Astralis take down Liquid 2-0 to win ELEAGUE Premier 2018

Astralis have won the 2018 edition of ELEAGUE Premier after beating Liquid in a two-map series (16-5 on Inferno and 16-12 on Nuke).

It took Astralis just two hours to beat Liquid and with the ELEAGUE title - their fourth since the start of the year. The North Americans were brimming with confidence after taking down Natus Vincere in the semi-finals, but defeating the Danes turned out to be too big of a task for Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's men, who were decimated on Inferno. Nuke was a much closer affair, but in the end it was business as usual for Astralis, who bring the curtain down on the tournament season with a $500,000 cheque and head into the player break still sitting at the top of the pile.

The match all started on Inferno, Liquid' map pick. Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif opened up the action in the pistol round with a quad kill to put his team in the lead. The game quickly got out of hand for Liquid, who could not find a way through the water-tight Astralis defence.

The Danes, led by Magisk, who had amassed 15 kills by the seventh round, continued reading Liquid's attack like a book. In the 13th round, the North Americans came close to finally getting something going after planting the bomb in a 2v2, but Magisk pulled off a 1v2 clutch.

It looked like this was going to be the perfect half for Astralis, but Liquid managed to scrape a round just before half-time with a B execute.

Astralis piled more misery on Liquid after taking the pistol round thanks to a 1v2 clutch by Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz. The North Americans hit back immediately, however, and put together a string of rounds for the first time in the game, but their resistance would collapse in the 21st round.

Liquid entered Nuke determined to end Astralis' impressive 14-0 streak on this map on LAN in the last six months and got out to a 3-0 lead on the CT side. Astralis then won the first full gun round without losing a single player, but Liquid hit back immediately, resetting the Danes' economy.

Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander then went huge and rescued Astralis with a 1v3 clutch to win what had been a very low buy round from his team. The Danish side followed that up with another round, bringing the deficit to a minimum, but then Liquid tightened up their defence and took a four-round lead.

With things starting to get out of control for Astralis, the Danish side picked up the pace and secured the final three rounds as Terrorists to make it a 7-8 half - the exact same half-time scoreline from the Group A winners' match.

Magisk pulled off another quad kill to shut down Liquid's split in the second half pistol round, with the Danish side following that up with two anti-ecos for a 10-8 lead. After Liquid bought up, however, the landscape of the game changed immediately, with the North Americans winning three rounds in a row to retake the lead in the game.

device would not let the game slip away from his team, and stepped up with the AWP, getting crucial picks outside to inspire Astralis to go on another run en route to a 16-12 finish.

ELEAGUE Premier 2018 final standings:

1. Astralis - $500,000
2. Liquid - $200,000
3-4. Natus Vincere - $80,000
3-4. MOUZ - $80,000
5-6. MIBR - $40,000
5-6. fnatic - $40,000
7-8. Cloud9 - $30,000
7-8. FaZe - $30,000