What happened in Round 11 of the first map against Astralis was not what eventual Six Invitational 2023 champions G2 Esports would have expected.
Perhaps, though, they should have felt it coming -- what with the fact that they were facing one of the most 'clutch' teams in the tournament and one of the most impressively level-headed players in such scenarios, David "Iconic" Ifidon.
The score was 5-5 and the team that won this round was set to go on match point on the main stage of the Invitational. G2 had started the round explosively, with Karl "Alem4o" Zarth bursting onto the site and drawing first blood.
Iconic equalised the man-count, but things soon became a 4v2 in favour of G2 -- a situation that Iconic tried to ameliorate with another kill, but that seemed to be insufficient as he stared down the barrel of a 1v3.
Instead, it was G2's final three members that had to stare down the barrel of his T-5 SMG. Iconic reeled off the first kill, then took the second while still blinded by a flashbang and then -- against all odds -- traded the final kill while partially blinded by yet another flashbang.
Unfortunately for Astralis, G2 were undeterred and showed a strong mental resilience to come back and win the map 8-7 before taking the series 2-0.
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