Best CS2 Teams of All Time: 2018-2019 Astralis

This is hardly even up for debate. Of course, other arguments can be made for different teams, but the very first team that will ever come to mind in the conversation for the greatest CS2 team of all time will undoubtedly be the prime Astralis roster from 2018-2019.

While recent results may not make the organization seem like a giant in the competitive scene nowadays, there was once a time when Astralis’ red star was a symbol of excellence, the highest form of it.

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The Pillars of Astralis

Astralis were built on a dream and, surprisingly to those who weren’t around for the earlier years, failure. Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth, Nicolai “device” Reedtz, and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen all started in various Danish teams chasing success during an era of Swedish dominance.

It wasn’t until the 2017 version of the lineup that those three, now with Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye, that Astralis finally got over their image of being semi-final chokers. No more 3rd-4th place results at international tournaments. No more missing grand finals. It was the beginning of what would become the greatest dynasty of all time.

Astralis did not have the best year in 2017, but their victory at the ELEAGUE Major Atlanta was a turning point for the entire organization. It proved that their years of disappointment and being labeled as “chokers” were finally put to rest. Not to mention they did it in one of the greatest Major grand final Game 3s of all time, against the #1 Polish roster in history.

The Most Dominant Roster in CS:GO

2018 just so happened to be the first-ever year where the Intel Grand Slam could be achieved. This meant winning four Intel-sponsored events in the span of ten tournaments for a whopping $1,000,000 cash prize. As fate would have it, 2018 was the year of no one else but Astralis.

An early exit at the ELEAGUE Major Boston that same year would get them off on the wrong foot to begin the new season, but their fortunes quickly changed after winning DreamHack Masters Marseille – their first S-Tier trophy of the year and the first notch on the way to a potential Intel Grand Slam.

It’s worth noting that at this point, Kjaerbye had officially left the team to join rival Danish squad North, with Emil “Magisk” Reif coming in as their fifth member. The rest, as we all know it now, is indeed history.

After just making the final stage of the competition through a sixth-place finish at ESL Pro League Season 7 Europe, which happened in April of 2018, Astralis never finished below 3rd-4th place for the rest of the year. It was one of the most dominant runs in esports history, resulting in a resume for everyone involved that most professional players will never achieve.

Road to the Grand Slam

Astralis only dropped one map on their way to the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals crown, with dupreeh ultimately being awarded as the tournament’s MVP. They would earn two more championships, a runner-up finish, and 3rd-4th at ESL One Cologne in the four events they competed in right before the second and final Major of the year: FACEIT London.

They were seeded into the New Legends Stage and made the playoffs with general ease. Apart from an all-out war with FaZe in the quarter-finals, the gla1ve-led Astralis took all their series 2-0 en route to the organization’s second Major ever, tying the record of legendary Brazilian side Luminosity/SK.

Astralis would go on to capture the first-ever season of the Intel Grand Slam through victories over Liquid at IEM Chicago and at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, forever cementing their names in history as the first to do so.

The Undisputed Dynasty

While 2019 was a year where they were challenged more than before, especially by Liquid in a now-iconic rivalry, it was also the period of time where they wrote their names in the stars and established their roster as the greatest to ever exist.

Astralis immediately went back-to-back in terms of Major championships, securing the organization’s third at IEM Katowice that year, putting an end to ENCE’s fairytale run in the grand final as a result. The middle of 2019 was a rough stretch for them as, for the first time in weeks, Liquid were seen as the #1 team in the world. But by the time the StarLadder Berlin Major came, it was absolutely clear who was still on top.

The Berlin Major wasn’t the most eventful apart from the quarter-final matchup between Astralis and Liquid, dubbed by many as the “true grand final”. It featured something TheWarOwl called the “greatest counter-play in the history of Counter-Strike”, as Astralis picked and gave Liquid their first-ever competitive loss on Vertigo.

After getting past Liquid, Astralis pretty much eased their way to yet another Major championship. They became the first team to three-peat, and the first organization to ever win four, eclipsing every other record set previously. That was their crowning moment. Their way of telling everyone that they are the greatest of all time.

Nowadays, Astralis are no longer the powerhouses of the competitive scene they once were. But that does absolutely nothing to take away from their excellence just years ago. That was not that far in the past, everyone else was competing for who would finish second place to the Astralis dynasty.

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