What we learned from ELEAGUE Major

The ELEAGUE Major was the first Major to feature the Swiss format, which found the eight playoffs teams who also earned the Legends status at the next Major.

Natus Vincere, of whom many had high expectations prior to the event due to their intense preparation, and Virtus.pro finished first in the group stage with a 3-0 record.

They were closely followed by fnatic, Gambit, and SK, who only suffered one loss in groups, while FaZe, tournament favourites Astralis, and North earned the last three spots at three wins and two losses.

The quarter-final draw put two of the most well-regarded teams of the ELEAGUE Major, Astralis and Natus Vincere, up against each other, while Gambit faced fnatic, Virtus.pro locked horns with North, and FaZe took on SK.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's team prevailed in the first series following a tough series, as did the Swedes against Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev and company. In the other half of the bracket, Virtus.pro came back from a 3-12 deficit against North in the decider, Cobblestone, and SK powered through FaZe despite losing the first map one-sidedly.

Astralis then shut down fnatic in the first semi-final, where Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer's team gave us a show on Cache but ultimately fell short while Nuke went the Danes' way convincingly. The Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski-powered squad survived two tight maps versus SK in the other, earning the second spot in the final.

While the playoffs had already delivered before Championship Sunday, the grand final itself was on another level entirely. Each team's map pick was closely contested before Astralis came back from a 6-12 deficit on the Terrorist side of Train, the deciding map, to clinch their first Major title in the core's tenth attempt.

Best maps

Swiss group stage
Envy	25-21	Liquid	Cache	First round
SK	19-17	FaZe	Mirage	Second round
Virtus.pro	16-14	G2	Nuke	Second round
SK	19-17	Astralis	Dust2	Fourth round
North	19-17	GODSENT	Overpass	Fifth round
Playoffs
Natus Vincere	16-14	Astralis	Mirage	Quarter-finals (M2)
Virtus.pro	16-13	North	Cobblestone	Quarter-finals (M3)
Astralis	19-17	fnatic	Cache	Semi-finals (M1)
Virtus.pro	19-17	SK	Train	Semi-finals (M1)
Virtus.pro	16-14	SK	Cobblestone	Semi-finals (M2)
Astralis	16-14	Virtus.pro	Overpass	Grand final (M2)
Astralis	16-14	Virtus.pro	Train	Grand final (M3)

The Chokestralis days are gone

Despite device suddenly dropping off in the final after fantastic play throughout the rest of the tournament, I believe it's fair to say that the days when Astralis (or TSM at the time) choked in the most important moments are over.

The Danes had to go through so many rough points in the entire bracket, and yet it never seemed like it affected their confidence and composure. Especially the way Astralis came back on Train in the grand final showed their mental fortitude and proved they are world beaters and the clear number one at the moment.

Whether their sports psychologist or Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander is to receive credit for that is uncertain (I'd bet on a combination of the two), but Astralis finally put an end to that reputation with their victory in Atlanta.

Virtus.pro once again proved we can never count them out at the Majors

It looks like it truly doesn't matter how poorly Virtus.pro do just before a Major, or another huge event, they always show up when they absolutely have to.

It has nothing to do with their preparation  — the Poles had practically zero practice time between WESG and the Major —, but rather it's their mindset, their determination and focus that reaches a completely different level at the biggest stages.

Snax played a massive part in Virtus.pro's great run in Atlanta, as he powered the Poles through the tough matches and overall put up an amazing showing, contesting Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye in the run for the MVP despite the loss.

SK were a title contender even with a stand-in

First of all, it's important to point out the difference between what SK did and what a stand-in usually means. The Brazilians had over a month with Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco, which means proper preparation, as opposed to the usual situation in which teams are forced to bring in another player at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances.

However, as I highlighted in the Favourites preview, it was clear SK wouldn't go out of their way and change their style too much to accommodate fox. He played some of his normal roles on the CT side, notably on Mirage where he was mostly AWPing over Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo, but otherwise SK didn't change much.

Despite that and the fact that FalleN was not at his best, SK managed to contest the two best teams at the event, beating Astralis in groups and missing out on the grand final by about four rounds against Virtus.pro.

We can't assess Na`Vi's true level yet

Prior to the Major, we could only speculate how good Na`Vi had become since IEM Oakland. We knew they practiced hard and that they widened their map pool, which had been very poor, but we couldn't have known for certain how far they could go.

In the end, it was quite unlucky that we didn't get to see more of Natus Vincere. As they met Astralis already in quarter-finals, we can't assess their true improvement. There is an upwards trajectory, that much is clear, as they showed a good level on several maps, which definitely wasn't the case towards the end of 2016.

We'll have to wait until DreamHack Masters Las Vegas rolls around in two weeks to find out whether Sergey "⁠starix⁠" Ischuk's underlings are on their way to becoming a consistent top four team again. From what we saw at the Major, they're on the right track.

Top teams need extended breaks

The crazy ending to 2016, where we saw six different teams winning the last seven big events, all but confirmed some of the teams were in desperate need of a break to recharge their batteries and evaluate their play.

North and Natus Vincere were perhaps the clearest examples of that. The Danes attended way too many events towards the end of the year and went on a decline at the last few, while Na`Vi went to fewer but still didn't give themselves enough time to fix their issues.

Even if neither of them made it past the quarter-finals at the Major, both teams showed improvement, surely thanks to the extended break from LAN events.

Hopefully, the teams have learned their lesson and will begin to prioritize better in 2017. If they skip the smaller events and only focus on the big ones, of which there should still be plenty, the level of Counter-Strike will rise and everyone will be happier.

The viewership record has been broken again

CS:GO's future was beginning to be questioned following Valve shutting down the skin-betting platforms, as skin betting had been a significant contributor to the game's viewership since the first ones started operating in 2013.

In March, months before the betting sites began ceasing operations, the grand final of 2016's first Major, MLG Columbus, set a new record in concurrent viewers at nearly 1.35 million.

The ELEAGUE Major broke that record with 1,399,518 concurrent viewers watching the deciding map of the grand final between Astralis and Virtus.pro. That number doesn't include viewers tuning in on TBS, where the final was broadcasted, and Chinese streams, so it's safe to assume the final number is significantly higher than the nearly 1.4 million shown in-game.

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