Astralis is going through a difficult phase, with their roster moves making captains of other teams so sick that they skip media days at tournaments. The team is struggling to qualify for the RMR, and no one is considering them a favorite. Fans of the Danish club are left reminiscing about the golden era. For them, CS.MONEY Blog highlights five of the most significant victories in Astralis’ history.
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ELEAGUE Major Atlanta Final Against Virtus.pro
Let’s start with Astralis’ first Major victory. This wasn’t yet the golden lineup, as Magisk had not joined the team, but this was the first glimpse of the Danish greatness. It wasn’t just that Astralis won the Major — it was how they did it. On the third map, Train, Astralis made a comeback from a 7-13 deficit in the 21st economic round.
According to Glaive, Astralis tactically confused their opponents, making Virtus.pro unable to predict where Astralis’ attacks would come from. Key moments, like the Xyp9x clutch, also played a crucial role. The winner’s mentality became important as Astralis tasted their first victory at the major CS:GO tournament.
DreamHack Masters Marseille
Next on Astralis’ journey is DreamHack Masters Marseille. This victory marked the start of their era of dominance. The tournament was stacked, featuring ten of the world’s top teams. Astralis had to battle their way through four of them (plus Space Soldiers, ranked 12th globally).
In the final, they faced Natus Vincere, led by a red-hot s1mple, who was destroying everything in his path. However, Astralis secured a confident win, dropping only one map throughout the tournament. Aside from that one map against Team Liquid, no other team managed to score more than 12 rounds against them!
IEM Chicago 2018 Semifinal Against Fnatic
What do people remember more: dominance or comebacks? In the IEM Chicago final, Astralis gave us the former, but we’ll highlight the semifinals, where they gave us the latter. On the third map, Astralis was down 9-14 but managed a comeback on Inferno.
Once again, Xyp9x proved why he’s one of the best clutch players in Counter-Strike history, but we want to focus on the 30th round. Despite a rough start, Astralis regrouped, tactically overwhelmed Fnatic, and forced the game into overtime, where they secured victory.
ESL Pro League S8 Final Against Team Liquid
One key ability that sets a championship team apart from the rest is the capacity to remain calm even when everything is going against them. The first map of the grand final against Team Liquid didn’t go Astralis’ way — Liquid confidently outplayed them, and the superstar device was having an off day.
In such moments, a champion team shows its true colors by compensating for a bad day with discipline and increased effort. Astralis adjusted their tactics and won three consecutive maps, clinching the first Intel Grand Slam in history.
StarLadder Major Berlin Quarterfinal Against Team Liquid
Once again, it’s Team Liquid, but this time, they came to Berlin as the holders of the second Intel Grand Slam, which they won in record time. At the time, things weren’t going too well for Astralis, and the so-called “BLASTralis” era had begun. Although people hadn’t written them off completely, the fear of facing Astralis had diminished — but that was a mistake.
Astralis took on their opponents on Liquid’s best map, Vertigo, a relatively new addition to the map pool at the time. Despite this, the Danish team outplayed Liquid in every aspect, demonstrating superior tactics and positioning. This quarterfinal match on Vertigo confirmed Astralis as the best team of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive era.
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