Astralis are your FACEIT Major 2018 champions
After two and a half weeks of play in Twickenham and Wembley, Astralis have claimed the FACEIT Major 2018 title, after a 2-0 victory over Natus Vincere. Both teams had reached the grand final after demolishing North America-based competition, in the forms of MIBR and Liquid.
On Nuke, Astralis was clearly the superior squad, as they continued their reign of terror on the map. Despite Natus Vincere winning the opening pistol and ensuing two rounds, those three rounds would account for half of rounds won by the team, as they fell to the danes 16-6.
Overpass began with Astralis continuing their dominance, taking the opening four rounds before yielding to the CIS team. From here, Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev's team actually managed to win the majority of the remaining rounds in the half, but still wound up trailing Astralis 9-6. The remainder of the map was not as kind, however, as the Danes showed no mercy, steamrolling to a 16-9 win.
Throughout the entire tournament, Astralis only dropped two maps.
The full standings for the FACEIT Major 2018 are as follows:
1. Astralis - $500,000, Legends
2. Natus Vincere - $150,000, Legends
3-4. Liquid - $70,000, Legends
3-4. MIBR - $70,000, Legends
5-8. FaZe - $35,000, Legends
5-8. compLexity - $35,000, Legends
5-8. BIG - $35,000, Legends
5-8. HellRaisers - $35,000, Legends
9-11. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $8,750, Challengers
9-11. G2 - $8,750, Challengers
9-11. Fnatic - $8,750, Challengers
12-14. Vega Squadron - $8,750, Challengers
12-14. TYLOO - $8,750, Challengers
12-14. Cloud9 - $8,750, Challengers
15-16. mousesports - $8,750
15-16. WinStrike - $8,750
The next Major, IEM Katowice 2019, will not start until February. As always, there will be many opportunities to watch these top teams play between now and then. Astralis will be heading to Istanbul for BLAST Pro Series at the end of the week, whereas Natus Vincere will be seen in action at ESL One New York.