The major begins in around an hour and here are seven story-lines to consider as we sit down to watch Natus Vincere and Astralis battle for the crown.

Battle of the best

The two best teams in Counter-Strike right now, based on all of the credible world rankings, are Astralis and Natus Vincere, the very two teams who will contest the final for the major title. Between them, they have won seven trophies in roughly the last four months, with not all of those tournaments being the biggest and most prestigious. Na`Vi’s haul was less impressive, but they got a big one in taking down Astralis and going on to win ESL One Cologne. For Astralis, every trophy has been a big international tournament and so they find themselves lacking only the major title to cement this as a year they own.

The team of the era

You could already make a solid Astralis have been the defining force of 2018, with even beating them the key story-line for anyone else being able to take a big title, but one cannot forget that the year began with the question at every tournament being whether FaZe would take the title and if they did not then why not. Astralis’ four titles have been big, but the major would be the huge exclamation point on an already massively impressive and dominant run of form.

Even Astralis’ lows have been ridiculous in the heights to which their worst day seemingly brings them. Beyond finishing 5th-8th at StarSeries S4, their first tournament with this exact five man line-up, Astralis has only ever been stopped in the semi-finals at best and twice they still made the final at tournaments they did not end up winning. This is a team that has been in contention for greatness day in and day out.

Past great teams will tell you how much that major acts as a lightning rod for historical greatness, though. Few CS:GO fans will know VeryGames were the dominant team and won far and away the most titles from October 2013 through to February 2014. That’s because VeryGames were stopped in the semi-final of the first major, help roughly in the middle of that time period.

Likewise, the core Astralis players themselves once had a stake at being the best team in Counter-Strike back in 2015, having won three notable titles and beating FNATIC numerous times. Inability to win ESL One Cologne and then following up another strong push going into Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, the major after, only to again fail to leave with the biggest trophies denied them the extra push of historical significance they came so close to.

Perhaps there is a world in which Astralis can still win the other big tournaments outside of this major and still be remembered as the team whose era we live in, but if they do that then it will be completing the game on nightmare mode. Taking the major here and now is the immediate path to immortality.

The individual era

GeT_RiGhT’s time period as the best in CS:GO overlapped into the rise of shox and VeryGames to dethrone NiP. olof built his period as the master right on the back of kennyS’ drop from an impossible peak and FNATIC running off titles with seeming ease. Even the bafflingly efficient consistency of coldzera in 2016 saw him challenged by NiKo’s impossible carrying in mouz. What has made 2018 unique is that beyond the odd individual tournament, no single player in the game can stand side-by-side with s1mple and expect to be considered as good. That’s how definitive the gap has been, bearing witness to the individual greatness of the Ukrainian prodigy.

s1mple has been so good that his Na`Vi squad, despite already racking up top four finishes at every event, was considered largely a one man team and the expectation was that without s1mple they would likely barely even be a play-off team in most big international tournaments. Much has changed since then, most notably with the arrival of electronic as not just a great sidekick but a legitimately world class performer in his own right and more importantly with the team adapting to Zeus’ traditional style and strengths.

Na`Vi again has the kind of wide and deep map pool which was a hallmark of the great Na`Vi line-up of late 2015 and the first half of 2016. Likewise, the team is a Zeus team again in terms of playing style, built around slow map control play, plenty of fakes and then using misdirection to ensure enough rounds can be ground to make any T side work.

With all of that said, as Na`Vi are legitimately a very good team by most metrics now, winning the major would be a monster individual accomplishment for s1mple, since it is only possible as a result of him being that much better than everyone else in the game and seemingly on demand and at will.

Astralis should win the major on the basis of team results, but s1mple should leave with the trophy if we want to see it go to the best player.

The deep war

Teams are often not willing to attempt curveballs in the pick-ban phase when it’s a major title on the line, so it is a blessing that both teams enter the final with the best map pools in the game right now, not always something to be taken for granted when considering the two best teams in CS:GO. Both share the same permanent ban, cache, and the dust2 factor, with Na`Vi being terrible on it – never winning – prior to the major and Astralis winning 16:0 on it over MiBR at the major but still having their loss in the opening map of the Dreamhack Stockholm final to North in memory, hopefully removes any cheap maps for the final itself.

If these teams limit themselves to a pool of overpass, mirage, inferno, train and nuke then we are assured a good series and potentially an epic one. People may point to nuke, where Astralis is an impossible 18:0 as a clear win for them, but Na`Vi have proven very competent upon the map and with their fire-power they would be a solid pick as the team to eventually snap that stellar streak. Still, what Astralis is doing on the T side of that map, where they typically have to begin, defies explanation. Never before has a team entered a final so certain of victory on a single map which will very likely be played, with Na`Vi a team so reticent to gamble on their first ban.

Na`Vi’s Cologne win came thanks to the decider on inferno, but Astralis are phenomenal on the map and Na`Vi are down to a 40% win-rate there over the last 10 games played. That map suggests the theme of this final: Astralis should and probably will win, based on all analytical metrics and traditional strengths and weaknesses. Still, Na`Vi are a team who can make impossible things happen and have the players to make the impossible blur wildly into the seemingly probable.

Peak form at the perfect time

Astralis as a team are deadly across the board, but go up against the two best players in the tournament in s1mple and electronic. Having the edge, in isolation, in terms of star players at least provides an interesting factor to edge to Na`Vi’s side. s1mple is the best aggressive player perhaps ever in Counter-Strike and electronic is a machine of consistency and grinding down opponents one after another.

As a team, Astralis has every piece required for victory. Their star player (device) is an AWPer of near perfect efficiency and can not only play every map but stays within his limits and ensures his team can base their game around what he will do. dupreeh and gla1ve have entried with a force that seems almost unfair in contrast to what other teams are attempting to use on their T side. magisk is seemingly perfectly situated as a player to clean up with his god-like spray and penchant for multi-kills. That all leaks Xyp9x, arguably the best support player in CS:GO history, who plays clutch round scenarios out to perfection and can be expected to save Astralis on the few occasions their team approach breaks down and a single fight decides a round.

Hall of fame players acknowledged early

There are plenty of legendary names, as a brief glance at the FaZe roster will attest to, who have yet to add a major trophy to their cabinet. Those opportunities to win the big one are rare for even some of the game’s very best of all-time. Today either s1mple will grab a world championship early, on his fourth time of reaching at least the semi-finals, or Astralis will take their core into contention for the best ever, with a second major and one right in line with a period of individual dominance.

gla1ve was in the wilderness only three years ago and now could join pronax, FalleN and Happy as the only other IGLs with two major titles. For Zeus, redemption is even more high profile, though. After winning a major with Gambit, largely contextualised as a fluke by most, this win would make him the first IGL in history to win major titles with two entirely different line-up. Na`Vi as an organisation have suffered from a major drought too, having twice been in the final and twice been denied the titles as well as many appearances in the semi-finals.

A great final can save the major

This major has been one of the most lacklustre in recent memory and largely due to the play-offs massively underdelivering in terms of great games. Every single series has been very or at least mildly one-sided. The only series to go to three maps was not even a legitimate threat for the underdog to win. Most close games have been a team heavily leading losing a key round at the wrong time, not a legitimate climb back of epic proportions by the other team.

The final is set to be a banger and that would be the lasting memory in most people’s minds. If this final can live up to the ELEAGUE Boston classic between Cloud9 and FaZe then the sour note of a major which didn’t quite bring the big show will be softened by going out with a bang.