Day 1 at PGL Masters Bucharest: Astralis and fnatic slip to 0-1 as favorites mostly hold serve

The opening day of the Swiss stage in Bucharest wrapped with most favorites advancing, while two storied names — Astralis and fnatic — dropped into the 0-1 pool. Early on, paiN and GamerLegion eked out 2-0 wins over Gentle Mates and FlyQuest, and Liquid recovered from losing their Mirage pick to reverse-sweep Legacy on Inferno and Nuke. 

HEROIC delivered the most dominant showing: Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç shredded Ninjas in Pyjamas with a 33–11, 152.7 ADR, 2.61 rating on Nuke before closing the sweep on Dust2, sending NiP to 0-1 — a notable result with coach Richard “Xizt” Landström on paternity leave. 

BetBoom also logged their first international LAN win with Daniil “d1Ledez” Kustov in a three-map victory over MIBR, who are competing without AWPer Klimentii “kl1m” Krivosheev due to visa issues. 

3DMAX carried momentum from their CS Asia Championships runner-up finish and comfortably beat SAW, while Aurora pushed fnatic into the 0-1 bracket behind a 1.80-rated map from Özgür “woxic” Eker as they closed Mirage late and ran away with Dust2. 

B8 stunned Astralis after the Danes led 6–1 on Mirage; the Ukrainians ripped off nine straight rounds and then dominated Ancient. Alexey “alex666” Yarmoshchuk headlined the upset with a 35–19 K-D and 1.88 rating on Mirage. 

What’s next (Day 2 highlights)

Day two pits 1-0 teams against each other — headlined by Aurora vs. Liquid — while the 0-1 pool features must-win matches for Legacy, NiP, fnatic, and Astralis (who face a kl1m-less MIBR). GamerLegion vs. paiN and HEROIC vs. BetBoom round out the key 1-0 ties. 

Verified player quotes that add color

Guy “NertZ” Iluz (Liquid), after topping the board in the win over Legacy, on meshing with EliGE and the team’s goals in Bucharest:

“The way EliGE sees the game, I see it the same way… we are aligned in the way that we see CS… It’s important for us to win the tournament, but I feel like achieving consistency is the most important thing and would be a big step ahead of the Major.” 

Sebastian “Tauson” Lindelöf (GamerLegion), on confidence returning and new roles after a rough stretch:

“We talked a lot about having the inner belief back… today we showed it and I’m really happy about that… I got some new roles as well in the summer break… I’m more like an anchor player now and that suits me way better.” 

Related news & context you should know

Day 2 preview: Full slate and pairings (including Aurora-Liquid; Astralis-MIBR; fnatic-FlyQuest). 

FlyQuest coaching move: The Australians confirmed Aaron “AZR” Ward as head coach ahead of their opener vs. GamerLegion. FlyQuest fell 0-2, but AZR joins full-time after a trial at DraculaN. 

NiP staff change for the event: Richard “Xizt” Landström is missing PGL Masters Bucharest on paternity leave; initial uncertainty around Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer was resolved and he is playing. 

Event hub & schedule: Live standings, results, and galleries are centralized on HLTV’s event page. 

Quick Day 1 scoreboard snapshot (selection)

HEROIC 2–0 NiP — xfl0ud starred; NiP to 0-1. 

Liquid 2–1 Legacy — reverse sweep after dropping Mirage. 

GamerLegion 2–0 FlyQuest — GL snap skid; Tauson top-frags. 

paiN 2–0 Gentle Mates — narrow maps, but clean scoreline. 

BetBoom 2–1 MIBR — first LAN win with d1Ledez; MIBR minus kl1m. 

3DMAX 2–0 SAW — French side keep form from Shanghai. 

Aurora 2–0 fnatic — woxic’s 1.80 map helps seal it. 

B8 2–0 Astralis — alex666 drops a monster Mirage; Astralis to 0-1.