Astralis claimed victory at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals to continue their dominance of the Counter Strike: Global Offensive scene in 2018.
This was not only Astralis’ 3rd LAN victory in a row, but it also secured themselves the 1st ever Intel Grand Slam with a prize pool of a cool $1million.
HellRaisers test
After breezing past ViCi Gaming in the opening best-of-one round, Astralis had some difficulty with the new-look HellRaisers squad that only recently added Hobbit from Gambit. Astralis were able to push through and claim a 2-1 victory, although after losing Mirage they had a too-close-for-comfort performance on Dust 2 which they only won 16-13 before closing out victory on Inferno.
Next up for Astralis were Team Liquid, considered the 2nd-best team in the world. However, they have regularly crumbled against their rivals, especially late in tournaments, and yet again Astralis were able to brush them aside, a 2-0 win sending them into the semi-finals.
Final bound
Astralis would eventually be paired with mousesports, who still have the potential to take down top squads as they proved by defeating Natus Vincere 2-0 earlier in the tournament.
However, this was another one-sided affair in favour of the Danes, with Astralis picking up a 2-0 victory and setting up a final with Team Liquid.
Different match, same result
This was always going to be an uphill battle for Team Liquid, given their history of choking in finals, their inability to beat Astralis in such matches and the fact that it was a best-of-five showdown, meaning Astralis could better utilise their deep map pool.
However, Liquid pulled a fast one on Astralis, banning out the Danes’ best map of Nuke instead of opting out of Train.
Astralis jumped at the opportunity to put Liquid on their worst map, but it looked as though Liquid had been practising it in secret, perhaps just for Astralis. Liquid were able to take Astralis down in convincing fashion 16-8, giving the North American side more hope than they have ever had in this match-up.
However, from there Astralis were able to steady themselves and take home the next three maps, although Liquid were at least able to hit double digits on every one.
Despite the best effort of Liquid’s NAF who had an incredible performance across the tournament, Astralis clinched a 3-1 victory and the title. This match meant even more to Astralis than normal as not only did it take place on home soil where they had previously struggled, but it also gave them the aforementioned Intel Grand Slam with this being the first time any team has claimed it.
Consistent excellence
Overall, Astralis continue to be the top dogs in the CS:GO scene, with consistency that is unrivalled in recent memory.
dev1ce was able to pick up his 7th MVP trophy of the year, although he did have a fairly peculiar and pedestrian performance in the final. That, however, is what makes Astralis great – the ability to win 3-1 against the 2nd-best team in the world despite their star player struggling.
Following that result, there has been talk of a possible move from MIBR to Liquid for Stewie2K. If so, Astralis have effectively forced a roster change, with Liquid feeling they cannot dethrone them with their current five-man core.
Something to keep in mind that could end up derailing Astralis is the possible addition of Cobblestone to the map pool, a map which they generally do not play.
However, for now, Astralis very much remain the team to beat and they head to this weekend’s BLAST Pro Series: Lisbon event as Dafabet’s odds-on favourites at 1.591.
