Staehr: “I’m really happy to have made it to the semifinals of a Tier 1 tournament, especially after the disaster at the last Major.”
Astralis rifler Viktor “Staehr” Schter shared his thoughts in an interview at BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 after advancing to the tournament’s semifinals, and also spoke about the paiN Gaming roster and fan support.
On the victory in the BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 quarterfinals
I’m very happy to have made it to the semifinals of a Tier 1 tournament, especially after the disaster at the last Major. I think we had a tough time on Nuke—paiN kept changing the pace and could quickly secure any of the plant sites. The same thing happened on Inferno, but we played better on defense. After winning the second map, we needed to calm down a bit. Our team got off to a blistering start on Mirage and then kept the game under control until the very end. The energy in that match was simply incredible.
About paiN Gaming
As I said before, these guys are good at changing the pace. They can play craftily, go for smoke plays, or pull off boosts. I think when paiN gets on a roll, they become a very dangerous opponent. In the last match, their players showed excellent CS and a good read on our moves.
On Fan Support
It’s just amazing. To be honest, I didn’t expect to see so many Astralis fans in the studio. They fuel us with their energy. It’s really nice to have that kind of support.
Yesterday, Astralis defeated paiN Gaming in the BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 playoffs with a 2-1 map score (10-13 on Nuke, 19-17 on Inferno, and 16-14 on Mirage). Today, Staehr’s team will face MOUZ for a spot in the championship final.
