Astralis Proves to Be Stronger Than People Thought at ESL One Cologne 2020

Astralis is the best CS:GO team of the last few years. And while they may not be the strongest team in the world and not even in the top 3, the Danes are proving to be much stronger than people had anticipated prior to ESL One Cologne 2020.

A Brief History of Astralis’ Success

Astralis had its first big success in December 2016, when they won the title at Esports Championship Series Season 2 Finals. This was followed by a Major win, just two months later, at ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017. Apart from an IEM title, not much happened afterward for Astralis until they made the most inspired roster change in their history. They removed Kjaerbye and brought in Magisk. After this change, they won 16 big tournaments in less than 2 years, including the 3 Majors that took place during that time. This was a level of dominance that nobody had seen before.

The Big Departures

Astralis’ success and invincibility disappeared quite suddenly after the end of 2019. As soon as 2020 began, it was clear that dev1ce and his squad were no longer the team that conquered the world. And after months and months of mediocre results, the roster changes finally happened.

The team’s captain, gla1ve, along with another super player, Xyp9x, went inactive. In gla1ve’s case, the player cited exhaustion as the cause of his inability to do what he used to do best, and it’s understandable. The level of effort required to perform at the highest level and dominate the professional scene for 12-18 months in one of the most sophisticated esports in the world is absolutely enormous. This is more than just a 9-5 job. This takes all of your time and dedication. So naturally, people burn out after a while.

The Replacements

The two players that withdrew from the main roster were replaced by es3tag and Bubzkji. The first of these players is a well-known name in CS:GO. He used to compete for Tricked Esport and Heroic prior to joining Astralis, but nobody saw him as tier 1 material. If you would have asked any analyst who should be joining Astralis or who would be a good fit for them if they wanted to stay near the top, nobody would have said “oh, yeah! Definitely es3tag!”. As for the other player, he’s an even bigger unknown, even though he did well with Tricked Esport and MAD Lions.

The New Astralis

In spite of all the criticism and the low expectations for their new roster, Astralis is proving everyone wrong at ESL One Cologne 2020. The team started with two dominant victories. One against Fnatic (2 – 0) and one against Team Vitality (2 – 0). The second match was even more impressive than the first. The ease with which they defeated one of the best French teams in the world is absolutely scary: 16 – 8 and 16 – 7. I think people will take Astralis seriously again after seeing this.

 

Photo credit: IEM|Viola-Schuldner