of the $1 million BLAST Premier Global Final tournament saw Astralis live up to the status of the world's #1 team with a 2-1 victory over Evil Geniuses.

The North American side took a 16-14 win on the opening map, Inferno, where Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov posted a 1.40 rating. Evil Geniuses were unable to display a similar level on the next two maps, though, as Astralis claimed the series after a 16-8 on Overpass and a 16-6 on Vertigo.

The result sees Astralis proceed to the upper-bracket semi-final, where they will meet the winner of G2 and FURIA, while Evil Geniuses drop to the lower bracket.

Astralis are in the upper semi-finals of the tournament

Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold started off top-tier CS:GO action in 2021 with an ace in his first round, securing the T-side pistol on Inferno from a 1v3 situation. Evil Geniuses grabbed the early momentum to go 7-2 up before Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's 3K turned the tides of the half. Astralis chained six together, bringing out the AUGs to solidify their CT side.

The North Americans were back on track after the switch, with CeRq pushing them to a 12-8 lead. Astralis then won a mixed-buy to get rolling, and reached 14-14 after Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz turned around a 2v4. However, Evil Geniuses kept their composure till the end, winning their map pick 16-14.

Overpass was a different story altogether. Astralis canceled out Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik's double entry on the pistol defense and built up a 7-0 lead. Evil Geniuses managed sporadic rounds as their CT side was nearing an end and grabbed a lifeline with the second pistol (11-7), but weren't able to continue that run when Astralis were on the rifles. Xyp9x was in outstanding form and brought the map to a close, 16-8, with 24K-12D and 111.0 ADR.

On Vertigo, Evil Geniuses again won the pistol and set themselves up for a 4-0 lead as Terrorists, but that lead evaporated in no time as the Danes started locking down the approaches. Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and device propelled them forward, going on to win 11 in a row and finish the half with a strong lead. Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's men claimed another pistol in the second half, but strong site hits saw the game finalized shortly, after an Astralis 2v4 post-plant on A (16-6).

BLAST Premier Global Final 2020Best of 3 AstralisMatchpage 2 1 19th January 2021 Evil Geniuses 14Inferno 16 16Overpass 8 16Vertigo 6

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	55 - 39	+16	84.9	1.26
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	56 - 42	+14	72.9	1.22
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	47 - 38	+9	77.3	1.20
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	49 - 45	+4	71.8	1.13
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	47 - 41	+6	65.1	1.08

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	47 - 45	+2	66.4	1.01
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	43 - 52	-9	70.3	0.96
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	47 - 53	-6	65.2	0.85
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	35 - 55	-20	60.1	0.78
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	32 - 52	-20	59.8	0.74

Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Age: 21 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1041 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.62 Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1442 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 Evil Geniuses #18 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Emil 'Magisk' Reif Age: 22 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1200 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1620 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62 G2 #9 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1726 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.61 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz Age: 26 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 1188 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.65 Tarik 'tarik' Celik Age: 24 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1378 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 FURIA #7 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoPaytyn 'junior' JohnsonKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold Age: 20 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 958 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67