Astralis may have to win best-of-three matches in a row to qualify for the Shanghai Major.

Astralis are one loss away from missing their fourth consecutive Counter-Strike Major following a 13-11 loss to Danish team Sashi at RMR B Europe on November 21.

Astralis and Sashi faced off in a 0-1 group tie after they lost to 9 Pandas and BIG respectively in the opening round. Astralis were the undisputed favorites despite playing Alexander "br0" Bro in place of Nicolai "device" Reedtz, but they were overwhelmed by Sashi's CT-side prowess at Inferno.

Sashi, coached by former Astralis coach Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen, made it six straight rounds of their CT campaign in the second half. This left Astralis with no room for improvement, and they lost their chance to advance to group 1-1 of RMR B Europe.

Depending on how the Buchholz score affects Astralis' seeding, Casper "cadiaN" Møller and team may need to win best-of-three matches in a row to qualify for Perfect World Shanghai Major. This is a difficult task, but GamerLegion has proven that it is possible in RMR A Europe.

The main problem is that only br0 played well on the first day of the European RMR B. The team's main stars — cadiaN, Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard — have had a dismal individual performance so far.

Astralis will return to the server tomorrow to play their first qualifying match. On the other hand, Sashi will play a best-in-one match to determine whether they are moved to group 2-1 or 1-2 of RMR B Europe.

Missing the Major could affect Astralis' plans for 2025

cadiaN will find themselves under a lot of criticism if Astralis misses another Major (Photo by Michal Konkol via BLAST)

Despite being one of the largest organizations in Counter-Strike esports, Astralis also relies on prize money from attending Majors.

The organization has not participated in the previous three Majors, so they have lost this important source of income since 2021. Although Astralis said its financial results for 2023 were "satisfactory", the largely because this organization sells its LEC participation.