A finely poised battle in the grand final saw Astralis come out on top in the SSE Wembley Arena in London, beating Na’Vi to be crowned the FACEIT Major champions.
Astralis and Na’Vi were undeniably deserving finalists, having taken their semi-final matches against Team Liquid and MiBR respectively in pretty comfortable fashion.
Regarded as the best team in the world for the better part of a year now, Astralis were the favorites going into the final on September 23, but would have been foolish to underestimate Na’Vi’s firepower – especially star player Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev.
s1mple had been on fire all tournament long, and should his teammates provide adequate support in the final, there was no ruling out a Na’Vi upset – but Astralis weren’t going to let it happen.
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A good start on map one, Nuke, saw Na’Vi edge out a 3-0 lead thanks to a somewhat fortunate pistol round win, but as soon as Astralis could compete with a full buy, they didn’t look back.
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They went on a destructive run, winning the next nine rounds straight, before closing out the half 11-4 in their favor. Astralis’ dominance on Nuke continued, as Na’Vi could steal only two rounds on the T side, failing 16-6 in map one.
And things didn’t get much better for Na’Vi on map two, their pick on Overpass, but they did at least keep it close after the first half, only down three rounds.
But Astralis were simply unstoppable – not even s1mple could stop them – as they put on a clinic in the next half, as they have done versus pretty much every team they have faced at the London Major.
Not only did electronic and flamie not step up in the fragging department, but s1mple himself had an uncharacteristically quiet game. Astralis shut down any comeback attempts with ease, taking the grand final with a 2-0, finishing Overpass 16-9.
FACEIT London Major – Final placements
Position | Team | Prize Money |
---|---|---|
1st | Astralis | $500,000 |
2nd | Natus Vincere | $150,000 |
3-4th | Team Liquid | $70,000 |
3-4th | MiBR | $70,000 |
5-8th | FaZe | $35,000 |
5-8th | CompLexity | $35,000 |
5-8th | BIG Clan | $35,000 |
5-8th | Hellraisers | $35,000 |
9-11th | NiP | $8,750 |
9-11th | G2 Esports | $8,750 |
9-11th | Fnatic | $8,750 |
12-14th | Vega Squadron | $8,750 |
12-14th | TyLoo | $8,750 |
12-14th | Cloud9 | $8,750 |
15-16th | mousesports | $8,750 |
15-16th | Winstrike | $8,750 |