StarLadder Berlin Major 2019: Astralis make history by becoming back-to-back-to-back Major champions

Countdown to the Major!

We are now less than one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 where Astralis made history by clinching their fourth Major title.

The StarLadder Berlin 2019 Major was the 15th Valve-sponsored CS:GO Major Championship and the second Major of 2019. Like the previous Majors, this one also featured a $1,000,000 prize pool and a total of 24 teams ready to make history. 

Starladder Berlin Major 2019

Date: Aug 23rd – Sep 8th, 2019 

Number of teams: 24 

Prize Pool: $1.000.000 

Winner: Astralis (device – Xyp9x – dupreeh – Magisk – gla1ve) 

MVP: Nicolai “device” Reedtz 

Map pool: Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train, Vertigo. 

In the six months following the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, fans witnessed a Team Liquid squad on fire. Astralis struggled throughout the majority of the season and there were shades of doubts about the Danes capability to clinch another Major title due to some poor results that started after their BLAST Pro Series: Sao Paulo 2019 win. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and company failed to display their dominant form which they were known for, ending tournaments with 5th-6th place finishes, ultimately leading dupreeh to admit that he and his team could no longer call themselves the best team in the world, as Team Liquid knocked them off the top of the world rankings following a title victory at DreamHack Masters Dallas. 

Astralis left the No.1 spot on the rankings after 406 days – the longest reign since HLTV’s world ranking was introduced, in 2015. During this period, Astralis clinched a total of 11 LAN titles and created an era in Counter-Strike. It started to seem like the Danes had taken their feet off the gas pedal and that made the North American squad from Team Liquid enter the 15th Major as favorites who were full of confidence and ready to prove themselves as the new best team in the world. 

Astralis triumph over adversity 

Astralis secured a slot to the playoffs after suffering only one loss to NRG Esports in the New Legends Stage, but fans still doubted that the Danes would make it much longer in the event. However, in the legends stage, gla1ve’s troops dominated their opponents and overcame the struggles that they had coming into the Major. 

Their first match and a real test for Astralis’ comeback, came in the form of the number one team in the world and Intel Grand Slam Season 2 champions, Team Liquid, who they saw as their biggest threat. Team Liquid once and for all had the chance to really prove that they could take down the Danish giants after losing the last two matches against them 2-0 in the London and Katowice Majors. 

It was supposed to be a highly-anticipated matchup and the CS:GO community was hoping for a close fight. But things turned out quite different. The Danes secured a convincing victory on the first map of the quarter-final series, Vertigo (16-8), before wrapping up the action with ease by winning Overpass (16-13). This allowed Astralis to make it to the next stage of play against NRG Esports who they had lost to in the Swiss stage. This time around Astralis bounced back from the crushing defeat against Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz’ squad and exacted their revenge with confident victories on Train (16-10) and Overpass (16-9) to lock in their spot in the Grand final. 

David versus Goliath match-up 

This all led to a true David versus Goliath match-up between Astralis and AVANGAR in the Grand final of the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, and the story was pretty much the same as with the previous matches. Astralis completely dismantled the Kazakhstanis in a heavily one-sided grand final. 

The action kicked off on Astralis’ pick, Inferno, which saw the Danes quickly grabbing eight consecutive rounds in a row on the T-side. AVANGAR’s duo of Dzhami “Jame” Ali and Aleksei “Qikert” Golubev who had some breakout performances in their previous matches were nowhere to be found in the early stages of the game. Jame, who put together some impressive stats at the event, including .52 deaths per round (2nd best in the event), and the 2nd highest entry percentage of the major, disappointingly ended the first half with just one kill. After the break, AVANGAR secured the pistol and following ecos, but then gla1ve’s men restored their economy and it was pretty much all Astralis after that, as they went on to confidently close out the first map 16-6 to draw the first blood to the series. 

In the second map of the series, Jame and company went for Dust2, where the Danes once again showed the fans how terrifying they could be. Starting on the CT-side, Astralis sat on a solid lead coming into the second half, as they secured 11 rounds. By the second set, the Kazakhstanis couldn’t keep up with the Danes, only squeezing one round before Astralis wrapped up the Grand final with a 16-5 victory to claim the title and immortalize themselves in CS:GO history as the first team to win three Majors in a row. 

Watch some highlights from the Grand final right here: 

Not a bad day for device 

The Danish AWPer, Nicolai “device” Reedtz had one hell of a night. He turned 24 on the same day Astralis clinched the title and got to experience the entire Mercedes-Benz Arena sing “Happy Birthday” to him shortly after the final. And not only this, as he was crowned the StarLadder Berlin Major MVP (his 14th MVP Award) with a phenomenal average Impact Rating of 1.47 in the playoffs. In the knockout stages, the Danish AWPer ended up being the top fragger throughout the entire series and was ranked first for KDD (+81), with a total of 313 kills and 148 AWP frags, while also featuring in the leaderboards in several other categories, most notably rating (1.26), clutches won (seven), kills per round (0.82), and opening duels (65.8%) 

Tournament results: 

1. Astralis - $500,000 
2. AVANGAR - $150,000 
3-4. Renegades - $70,000 
3-4. NRG Esports - $70,000 
5-8. ENCE - $35,000 
5-8. Team Vitality - $35,000 
5-8. Natus Vincere - $35,000 
5-8. Team Liquid - $35,000 
9-11. mousesports - $8,750 
9-11. G2 Esports - $8,750 
9-11. CR4ZY - $8,750 
12-14. MIBR - $8,750 
12-14. FaZe Clan - $8,750 
12-14. North - $8,750 
15-16. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $8,750 
15-16. DreamEaters - $8,750

Highest rated players at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 

1. Dennis “electronic” Sharipov (NAVI) – 1.31 Rating 

2. Aleksi “allu” Jalli (ENCE) – 1.27 Rating 

3. Markus ”Kjaerbye” Kjærbye (North) – 1.27 Rating 

4. Nicolai ”device” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.26 Rating 

5. Jere ”sergej” Salo (ENCE) – 1.24 Rating 

6. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski (Liquid) – 1.23 Rating 

7. Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte (NRG) – 1.23 Rating 

8. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (Vitality) – 1.22 Rating 

9. Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (NAVI) – 1.19 Rating 

10. Emil “Magisk” Reif (Astralis) – 1.15 Rating 

The Danes not only got $500,000 richer, but they also became the only team to have won three CS:GO Major in a row and four in total, while boasting an 18-game winning streak in Majors’ Champions Stage matches.

Astralis surely reminded the Counter-Strike community that they were the best lineup in the world.