Astralis beat ENCE 2

Astralis have picked up their third Major title after winning IEM Katowice 2019 with a convincing 2-0 success over ENCE.

If there were any remaining doubts about Astralis' credentials, about their position as the most dominant side in the modern Counter-Strike, they surely were dispelled on Sunday. The match was always likely to be David versus Goliath; ENCE, a first-timer at Majors, going up against Astralis, a team looking for their third crown. The Finnish squad had already proved that dreams do come true, beating Liquid and Natus Vincere with some miraculous comebacks, but the Danes proved to be a tall order for Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's troops.

A convincing victory on Train - a map on which ENCE had not lost since EPICENTER 2018 -, set the tone for what would be a one-sided series. Inferno was Astralis' playground as the Danes made light work of their Nordic opponents, increasing their current record on this map to 15-0 - yet another scary sign that this team continues to raise the bar, after already having by far the best Nuke in the game, which was promptly banned by ENCE.

Heading into Train, the Finns were the second-worst team since the last-16 stage in terms of pistol round success, yet they managed to break through the Astralis defence with relative ease in the first round of the match. After conceding an eco round, the Danes responded in convincing fashion in their first buy attempt.

That marked the beginning of a dominant run from Astralis, who gave the offensive side very little room to operate with a very tight defence. Until the end of the half, the Danes would give up just two rounds - curiously one of them an anti-eco -, racing to a commanding 11-4 lead.

Astralis win IEM Katowice in impressive fashion

Now playing on the CT side, ENCE found a lifeline as they won a scrappy pistol round that almost slipped through their fingers. Astralis' first buy attempt did not bear fruits, but then a half-buy gamble paid off and put the Terrorists on the board.

Astralis rode that momentum and carved out a 14-7 lead, but they could not hit map point as Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo pulled off a 1v2 clutch, taking advantage some miscommunication on the part of the opposition. ENCE prevented the reset with a double AWP setup and kept the Terrorists at bay several rounds in a row, bringing the deficit to 11-14.

It looked like another unlikely comeback was about to happen, but ENCE's resistance was broken in the 26th round, with Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth then putting the game to bed with a great 1v2 clutch, ending the map as the highest-rated player at 1.52.

Inferno began with a great start from the Danish giants as Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz punished ENCE's aggression in the pistol round. Astralis continued to run over the fragile Finnish defence, forcing Aleksib to call a timeout when he found his team trailing 0-6.

After the tactical pause, ENCE came close to getting their first round on the board off the back of some aearly aggression in the banana area, but Astralis responded in a 2v4 situation to pile even more pressure on their opponents.

ENCE finally got on the board 11 rounds into the game, but that was as far as they would go as Astralis kept playing at a high pace and closed out the half with a commanding 14-1 lead.

After switching to the Terrorist side, ENCE got the pistol round and followed it up with two more, but their efforts were in vain as Astralis responded once they had money in the bank and seal yet another convincing victory - one that puts them tied with fnatic in terms of organisations with the most Major trophies.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 3 ENCEMatchpage 0 2 3rd March 2019 Astralis 11Train 16 4Inferno 16

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sami 'xseveN' LaasanenxseveN	28 - 39	-11	81.0	0.95
Jere 'sergej' Salosergej	28 - 36	-8	78.4	0.87
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	27 - 38	-11	57.9	0.78
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	28 - 37	-9	54.6	0.71
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	18 - 39	-21	50.7	0.54

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	42 - 20	+22	90.4	1.51
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	43 - 23	+20	89.7	1.45
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	40 - 28	+12	90.0	1.42
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	38 - 29	+9	87.6	1.28
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	24 - 29	-5	62.8	0.97

IEM Katowice 2019 final standings:

1. Astralis - $500,000 + Legends status
2. ENCE - $150,000 + Legends status
3-4. Natus Vincere - $70,000 + Legends status
3-4. MIBR - $70,000 + Legends status
5-8. FaZe - $35,000 + Legends status
5-8. Liquid - $35,000 + Legends status
5-8. Renegades - $35,000 + Legends status
5-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $35,000 + Legends status
9-11. Cloud9 - $8,750 + Challengers status
9-11. AVANGAR - $8,750 + Challengers status
9-11. Vitality - $8,750 + Challengers status
12-14. Complexity - $8,750 + Challengers status
12-14. HellRaisers - $8,750 + Challengers status
12-14. G2 - $8,750 + Challengers status
15-16. NRG - $8,750
15-16. BIG - $8,750

MIBR #4 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloJoão 'felps' Vasconcellos Cloud9 #10 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaJordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1405 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1285 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif BIG #15 Fatih 'gob b' DayikJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetIsmailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Renegades #8 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Jere 'sergej' Salo Age: 17 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 418 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.63 Natus Vincere #3 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov Complexity #29 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertShahzeb 'ShahZaM' KhanRory 'dephh' JacksonPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzRicardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland AVANGAR #17 Bektiyar 'fitch' BahytovTimur 'buster' TulepovAidyn 'KrizzeN' TurlybekovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Liquid #2 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Ninjas in Pyjamas #6 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen Age: 21 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 502 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.65 HellRaisers #19 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowAbay 'HObbit' KhassenovÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 23 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1462 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.61 Vitality #12 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut FaZe #5 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard NRG #7 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov ENCE #9 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaSami 'xseveN' LaasanenAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenJere 'sergej' Salo G2 #18 Audric 'JACKZ' JugRichard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroLucas 'Lucky' Chastang