The finals of ESL Pro League Season 7 in Dallas couldn't have delivered two better teams to compete in this best-of-five. On one hand, the home favorites, Team Liquid, entered the finals hot off two impressive series wins against two of the best teams in the world, mousesports and Na'vi. On the other hand, the Danish leviathan Astralis faced its demon in FaZe in the semifinals and looked poised to cement its ranking as the best team in the world.
While no team had played close to Astralis' level in the past month, Liquid had played at the level of a true contender in Dallas. After the Danes eliminated FaZe, it seemed like the trophy was already theirs. That said, Astralis was about to square off against what may be a new elite team -- and Liquid had a puncher's chance of winning any of the maps in the series.
The first map was Dust 2 -- and if you blinked, you missed it. Astralis put on a clinic, doing over 1,000 damage with utility over 15 rounds, compared to Liquid's 0 in the 16-1 match. Even in the rounds where players like Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski or Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken found openings, the Danes were able to win out by denying plants with frag grenades and coordinating retakes. The map looked all too easy for Astralis, who breezed through one of Liquid's best maps.
If Liquid was to win any map, it would've been Nuke. It started well for Liquid, as it took a 5-1 lead early. However, things quickly fell apart after Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander won a 1v2 postplant. After this, Astralis rallied to put up eight of the next nine rounds, going into its CT half with a 9-6 scoreline. History seemed to repeat itself as Liquid won the pistol round and the following gun round, but fizzled out as Astralis took a 13-11 lead. However, over-aggressive peaks from Astralis gave Liquid an opening into the match, as the North Americans found enough rounds to earn a 14-13 lead. After losing three consecutive rounds, Astralis adapted its outside hold by bringing in Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz to help gla1ve. The change shut down Liquid's avenue to success, and led Astralis to a 16-14 victory in the second map.
🏆🇩🇰🏆 #ESLProLeague Season 7 Champions @astralisgg 🏆🇩🇰🏆#ToTheStars pic.twitter.com/5kCJGhqmV2
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 20, 2018
Things looked grim on Mirage as Liquid got eco'd immediately after winning pistol. However, heroics from Epitácio "TACO" de Melo gave Liquid the opportunity to stabilize and gain a 6-2 lead. While Astralis hit back with six consecutive rounds, Liquid finished its T-half with a satisfactory 7-8 scoreline. As the second half came in, however, damage control turned into a hemorrhage as Liquid lost the pistol round to a clutch by Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth. The Danes converted the pistol into five rounds, at which point Liquid answered with seven, taking the lead 14-13. Astralis managed to find one more round before the home team closed out its first map of the series 16-14.
Many did not expect we'd see the fourth map of this series, but Liquid was determined to make this competitive. After winning yet another pistol round, the home team put on its first dominant half as it completed its CT side 10-5. After winning second pistol, Liquid looked poised to close it out. However, a force-buy win from Astralis turned the tables, as the Danes gained the economic advantage needed to take the lead 14-12. Despite getting dominated on its T-side, Liquid persisted with lane takes in the pivotal 27th round -- once again, Emil "Magisk" Reifand and company were too much to handle. Facing elimination point with a broken economy, Liquid couldn't quite grind out the win on Inferno, and Astralis took home yet another trophy, winning the series 3-1.