Astralis Wins EPL Season 8 and Wins $1 Million Intel Grand Slam

The Danish giants ended 2018 with a Season 8 ESL Pro League title. Thereby, they strengthen their position as the strongest CS: GO team in the world.

Astralis defeated Team Liquid in the EPL BO5 Finals 3-1. This is the 6th time the two CS:GO powers have met in the playoffs this year. Astralis are strong contenders for the title thanks to their consistent and overwhelming performance over a long period of time.

In addition to the EPL championship, the Danish team also won the $1 million Intel Grand Slam Season 1 prize money. This award is given to the first team to win four awards in a series of 10 consecutive events. The only team other than Astralis with a chance of winning a Grand Slam is FaZe Clan. FaZe had 2 championships before Astralis reached 4.

In the finals, Liquid only won Train (16-8) against Astralis thanks to a good performance on the T side. The next three maps are Mirage (16-11), Inferno (16-11) and Dust II (16-10). In all three maps, Liquid struggled against the onslaught of Astralis. But in the end, the Danish team was still the winners. All the Danish players were impressive with clutches and multikills. Surprisingly, dev1ce did not perform as prominently as usual. IGL gla1ve had an excellent game at Mirage with 31 kills.

They call him the clutch minister 1VS4! @Xyp9x #ESLProLeaguehttps://t.co/ZvDWXMCAnq pic.twitter.com/8Xs0RmxA0O

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 9, 2018

Although once again receiving bitter fruit, Team Liquid’s future is still very open. They are the only team that has consistently made it difficult for Astralis in the playoffs and BO5 finals. Going into 2019, the North American team will continue to perfect its CS:GO brand, in the same way that Astralis did.

SUCH A SATISFYING ACE @gla1ve_csgo #ESLProLeaguehttps://t.co/ZvDWXMCAnq pic.twitter.com/Uigvb9GShM

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 9, 2018

Astralis’ EPL Season 8 championship solidifies their title as the strongest CS:GO team in the world in 2018. This is the team’s ninth title of the year. Before that, the Danes have won DreamHack Masters Marseille, EPL Season 7, ECS Season 5, ELEAGUE 2018, FACEIT London Major, BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, IEM Chicago and most recently ECS Season 6.

All the hype about the best team in the world, the articles calling 2018 the “Astralis era” leads to one question: Are they the strongest CS:GO team in history? The answer will be made clear next year, especially at the IEM Katowice Major, where Astralis will have to defend its Valve Major championship.

According to Dot Esports