Early this morning, the champions of the FACEIT London Major were crowned. Following the Best of Three Grand Final, between Astralis and Natus Vincere, the last Major of the year is complete.
In what some may call an uneventful New Champions Stage, the top Counter-Strike team in the world took home their second Major Title. Astralis beat NaVi 2-0, confidently taking the first map on Nuke 16-6 and the second on Overpass 16-9. The road to the finals seemed relatively easy for them after defeating FaZe Clan in the Quarter Finals and Team Liquid in the Semis 2-0.
Their opponents, NaVi, took out MIBR 2-0 in the Semi-Finals and have maintained their #2 spot in the world. However, it seems no one can catch Astralis as they take home their share of the $1 million prize pool. They really are a force to be reckoned with as their opponents have also been in very good form. Beating every team on their own map pick in the playoffs makes for one hell of a scary team.
For a team to be successful in the competitive Counter-Strike scene, the whole team has to show up. Having star players that are playing well individually is not always enough. It is hard to pick an MVP from Astralis as they all performed equally well, according to the stats. Some more interesting stats include the fact that they went undefeated on Nuke for the entire tournament. In their Grand Final match on Nuke, Astralis did not manage to win either of the pistol rounds. They also had the majority of their starts on T side on such a predominantly CT sided map. This team really is just that good, so welcome to the age of Astralis.
But was this the worst Major yet?
This Major had ups and downs throughout each stage but many have begun to call it the worst Major yet. It was unexpected for Valve to give the third party matchmaking platform a shot at hosting a Major but it could be their last. The organisation of the event, along with the many technical errors and lack of entertaining matches meant many viewers and even casters and analysts lost interest. FACEIT announced at the end of the Major that Team Leagues will be coming to their platform very soon. We may, however, see the Major return to some familiar names in the future.
How did you feel this Major went? If you stayed up to watch it, even if it was just for those drops, let us know what you thought. The next Counter-Strike tournament action is coming up very soon with ESL New York starting on the 27th of September.
