Astralis snatches its first Major win with ELEAGUE
Three years of trying, Three years of semi finals, and now, Astralis are finally the champions of the CS: GO scene with an impressive win over the Russian bear Virtus.Pro at the ELEAGUE Major Grand Finals.
Beating Fnatic in the semis, the Danish squad met with Virtus.Pro coming from a win with SK Gaming in the grand finals of ELEAGUE Major tournament last night. The two favorites played a match of three maps to determinate who’s the better team, with Astralis proving that it is that team preventing VP from a second Major title.
It all started on Nuke, Astralis’ map pick. Virtus Pro, however, showcased their superior understanding of the map as they got off to a 9-6 lead as Terrorists, despite the map being favored for Counter-Terrorists. While Astralis weren’t lagging behind by much, and with Astralis picking up more momentum during the second half, the lead Virtus Pro had established provided them with enough of a cushion to end the match with a relatively comfortable 16-12 scoreline.
Overpass was the second map in the series. Considered to be one of Astralis’ best maps overall, the analysis desk predicted the second map to be the most one-sided of the entire series. This wouldn’t be the case, however, as both teams constantly traded rounds during both halves of the map, with Virtus Pro at one point looking poised to overtake the Danes. But consistent hero efforts by Astralis’ Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen finally earned the Danes their first map win in the series, taking it home in a narrow 16-14 victory and sending the match to a final deciding map.
The final map was Train, a map Virtus Pro has a reputation for being exceedingly deadly on. This became obvious as they got off to a flying start, winning seven rounds in a row. Astralis mustered a comeback, however, and took home six rounds in total during the first half.
Virtus Pro started setting up for a dominant second half. Round after round went to the Polish side, and they extended their lead to 12-6 before Astralis finally took home their first round of the second half. Despite losing the following round to a force buy from Virtus Pro, Astralis began rallying back and slowly but surely closed VP lead.
Suddenly Astralis were up at match point, and after deflecting a final force buy from Virtus Pro the Danes completed the comeback and became the first Valve Major champions of 2017. They now left Atlanta with $500,000, and the title of ELEAGUE Major champions.
