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Astralis created history yesterday at the Starladder Berlin Major 2019 in the Mercedes Benz Arena after beating Avangar 2-0 in the Grand finals to become the first team to not only win 4 majors but also winning three of them in consecutively. Astralis also took home $500,000 as winnings after capping off a successful run in the playoff stage which saw them winning all their matches by a scoreline of 2-0, thus increasing their record of not losing a single map in the playoffs to 18-0.
While it was no surprise for many fans to see Astralis performing well at a major, Avangar had a fairy tale run which saw them enter a Majors Grand Final for the first time after upsetting Team Vitality, the then-world number 2 team, in the quarterfinals and also shocking Team liquid, G2 and others in the Legends Stage. While they may not have won the finals, their teamwork was commendable and their players - particularly Jame - have shown the world what they are capable of, especially at such a level.
The Grand Finals started off with Inferno, one of the most well-known Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps, with Astralis on the Terrorist side. From the get-go, Astralis did not let Avangar slip from their grasp and heavily punished them by reaching an 8-0 lead after which Avangar won their first-round after a successful hold and quad kill at mid by Adren. By the end of the first half, Astralis lead the game 12-3 and quickly ended the map at 16-6 in the second half leaving no chance for an Avangar comeback.
With the next map being Dust 2, chosen by Avangar, the Khazak side would have expected a good start but were downed by Device who got a quad kill in the pistol round to begin things in favor of Astralis again. While Avangar did claw their way back in the third round, they never stood a chance after that as Astralis took an 11-4 lead at half time. Even though Avangar won the pistol round on their T side and were hoping for a good start to the second half, a force buy on Device and Magisk brought and an end to whatever hopes Avangar had and Astralis successfully ended the game and the finals 16-5 to claim their fourth major.
To add another feather to his cap, Nicolai ‘Dev1ce’ Reedtz won the MVP of the major for the second time yesterday which was coincidentally his 24th birthday.
