I was genuinely excited for yesterday’s Grand Final at IEM Chicago between Team Liquid and Astralis. The playoffs, which began last Friday, were full of twists and turns, and it seemed going into Sunday that we might be in store for a fantastic series to cap off an entertaining tournament. Unfortunately (though I suppose that depends on who you support), the matchup did not live up to the rest of the tournament. Let’s start our journey with a quick recap of the playoff runs of both finalists, and then discuss the Grand Final itself.

Coming off a surprising defeat to Fnatic, Liquid’s playoffs began in the quarterfinals against LDLC, the lovable French team who were the Cinderella story of the tournament after making their way through the lower bracket to make a surprise playoff appearance. At first glance, I assumed that Team Liquid would have little trouble advancing past them, but the series proved to be far more competitive than I anticipated.

LDLC took the first map, Overpass, 16-11, and in game 2 on Cache they were up 11-4 at halftime, leaving Liquid poised for a shocking exit on home soil. However, as LDLC alluded to in an interview between the games, they had poked the bear, and that bear was very annoyed. Liquid charged back, taking 12 of 15 rounds on the T-side to seal the game 2 victory. They looked dominant in this game, with everyone but nitr0 on dropping 20+ frags, and Liquid’s young star Twistzz getting himself 30. After such an epic comeback, Liquid’s experience and stamina showed, as they proceeded to smash LDLC 16-4 on Mirage to move on to the semi-finals.

Liquid’s next test was the mighty FaZe clan, who were riding high off a 2-0 victory over Astralis. Once again this series defied my expectations, but in a very different way. Starting on Inferno, which Liquid has won 65% of the time of in the past 6 months according to HLTV.org, FaZe won 16-7 after Niko had another one of his classic performances. Then came game 2 on Mirage. Mirage, the map that is probably FaZe’s strongest in the current pool, and the one where they handed Astralis a 16-7 loss. Considering it was also their pick, it looked like they were on to take the series 2-0 and move on to the finals. They lost 16-1. After that disaster, FaZe never really recovered, and was slapped on Cache 16-4. Team Liquid, who a day earlier looked like they might get eliminated by a far weaker team, convincingly booked their spot in the Finals in front of the American hopefuls.

Astralis had an equally crazy run on their way to the finals. Having lost to FaZe 2-0, they began in the quarterfinals against Mousesports. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this series, as Astralis took a fairly comfortable 2-0 win, winning on train 16-5, and then on Nuke 16-13. However, their series against Fnatic in the semi-finals would prove to be very different.

Map one took us to Dust2, and the series began as I expected it would as Astralis took a commanding 12-3 lead on the T-side. However, Fnatic had a strong second half, led by twist who topped the server with 31 kills to his name. They were able to win 10 rounds on their T-side, but were unable to overcome the round deficit from the first half, and narrowly missed out on a win 16-14.

Fnatic were able to recover in the second map, as they were able to win 16-12 to force a game 3. Fnatic veterans, JW and KRIMZ, stepped up to the occassion, both delivering stellar performances of 27 and 28 kills respectively. Brollan, who was MVP of Fnatic’s series with Team Liquid, also chimed in with 22 kills. For Astralis’ part, they had a relatively quiet game, similar to their game with FaZe. All their players ended with a negative KD ratio, and they just couldn’t get the job done on their T-side in the second half.

The final map was befitting of a series-decider. Fnatic started on the T-side, and Astralis once again struggled on defense, losing the first half 11-4. Astralis then started the second half by winning the pistol round and the second round, but then lost the third, meaning the score was now 12-6 in Fnatic’s favor. Astralis then rebounded with 3 consecutive rounds, and it was now 12-9 Fnatic. Fnatic punched back winning 3 of their own to take the game to 15-9, putting them on series point, and on the precipice of an insane upset. It was not to be, as Astralis won the final 6 rounds of the half to force overtime, which they won to secure their spot in the Grand Finals with a 19-17 win. What a series.

Fantastic playoff matches, an Astralis that had looked beatable at times, and a Liquid that had manhandled FaZe Clan, these all promised us an exciting Grand Final. Spoiler alert: that promise was not kept. Starting on Mirage, that thorn in Astralis’ side, Liquid looked as if they were continuing where they left off the previous day, by winning the first half on the CT-side 9-6. Despite the strong start, and despite strong performances from NAF, Twistzz, and Taco, Astralis managed to avoid their CT-side woes to hold Liquid to just 5 rounds in the second half to win the map 1 16-14.

After that, it never really looked like Liquid was in the series. Astralis added a 24th consecutive win on Nuke to their record 16-7, and then destroyed Liquid 16-4 on Inferno to seal a 3 game sweep, and the title. People will point to Liquid, and say that they choked away another tournament win, but personally I feel as though they were never really in the position to choke. Instead, Liquid were flat-out outplayed by Astralis, and simply could not take advantage of their lead on Mirage, which put them on the back-foot for the rest of the series.

Astralis looked clinical, reading Liquid’s calls like a book, and taking advantage of their own tactical depth to keep Liquid off-balance. There were a number of rounds where Astralis’ players would hit some weird timing, or push on a position that caught the Liquid players off guard, causing their rounds to fall apart. Even Astralis’ utility usage looked on-point throughout the match. For example, there were many rounds where Astralis would throw these perfect HE grenades, damaging multiple enemies before contact was made, and putting the American squad at a severe disadvantage going into the subsequent firefights. Overall, Astralis played like the top team in the world in this final, and demonstrated why they’ve been so dominant.

Overall, I found IEM Chicago 2018 to be a fantastic tournament. There were upsets, closely fought games, and great Counter-Strike being played throughout the week. Even though the final was a bit of a bust, it didn’t detract much from the rest of the show, and it’s certainly left me wanting more.