Can Astralis Return to Their Former Glory? Starseries Berlin Major

Astralis are maybe the single most difficult team in CS:GO right now from a esports betting perspective. Just a couple months ago we saw them sweep the Katowice Major, dominating in every aspect of the game, capping off a dominant streak that will go down in the history books. Since then, they’ve played just a handful of tournaments, and haven’t look anywhere close to the powerhouse they once were. Can they return to form in time to stave Liquid off at the StarSeries Berlin Major, protecting their legacy?

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Last Six Months Stats (on LAN)

Record: 43/18

Team K/D: 1.18

Map Pool:

• Inferno – Played 16 times, 87.5% win rate
• Overpass – Played 10 times, 70.0% win rate
• Dust2 – Played 15 times, 66.7% win rate
• Nuke – Played 9 times, 66.7% win rate
• Train – Played 5 times, 60.0% win rate
• Mirage – Played 4 times, 50.0% win rate
• Vertigo – Played 2 times, 50% win rate

Player Ratings:

• Device – Rating 1.23, K/D 1.31
• Magisk – Rating 1.20, K/D 1.24
• Dupreeh – Rating 1.15, K/D 1.18
• Xyp9x – Rating 1.13, K/D 1.16
• Gla1ve – Rating 1.03, K/D 1.00

Astralis have fallen pretty far over the last couple months. After Katowice ended, I predicted that the Danes would go on to sweep the next six months, and that they’d be the favorites at the StarSeries Berlin Major when it finally rolled around.

Instead, we’ve gotten months of poor placements and poor performances. The blame was largely pinned on the abundance of BLAST events that Astralis attended, allowing Liquid to pick up momentum while Astralis got rusty.

The odd part about Astralis is, their stats are still really good. Obviously they aren’t 2018 era Astralis good, but still good enough to be a top five team, and you’d think good enough to give Liquid a run for their money.

Headed into the StarSeries Berlin Major, there are plenty of questions that need to be answered. Chief among them is, how will Astralis look. They’ve been given a month player break to shore up their teamwork, chemistry and map pool, watch some demos, and prep for the what might be the biggest challenge of their collective careers.

The StarSeries Berlin Major could be a chance to flip the narrative on its head. If Astralis can stop Liquid dead in their tracks, especially if they do so with a dominant performance, they could turn the whole scene around and reclaim their place at the top of the food chain.

Players

Device

Device has never wavered. Despite Astralis’ troubles, he’s consistently been one of the highest rated players in the world, topping that charts at just about every tournament Astralis has attended since Katowice.

Unfortunately, that performance hasn’t translated into wins. It’s hard to tell at a distance what it is that Astralis is doing wrong, but my guess would be it has little to do with Device. He continues to frag out on historic levels, with an incredible Kill Death ratio, and everytime he picks up the AWP it’s like magic.

Magisk

Magisk is another member of the team who hasn’t faltered. He has the second best K/D on the team at 1.24, which would put him in the lead on most top 10 teams. To be honest, he could likely be the number one option on a title winning team, assuming he has great teammates.

Rather than do that, he plays second fiddle to Device, and does it beautifully. He keeps his stats high, he does everything he’s supposed to do, and does it with aplomb.

Dupreeh

If I had to pick out a problem, I’d say Dupreeh. His stats aren’t what they were during Astralis’ incredible run in 2018, which might be a contributing factor to the problems with the Danes.

Of course, the flipside to that argument is Dupreeh’s stats have fallen because Astralis aren’t winning anymore. That argument holds plenty of merit, which puts us in an interesting conundrum.

All in all, I’d say that Dupreeh is fine where he is. In fact, I wouldn’t suggest any roster changes to Astralis right now. That might sound obvious, but I wanted to get it out into the universe anyway. Let the Danes play through it.

Xyp9x

The clutch minister continues to reign supreme. While Astralis have been rather inactive over the past six months, he still has 17 1v1s, 8 1v2s, and 3 1v3s. He’s one of the most prolific clutch artists in the game, which we’ve discussed ad nauseum on here before.

Xyp9x rarely dies, he keeps his ADR high, he wins clutches, he does everything he needs to do. He’s an invaluable asset, and plays winning Counter Strike.

Gla1ve

Gla1ve is another man who must bear the burden of Astralis’ failures. As the IGL, he is the one responsible for utilizing the other worldly weapons that are Device and Magisk, and he hasn’t been able to do that in recent months.

Obviously it was Gla1ve that unlocked those players in the first place, and I’m sure he can do it again. Hopefully he sat down with zonic over the break and figured some things out.

Honestly, pound for pound, I still have trouble taking most teams over Astralis. They have some of the most prolific fraggers of the last year and a half, which always makes me uncomfortable betting against them.

Map Pool

It’s exceedingly difficult to do any real analysis on their map pool. Their most played map over the last six months is Inferno with just 16 plays, which does not make for a great sample size.

What I can say is their map pool is pretty shallow. While they have good enough win rates on their top five played maps, they have been relying heavily on Inferno and Dust 2, which have about as many plays as the rest of the maps combined. That kind of overreliance will be picked apart in a best of three against someone like Team Liquid.

On the bright side, Astralis have shown they can be absolutely dominant on certain maps. With a little touching up their Inferno and Nuke can be powerful weapons in a pick ban, as well as Train in some iterations of this roster.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Continuity

There are some teams that would have made a roster change by now. If a French team had a run of success like Astralis did, followed by the year they’ve had so far, they would have kicked somebody by April.

Instead, the roster has stuck it out, and I think they’ll be better for it. Not to mention that there really aren’t any moves that could make this roster significantly better.

Championship pedigree

This roster has won more tournaments than some CS:GO players are years old. These guys know how to win, which is a crucial asset in deep tournament runs. All these guys have won Majors before, and they know what it takes to win one again.

Poor form

Obviously, Astralis hasn’t looked so hot. I’m ranking them this high largely on the back of their aforementioned pedigree, which is something I put a lot of stock in. There’s a real chance the Danes fall flat on their face at the StarSeries Berlin Major, and fail to impress at all.

TL;DR

Astralis has a long history of being one of the best Counter Strike teams to ever walk the Earth. In the buildup to the StarSeries Berlin Major, they’ve been largely disappointing, but that doesn’t mean they’ll continue to be. I like them a lot as an upside pick, especially as a dark horse to upset Liquid and take the whole thing.

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