Astralis beat Liquid to win BLAST Pro Series Global Final

Astralis won the BLAST Pro Series Global Final after picking up a 2-0 victory over Liquid in the title decider.

As Astralis head into the holiday season, they are in the exact same position as they were this time last year: on top looking down at everyone else. They end 2019 in the same way that they ended 2018, with a title, their sixth of the year and fourth since the player break, after another dominant performance against Liquid.

The Danes have made a habit of beating Liquid, taking their winning streak against the North Americans to seven matches, six of which in best-of-three series. It was only fitting that the two best teams of the year went at it one last time, but, just like in Thursday's game, there was no stopping Astralis, who picked up another 2-0 victory to end a flawless tournament run. Despite device daring Liquid to choose Vertigo, the veto went in the same direction as in the previous two series, featuring Inferno and Nuke as the picks, and Dust2 as the decider.

"I think we have been proving that we are the best team in the world, and to do it again just feels amazing," Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander said after the match. "Of course we will always have a lot of doubters, and a lot of people want to see us lose. We want to keep winning all the time so the doubters can't say anything."

Those expecting an improved performance from Liquid on Inferno were left disappointed as Astralis came out of the break firing on all cylinders, controlling the game and shutting down the North American offense. The North Americans got on the board for the first time when they were already down 0-8 after making Astralis pay the price for their over-confidence following an aggressive setup down mid, but there would be no follow-up as the Danes quickly gathered themselves and hit double-digits.

It was at that point that Liquid finally found a footing a game and managed to put together a string of rounds, but Astralis would still end the half in style following a quad kill with an by Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen, who by now had 17 kills to his name.

Liquid kept them themselves in the game after switching to the CT side as they took the pistol round, but there would be no respite for them as Astralis came fighting back once they had money in the bank and took control of proceedings, hitting map point in the 22nd round following a 2v4 post-plant. The North Americans then enjoyed their best period of the game as they managed to keep Astralis at bay for a while, but their comeback attempt was thwarted when dupreeh and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz clutched a 2v3 to end the map.

Astralis were in no mood to take pity on Liquid and quickly took control of proceedings on Nuke, securing a 5-2 lead on the offense. The North Americans tightened up and took the upper hand, but they were certainly disappointed with the narrow 8-7 lead at the break after shockingly losing an anti-eco that culminated with a knife kill from device.

After switching to the Terrorist side, Liquid bounced back with another pistol-round victory, but things quickly went awry as Astralis pulled off another unlikely round victory, this time thanks to three Desert Eagle kills from gla1ve. The North Americans simply fell apart after that and let their opponents run away with the game, which ended in true Astralis fashion, with a 1v1 won by Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth.

BLAST Pro Series Global Final standings:

1. Astralis - $350,000
2. Liquid - $80,000
3. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $35,000
4. FaZe - $15,000 (+$20,000 from Stand-off)