It has been quite a while to see Astralis so dominant in big tournaments. After a disappointing showing on their home soil in the BLAST Pro Copenhagen 2019, Astralis waked up from the slump and complete their run in China with a bang.
Astralis demolished every team on their way to the grand final without a single map loss. Breezing through the likes of Vici Gaming, 100 Thieves, and FaZe, Astralis confidently entered the grand finals in a Bo5 rematch against the ex-Renegades.
A dominant showing from Astralis
Even more interesting, they absolutely dismantled the red-hot champion of BLAST Pro Copenhagen – FaZe Clan on Dust 2 and Nuke. The recent addition of Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David has brought significant improvement for FaZe yet he also carried the 16-0 curse to the European mix. Interestingly, coldzera also got 16-0-ed right on this map against Astralis during his time with MIBR. Not a good memory to cherish.
In the grand final versus 100 Thieves, Astralis got a hard time closing out the first map Vertigo – which is their opponent’s map pick. Afther a close win of 16-14 on Vertigo, Astralis broke no sweat winning the 2 next maps – Nuke and Train. With a stellar performance from Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander, the current best IGL in the world has achieved his first MVP medal in his entire career.
With that, Astralis has now joined the likes of Liquid, EG, fnatic in the Grand Slam race with their first master-tier victory in season 3. Astralis has also secured an invite to the next year’s IEM Katowice 2020. The race is heated more than ever as only one team can win the $1 million prize within a span of 10 consecutive events.
With 4 teams on the list and 6 events left to go, who will claim the most prestigious award in CS:GO?