DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 ended today with Astralis holding the crown

Astralis sent out a strong message on Nuke by wiping out the entire Na`Vi squad as they attempted to push the ramps in the pistol round. After taking both anti-ecos, Astralis secured the first full gun round as Na`Vi’s lack of utility prevented them from raiding the upper site.

Down 0-5, Astralis finally managed to get a footing in the game as they won two of the following three rounds, leaving their opponents strapped for cash. However, Astralis replied immediately with nothing but CZs and retook control of proceedings. With Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth and Emil “Magisk” Reif in great form, Na`Vi struggled to find spaces to create something, and as the half came to an end the Danish team found themselves up 13-2.

Now on the Terrorist side, Astralis further added to their lead by winning a messy pistol round, with Lukas “gla1ve”Rossander getting three kills to his name. What followed was a messy period of the game as rounds went back and forth, but it would not take long for the Danes to lock down the map, courtesy of a 1v3 clutch from Xyp9x.

The map that followed, Inferno, began with Natus Vincerewinning their first pistol of the series after retaking the B site, with Denis “electronic” Sharipov – who had gone missing on Nuke – securing a trio of kills. Na`Vi lost the third round to a full buy from the Terrorists, but they bounced back immediately, setting themselves up for a 4-1 lead.

With no money in the bank, Astralis went for a very weak buy and were rewarded with a win off the back of a quad-kill from Nicolai “device” Reedtz. Then, it was gla1ve’s time to shine as he clutched a 1v3 to prevent an economic reset for his team.

That was the start of a great run from the Danes, who won the next six rounds after breaching Na`Vi’s A defence time and time again. The Ukrainian team then finally tightened up their defense to win the final two rounds of the half and cut the deficit to three.

Natus Vincere came out of the break with all guns blazing and took the pistol round thanks to a quad kill from Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. The Ukrainian team would go on to level the score at 9-9, but once Astralis had money in the bank the landscape of the game changed immediately. The Danish team set up a very tight defence and did not give Na`Vi the chance to build on the few rounds that were going their way, and hammered the final nail into their opponents’ coffin in a decisive 1v1 from gla1ve.

DreamHack Masters Marseille final standings:

1.  Astralis – $100,000
2.  Natus Vincere – $50,000
3-4.  Gambit – $22,000
3-4.  fnatic – $22,000
5-8.  mousesports – $10,000
5-8.  FaZe – $10,000
5-8.  Cloud9 – $10,000
5-8.  NiP – $10,000
9-12.  SK – $2,000
9-12.  EnVyUs – $2,000
9-12.  Renegades – $2,000
9-12.  Liquid – $2,000
13-16.  G2 – $2,000
13-16.  Valiance – $2,000
13-16.  TyLoo – $2,000
13-16.  Space Soldiers – $2,000