Astralis cruise to victory in Counter Strike Global Offensive ELEAGUE Premier

The ELEAGUE Counter Strike Global Offensive Premier concluded on Sunday, after one exciting week for the fans of the first-person shooter. The tournament began on July 21 and had a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million. During the group stage, matches were played in a best-of-three series and only four of the eight teams made it through to the next round.

Cloud and FaZe Clan were unable to win a single match in the group stage, while MIBR and Fnatic prevailed once and lost twice, therefore were eliminated.

Astralis were the Group A winners after claiming victory in both games, while Natus Vincere achieved a similar performance in Group B. They were joined by Team Liquid and mousesports and the runners-up were set to play against the winners.

Between July 28 and July 29, the playoffs unfolded using a single elimination bracket in the same best of three series. This made the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier tournament particularly intense, since there was no second chance for the vanquished.

Group A teams dominate the playoffs

Astralis were the big favorites ahead of the match played against mousesports after their dominant performance in the group stage. They were the most pragmatic team in the tournament, with few kills and even fewer deaths. Nuke and Mirage were the maps played in the semi finals and each time they reached 16 quickly while limiting opponents to 10, respectively 11.

In the other semi final Natus Vincere was expected to continue its impressive run at the expense of Team Liquid. The first match was really contested and both teams were able to win around on Dust II, but TL eventually prevailed by 16 to 13. They had a much easier job at crushing opponents on overpass with a combined score of 16 to 9. With both semi final winners requiring just two games, the grand final was expected to be a nailbiting fixture.

Astralis drop no map at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier

Team Liquid players were free rolling after defeating the ESL One Cologne champions in the semi finals. This boosted their morale after a disappointing performance one week before in Germany. They knew that in order to have a chance against Astralis they would have to win the first match on Inferno, since their opponents were so good on Nuke. Unfortunately for them, the Grand Final started as a one-sided affair, with the favorites winning the first map by 16 to 5.

Nuke was more contested and both teams were tied after 22 rounds, but in the end Emil “Magisk” Reif struck a decisive blow. Astralis won the tournament and the 500,000 prize, which wasn’t exactly a surprise given their overall performance.

What makes this victory even more meaningful is the fact that they didn’t lose a single map throughout the tournament. Team Liquid exceeded expectations despite losing the final and got their share of $200,000. There was no match to decide the team in the third-place, with both Natus Vincere and mousesports receiving $80,000.