By Alex Major Brown

Preview

 Coming into the event, four of the eight teams in attendance had a genuine shot at the title. Liquid, who had taken a break since Blast Copenhagen, were expected to make a good run given the opposition in their groups- EG, NIP and Avangar. EG were the only team likely to challenge them in-game. Fnatic, who had been in championship level form since Flusha’s addition, looked to continue their form. Although they didn’t attend IEM Beijing or CAC, their tournaments placings were still very strong. EG themselves were in need of a big run given their successive group stage exits at both IEM Beijing and CAC 2019. They were favoured to win CAC but had disappointed, placing greater importance on this tournament as a chance for redemption. Finally, Astralis, who had been godlike at IEM Beijing were looking to secure another title and take more wins over their rivals.

Group stage

For our big four, the group stage went mostly as expected. In group A, Liquid came out swinging against NIP and took them down 16-4 on Mirage. Liquid’s individuals were dialled in, with every player having key rounds. NIP didn’t stand a chance on their T-side as they were continually outduelled. EG comfortably beat Avangar on Dust 2, overpowering them in terms of skill. In the winners match, EG vs Liquid looked like it could have been a closely fought series. Instead, Liquid comprehensively beat them 2-0.

They put on a clinic on CT-side Inferno and closed out the map easily, 16-4. Dust 2, EG’s pick, went down to the wire but Liquid played much better all around. Cerq had a stellar game, but received no support from his teammates in the fragging department whereas Liquid’s members all contributed to the scoreboard. Stewie2k was particularly strong, dropping 25 kills and clutching a 1v2 for the win. EG edged their way past NIP 2-1 in the decider game, but didn’t look entirely comfortable. They were able to comeback from a 10-5 deficit on Nuke thanks to a big game from Brehze, while Ethan single-handedly took EG over the line on Inferno. Despite making the playoffs, EG’s stars hadn’t come online at the same time, which didn’t bode well for the playoffs.

Over in group B, Astralis were played very close by Sharks, the Brazilian-Argentinian roster, who showed an impressive t-side on Nuke to take the Danes to overtime. Although Astralis won, this was only the 3rd time a team had made it to overtime against them on that map. Fnatic took down MIBR on Inferno thanks to a monster performance from JW who went 34-12, not missing a beat on the AWP.

The winners match was a fairly comfortable victory for Astralis who dispatched Fnatic 16-6 on Nuke before securing Inferno 16-14. The Inferno game was a well fought match and despite the loss, Fnatic proved their strength on the map.

The decider series against MIBR was also close but Fnatic were too strong on both maps. Brollan played very well, averaging 101.9 adr for the series and was unstoppable on the T-side of Vertigo, finding several multikills with the SG. The playoffs were locked in: Fnatic would face Liquid and EG would take on Astralis.

Playoffs

The playoffs started with Astralis taking on EG. Despite their relatively poor recent form, EG still went into the series with a winning record against the Danes in offline play. The veto played out in Astralis’s favour with Overpass left over as a decider, a map that the EG core have struggled on since the addition of Stanislaw.

Inferno started with Astralis in red-hot form. Despite losing the pistol, they went on a 9 round streak on the T side, taking map control and executing clinically. EG fought back to make it 9-6 at halftime, but Astralis had shown EG that they were capable of dominating the map. With Astralis finding the 2nd pistol and the ensuing anti-eco rounds, they went 12-6 up and EG could not find an answer, eventually losing the map 16-8.

With Inferno in the bag, Astralis looked to close out the series on Nuke and got the dream start. Once again, they won the forcebuy against EG in round 2 and found themselves 8-2 up. However, bringing out the AWP on the T side and breaking the money of Astralis, EG were able to reduce the deficit to 3 rounds and rallied well. EG lost the pistol on their CT side but started a lockdown of their own. With Tarik playing his best game of the tournament and Cerq continuing to land shots, EG equalised at 12-12. Astralis managed one more round but EG didn’t slow down, neutralising Astralis’ T side and taking the map 16-13.

This win clearly boosted EG’s spirits heading into Overpass, where they took a 4-2 thanks to a 1v2 clutch from Ethan. Astralis stayed composed and took control of the game on the T side, seemingly trading every kill and stopping EG’s momentum. 10-5 up at halftime, Astralis quickly cemented the map, winning the pistol and repelling EG’s attempts at a comeback, giving up just one round. Astralis took Overpass 16-6 and headed to the final.

In the second semi-final, Fnatic took on Liquid, who had shown greatly improved form compared to the previous month. Fnatic took advantage of the fact that they share Train as a permaban and pulled out a surprise pick in the form of Overpass. Despite Fnatic’s performances on Inferno, Liquid picked it regardless and Mirage was left in as the decider.

It quickly became clear that Fnatic’s pick had worked. On the CT side, Fnatic were aggressive and clinical and established an 8-0 lead before Liquid found a round thanks to a heroic 4k from Elige. Brollan was a turret at Bathrooms, completely shutting Liquid down. Liquid made a late resurgence to find 5 rounds on their T side but Fnatic responded with their own T side. Brollan continued to find opening kills, eventually ending the map with an 80% opening kill success rate. Fnatic closed out the map 16-6 and looked poised to possibly upset Liquid.

On Inferno, Liquid recovered well, taking the CT side pistol and converting the following rounds to take a 4-0 lead. They traded rounds but re-established economic control and made it to 9-2. NAF and Elige were in their element and Fnatic lacked Brollan’s impact. Liquid quickly wrapped up Inferno with a dominating T side. Elige found 4 kills in a 5v3 to take Liquid to a 14-5 scoreline and Liquid secured their map pick in style, overwhelming the A-site defense and ending the map 16-6, forcing a 3rd map.

Liquid found their feet on the T side of Mirage and opened up a 5-2 lead before a miraculous 1v3 from JW saw Fnatic break back and take the score to 5-5. The half ended at 8-7, with the result far from certain. Liquids CT side however, was far too much for Fnatic to handle. Twistzz stepped up in a big way and Liquid started to find their groove. They committed to a risky force-buy at 10-9 but it paid off, and Fnatic’s own force failed, leaving them economically at sea. Round by round, Liquid took control of the game and ended it 16-10, setting up a final with Astralis.

Having not played against each other since ESL New York, the final promised a thrilling contest. Liquid picked Vertigo, seeking redemption from the two previous encounters, while Astralis picked Nuke with the series set to end on Dust 2.

Astralis’ competence on Vertigo was well established, but they weren’t prepared for NAF. He went 22-7 in the 1st half and allowed Liquid to find 11 rounds on their CT side. Yet Liquid couldn’t close their advantage and looked lost on their T side. NAF managed to steal a round at 13-13 despite only being equipped with a p250, but Liquid conceded overtime. Finally, Liquid looked like they had some answers and went 18-15 up thanks to some key wallbang kills at the A ramp. Map 1 went in their favour but it was not the walk in the park that they would have wanted given their success in the 1st half.

Moving into Nuke, Liquid continued their sharp individual form and showed a strong hand on their CT side. Their were able to hold the bombsites well and stole away rounds on forcebuys, finding 8 in total in the first half. Astralis looked good but were being matched. Liquid won the T pistol and suddenly had control of the series. After finding the following 3 rounds, they found themselves 11-7 up. And then, it all went wrong. Astralis tightened up their defence and Liquid struggled to find post-plant scenarios and even when they did, they couldn’t hold. Astralis seemed to get inside Liquid’s head and eventually took the lead. Astralis did not take their foot off the gas and forced Dust 2.

Liquid recovered a round after losing the pistol to make the score 3-1 but struggled to make anything work on their CT side. Astralis, looking unstoppable chained 6 in a row to make it 9-1 on their T side. Device, who had stayed fairly quiet in the first two maps, excelled on this third map. He dominated Mid, cutting off rotations and preventing retakes while the rest of Astralis traded their way onto sites. Along with their excellent utility usage, Liquid had no answer. They found a few consolation rounds thanks to Twistzz, but the damage had already been done. Astralis quickly made it to 16 rounds to take the game and the tournament, winning yet another ECS event in style. Despite obvious improvements for Liquid, they were outclassed and unable to mentally compete, especially after their capitulation on Nuke. Astralis showed that they were capable of withstanding a challenge from Liquid, who, all things considered, came close to winning the tournament. 

By Alex Major Brown

Before IEM Beijing 2019 had even begun, one thing was guaranteed: Either EG would maintain their position as the #1 team in the world, or Astralis would reclaim that spot. Many expected deep runs from both these teams in what seemed a fairly competitive field featuring the likes of Faze, Vitality and 100 Thieves (formerly Renegades). However, these expectations were shattered by Astralis, who, playing at their peerless best, recorded the most dominant tournament win of any team since Faze at New York in 2017.

Coming in to the event

Coming in to IEM Beijing 2019, the stage looked set for another Astralis-EG showdown, with both of these teams seen as heavy favourites to take the tournament. EG came in off the back of a victory at StarSeries S8, a convincing and importantly consistent display where they fought off the likes of Fnatic, Furia and Renegades to secure another trophy. They played a total of 19 maps, only dropping 4 and looked far and away the best team despite some surprising individual scorelines such as the 16-2 loss to Fnatic. From an individual perspective, EG’s star players had been very strong and capable of challenging any team. 

Astralis, on the other hand, came in to the tournament in strong form but had showed little indication that they were going to dominate as they did. They were unable to win at Malmö, losing in shocking fashion to Fnatic and fell flat at Blast Pro Series Copenhagen. This, combined with the fact that EG held a 7-4 map record against Astralis, indicated that this tournament could be a close contest. As for the other teams, IEM Beijing offered Faze the opportunity to display their improvements in a much sturdier format and add some BO3 wins against top teams to their resume. For Vitality, despite being put in a harder group, this event was a chance for them to redeem themselves after their disastrous campaign at StarSeries. They lost 3 straight BO3’s to teams including Renegades and Furia, who should be comfortable opposition for a team of this calibre. For 100 Thieves, the Australian lineup, who were playing their first LAN as part of their new org, Beijing was a chance to make the playoffs at another big event and continue their solid post-player break form which included 3-4th place at the major, and 4th at StarSeries.

During the event: Group stage

For group A, Day 1 played out as expected with Astralis and 100 Thieves picking up 2-0 victories against ViCi and ENCE respectively, and Astralis taking the winners match 2-0 to net themselves a place in the playoffs. Astralis’ 2-0 victory against 100 Thieves was comfortable and it seemed like a routine performance – Astralis showing their superiority regarding the map pool as well as their ability to close out matches in clinical style. For 100 Thieves, there were many positive signs: Liazz and jkaem put in stellar performances against ENCE that, as day 2 proved, were easily replicable. Group B, on the other hand, played out much more unpredictably. Faze stomped EG in what looked like an easy series for the European all-star roster. They pulled off 11:4 halves on both maps and consistently out-duelled the NA roster, ending up +15 in opening kills for the series and convincingly winning rounds on both T and CT side. With this result, Faze and Vitality played it out for the first spot in the playoffs, with Vitality taking the series 2-1. All 3 maps were convincing victories, with Vitality winning Faze’s pick of Nuke 16-9 and Faze winning Vitality’s pick of Overpass 16-6. Zywoo’s numbers for the series were not as crazy as what we might expect from him but they were more than good enough to get Vitality over the line. 

Day 2 arrived and we were treated to the EG-Faze rematch, a tantalising affair that Faze edged their way through. The series went the full distance, eventually ending in overtime on the deciding map, Dust 2, demonstrating how Faze was capable of grinding their way through a tough series against a well-matched opponent. Many of Faze’s rounds came down to key clutches but Faze proved that they were deserving of a playoff spot, leaving EG to suffer another group stage exit. Meanwhile, 100 Thieves secured their playoff spot with another comfortable series against ENCE who were comprehensively outplayed and lacked depth on t-side, managing only 7 t-side rounds over the series.

Playoffs

With the playoff matchups locked in, IEM Beijing certainly had the potential for two close series. Astralis, who looked extremely comfortable in the group stage, were put up against Faze, who had surprised many by beating EG in successive BO3 series. Nobody, however, foresaw Astralis’s obliteration of Faze, who won just 2 rounds in the entire series. 

The series started on Dust II, a risky pick from Faze given Astralis’ strong CT play but an understandable choice given that they had already defeated EG twice on that map. The match started with Astralis quickly securing early rounds with ease, locking Faze out of the key areas of the map and using their utility expertly to force mistakes from the all-star squad. Faze were unable to find entries and NiKo was constantly shut down in Mid. The game continued to spiral out of control as dupreeh picked up a second AWP, finding multi-kill after multi-kill while Magisk was unshakeable over at the B site. Faze had a couple of opportunities to find a round, with Magisk needing to pull off a 1v2 in round 15 but it clearly wasn’t meant to be. A clean p250 clutch by Device was the nail in the coffin as Astralis pulled off a historic win.

With Astralis looking untouchable, Nuke did not look promising to say the least. Everyone on Astralis was fragging well and gla1ve took over the T side of Nuke, dominating the map with his calling. Before long, the scoreboard read 16 for the Danes, who looked godlike.   

On the other side of the bracket, Vitality and 100 Thieves locked horns in a fairly even matchup, and thanks to brilliant performances from the stars Jks and Jkaem, they were able to secure their first big event grand final. The veto looked to favour 100 Thieves but they ran into problems on Mirage, statistically and stylistically one of their best maps. Vitality put up a solid CT side and excelled on the T side. The opening duels were heavily in their favour and Zywoo started the series in confident fashion.

Nuke was a close game from the beginning, with both teams trading rounds, unable to chain more than 3 in a row. 100 Thieves won a crucial force buy in round 16 and were able to reach 12 rounds, before Vitality wrestled back to 13-12. 100 Thieves were forced onto a low buy at 14-14, but held their nerve and secured the post plant to bring the score to 15-14, eventually closing out the map in round 30.

100T forced a third map in Inferno and blew Vitality out the water. Jks had one of the performances of his career and notched up 22 kills in the first half alone, holding the B site down in astounding fashion. 100 Thieves secured their first big event grand final and Vitality were left wondering how they had let Nuke slip away.

The final was always going to be an uphill battle for 100 Thieves who found themselves up against the heavy favourites Astralis in a best of 5. 100 Thieves, aware of Astralis’ ridiculously strong map pool, picked Vertigo in an attempt to surprise the Danes and increase their chances of finding at least 1 map in the series. 100 Thieves came out swinging on Vertigo. Despite losing the pistol round, they were able to win the forcebuy and win the ensuing anti-eco rounds, establishing an early 3-1 lead. Astralis found a gun round but couldn’t build a streak and went 5-2 down.

However, unphased by these early rounds, Astralis strung 5 rounds in a row and managed to end the half 8-7 in their favour. Despite them losing opening duels in Middle, they were able to hold the bomb sites with expertise and recovered the half. Astralis lost the second half pistol round but strung the first 3 gun rounds in their favour, taking the score to 11-9. 100 Thieves responded with 3 of their own, with Jks finding a lot of impact with the AWP on A ramp, keeping 100 Thieves in the game. Rounds continued to be traded and Astralis found 14 rounds to their name after key entry frags from gla1ve in round 25 and a clutch from Magisk in round 26 where he was able to run down the timer. 100 Thieves went on to the half-buy and looked to concede map point. Thanks to a crossfire, Liazz picked up two USP kills in CT spawn and managed a third with the SG on the B site. Device, despite his best efforts, could not find Azr who pulled off the smoke defuse. Sadly for 100 Thieves, they were not able to take Vertigo, as Astralis broke their money and took the bomb sites in convincing fashion to secure the first map 16-14.

Although the Danes had clearly been tested, this was the only map in the tournament that they could have possibly lost. With 100 Thieves’ surprise pick out the way, Astralis could focus on Nuke where they blew 100 Thieves away with their T side. Gla1ve was out of control, calling the seemingly perfect strat for every situation while fragging like a superstar. With an 11-4 lead, Astralis shut up shop on the CT side and ended the map 16-5, crushing the morale of the oceanic squad.

Winning on Train now seemed very unlikely for 100 Thieves and Astralis began their CT side masterclass. Magisk and Device were able to establish a double AWP setup and Xyp9x and Gla1ve were clinical on both the A and B sites. Jkaem single handedly found 2 rounds by himself with quad-kills on the A site, but the half ended at 12-3 regardless. Astralis closed out the game 16-3, with only Jkaem finding double digit kills.

Analysis

With this win, Astralis returned to #1 as EG were unable to repeat the impressive performances of New York and Starseries. This tournament was another group stage exit for the NA squad, and their lack of consistency is going to be the biggest barrier that stops them reaching #1. For Astralis, this tournament was a throwback to 2018 and their most dominant win since IEM Katowice in January. From an individual perspective, Gla1ve was a monster, netting himself the MVP with a 1.48 HLTV rating over the whole tournament. This is is the highest MVP rating for any player this year, a performance that S1mple would be proud of.

From a team perspective, Astralis’ numbers were ridiculous – They only dropped 52 rounds across 9 maps, less than 6 rounds a map on average throughout this tournament. On top, their semi final against Faze was the most dominant win in a best of 3 at any big tournament ever in CSGO. For 100 Thieves, this tournament was very promising and they look poised to take #5 in the rankings, emulating their form from earlier in the year. ENCE’s woes continue, and they seem far away from elite status. Faze surprised during their performances against EG but their match against Astralis really shows the gulf between the two sides and shows that Faze clearly aren’t going to be challenging for big titles any time soon.