Danish eSports team Astralis came out on top in a high quality CS:GO E-League beating North American contenders Liquid in a one-sided final to claim the lion’s share of the $1,000,000 prize fund.
Astralis had been the pre-tournament favourites according to the implied probabilities displayed by Bigbetbookmakers.com and they didn’t disappoint over the course of the tournament, which was held in Atlanta in the US. And in defeating third-favourite Liquid in just under two hours, Astralis claimed their fourth title of the year, underlining their dominance of the CS:GO event.
Their dominance was so complete that they didn’t drop a single map throughout the entire tournament, and they were in complete control in all of their games. They have been favoured by the fact that so many rival teams have been making changes and going through rebuilds, but even allowing for that advantage, they are clearly the best CS:GO team in the world right now.
The big disappointment of the Premier were FaZe Clan. The winners in 2017, when they overcame Astralis in the final, they were second favourites going into this year’s competition, after finishing second in the Boston Major, winning the ESL One Belo Horizonte and managing third in Cologne. But there were mitigating circumstances as the team was re-integrating Olof ‘Olofmeister’ Kajbjer into the set-up after a long absence, and their 7-8th place finish was not a true reflection of their ability.
Team Liquid had the unenviable task of attempting to take down Astralis in the final. They had performed strongly throughout, and had to fight off considerable adversity, with one of their star players, Epitácio ‘TACO’ de Melo learning of his father’s death shortly before the semi-final with Natus Vincerre. He battled on, and was ably supported by superb efforts from his teammates. TACO was struggling at one point, missing a series of easy kills, but he closed out with a superb quad kill during a round on Overpass, pulling off a dramatic spray transfer to set up match point.
Their victory over Natus Vincerre showed considerable courage and determination, and the team looked as sharp as they had for a long time. Having won the second map in their semi-final with ease, Team Liquid must have been confident heading into the final, but that confidence wasn’t enough to see them through against the unstoppable Astralis. The second prize of $200,000 offered some compensation, however, and if they continue to improve at this rate, they are likely to pose a significant challenge to Astralis going forward.
Of the other teams, Cloud9 finished in a tie for 7th-8th place but were always likely to struggle to compete having lost both Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip and Tarik Celik, and they have some major rebuilding work to do, while MIBR showed some promise with their new line-up but probably found this tournament came too soon for them to perform at their best, and MouseSports also put in some good performances until they came up against Astralis in the semi-finals.
