Faceit Major – Power of Astralis!

These three weeks of CS:GO were absolutely incredible, they demonstrated how amazing professional players can really be. Faceit Major: London 2018 is over! Astralis is the champion! The team won CS:GO Majors twice, and many specialists have started using the term “Astralis era” in CS:GO.

Astralis winner of FaceIT Major 2018 Of course, there were many other teams at the tournament. Some of them disappointed their fans. Some of them demonstrated unexpected strength. Some of them even managed to defeat Astralis at the group stages… Let’s remember the best moments of this CS:GO event and have a look at its detailed results.

The Path of the New Champions – from Challengers

As we wrote in our preview of the Faceit Major, Astralis had to take the long route in this tournament. Unlike many other favorites, which joined the party at the New Legends stage, Astralis were among New Challengers – they weren’t really successful at the previous Major in Boston, where the Danish team finished in 12-14th place, leaving after the group stage with the score 1:3.

In London, Astralis started quite powerfully. At the New Challengers stage, they defeated compLexity, Rogue, and Team Spirit. Only NiP could win one match against the future champions.

Team Liquid and NiP had no losses at this stage. Other teams that proceeded further were: compLexity, HellRaisers, Big, Vega Squadron, and TyLoo.

Quite a surprise here was North, the winner of DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. This team left the Major with the score 2:3 after losing the deciding match to Vega Squadron.

Proved Title of the Legend

Seeing Astralis among the other Legends of CS:GO was a much more familiar situation. From the start of this stage, the Danish team met their main competitor – Astralis defeated Na’Vi in the opening match. The same result was with Vega Squadron in the second game. Team Liquid managed to win against Astralis and stop them from quickly proceeding to the quarterfinals. That was a unique match, where Astralis took the T Side on Inferno and could win lots of rounds in a row. MIBR weren’t so powerful – they lost with the unbelievable score 16:0, which never happened at a Major before.

Liquid and compLexity won all their matches at the New Legends stage. Along with Astralis, these teams proceeded to the Playoffs: Na’Vi, BIG, FaZe, HellRaisers, and MIBR.

So many strong teams left Faceit Major after this stage, such as mousesports (with no victories), Cloud9 (winners of the Boston Major), Fnatic, and NiP.

It was nice to see compLexity and HellRaisers among the CS:GO pro-elite – it’s like adding fresh energy to the game at the topmost level.

Champions that Lost not even a Single Map

Astralis were unstoppable in the Playoff matches of the New Champions stage. And their bracket was much more difficult than for Na’Vi.

In the quarterfinal, the future champions played with FaZe Clan, and defeated them 16:14 and 16:12 on Mirage and Inferno. The semifinal was with Team Liquid (16:8 and 16:7 on Nike and Mirage). In the Grand Final, Natus Vincere had almost no chances. Astralis won 16:6 and 16:9 on Nuke and Overpass.

The way of Na’Vi might seem simpler (especially with S1mple on board, the best CS:GO player in the world). Still, let’s not forget the level of power at such tournaments – every team is a champion here. In the quarterfinal, Natus Vincere defeated BIG (16:2 and 16:9, Dust II and Nuke). In the semifinal, they won against MIBR (16:10 and 16:5, Overpass and Dust II).

Here is the full bracket of the Faceit Major Playoffs:

Play off bracket Face IT Major London 2018 And here are the best moments of the New Champions stage on video. We can enjoy the mastery of the game and beautiful CS:GO skins in use on the professional scene.

The Era of Astralis

It’s nice to marvel at the success of this team. It’s even better to try and get some conclusions out of their performance and some hints for your personal success in CS:GO.

Astralis is a team of bright individuals – the word “team” is in the first place here, and only then “individuals”. These guys play magically together, they are not like random players, they are teammates.
Astralis play well on an awfully huge amount of maps, no other team is capable to do so. They avoid some maps, of course, but they are brilliant on so many others, in both T and CT roles.
Astralis play the game of their coach. Zonic is the mastermind behind this success, their victory at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 and at other competitions. Players follow his strategic thinking. Without a tight connection of players and their coach, success is impossible for a top CS:GO team.
Astralis don’t give up after bitter failures. They make brilliant comebacks in seemingly hopeless matches. They continue playing at the highest level after lost games. Such enthusiasm and optimism are crucial even beyond CS:GO.
Astralis are an example of fan-friendly guys. They always say thanks for support, they communicate with their fanbase with respect – hearts are melting from such an attitude.

Watching matches of Astralis and their playing style at this Major and at other tournaments is a good method of boosting your level in the game. Another way to get ahead is reading good CS:GO guides (for example, on the console commands or on the Launch Options).

Glory and Money

The tournament Faceit Major is truly of the highest level as it is sponsored by Valve. Only two such CS:GO events take place during a year, so winning even one of them means Esports glory. The Astralis team has two such victories – ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017 was first for the coach and four players. Magisk joined Astralis in February 2018, so he got his first Major title in London.

Money also comes along with such glory. The prize pool of Faceit Major: London 2018 was $1,000,000 (which definitely is not the same as the prize pool of The International 2018, but still is quite significant). It was divided among 16 participants in this way:

FACEIT Major London 2018 Prize Pool

Also, as a result of this tournament, 14 teams have gotten their tickets to the next competition of the same level – IEM Katowice Major 2019, which takes place from February 14 to March 3, 2019.

Of course, CS:GO Esports is not limited to Valve sponsored events. We can see Astralis quite soon – at BLAST Pro Series in Istanbul, Turkey, on September 29. They will play with other well-known teams: Cloud9, MIBR, NiP, Space Soldiers, and Virtus.pro

At the same time, New York hosts the ESL One tournament, with top participants: FaZe, Fnatic, G2, Liquid, Mouz, Na’Vi, Gambit, and NRG. The event happens on September 26-30.

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