The fourteenth CS:GO major is over. In the finals, the incredible Astralis Danes played and the rising star of the Finnish scene – ENCE. But the winner is not the only and not the most notable result of the tournament in Katowice.
The new system works
In Katowice, a new system was used based on the rating, which was compiled directly by the participating teams. The result was not very fair distribution, because outsiders constantly played against strong teams. This dramatically reduced the chances of reaching the next stage for teams at 13-16 spots.
Despite this shortcoming, the system turned out to be good. Participating in the playoffs were really strong teams that played good games. However, the system still needs to be completed, for example, to make seeding a little random so that teams from the bottom lines do not play with top teams all the time.
A good speech is better than electronic music
The playoff tournament did not open with a DJ set or a hard track, but with the speech of the vice-president of ESL – Michal “Carmac” Blicharz. And this speech was one of the highlights of the tournament. There were no pompous statements or ridiculous hyip.
For five minutes, Carmac talked about the sacrifices that players make to get to the major., about their love for the game and how they experience every victory and defeat. And what it means to be a champion and to act like a champion. The speech was strong and touching.
Astralis: invincible
Yes, Astralis won the final 2-0, but more importantly, they won the major for the second time in a row. Both in this one and in the past playoff the team has not lost a single map. This is the third title for the Danes.
On the success of the Danish team: check out the statistics. Since the addition of Magisk, Astralis has lost 10 matches in a format of “first to two or three wins”, while winning 52 matches. 84% of victories sounds incredible. The only competitor, FaZe, is dead in the water although at the beginning of 2018 FaZe was easily winning against Astralis.
Majors are watched not because of cases
Tournaments from Valve have always gathered a huge audience. In the case of CS:GO, many pointed out that the audience was not attracted by the game, but by the opportunity to get a free drop. From the fourteenth major onwards, the drop system was changed and now cases are awarded only to owners of a paid pass.
This change did not result in a reduction in the number of viewers. At the peak, the tournament was watched by almost 1,200,000 spectators. This is 150,000 spectators more than at the last major (but less than the one before last).
Flamie and records at the major
Despite the fact that Na`Vi did not reach the final, the team still had an interesting achievement. The “born to win” player Flamie aced both pistol rounds on the same card. This happened for the first time in the history of the tournament from Valve.
In addition to this, there are several more records on his account:
- The largest number of frags in regular time is 39 frags in a match against QBF in the Major Major;
- The largest number of frags in one half is 32 frags in a match against QBF in the Major Major;
The first player to make three aces on one major is IEM Katowice 2019.
The next major will be held in Berlin, from August 20 to September 8. The tournament organizer will be StarLadder.
