Team Liquid steals the iBuyPower Masters Invitational title from Astralis

The North Americans took home another title on home soil.
Screengrab via iBuyPower

After a hectic weekend of CS:GO in Hollywood, Team Liquid emerged as the champions at the $200,000 iBuyPower Masters Invitational.

Recommended Videos

Despite rampant technical issues, endless complaints from fans and players, and even an alleged weapon threat on day one, Liquid triumphed over Astralis for the first time ever to take their first championship of 2019. The event was riddled with delays, but everyone stuck through it to see Liquid succeed with its new lineup containing Jake “Stewie2k” Yip and coach Eric “adreN” Hoag.

Related: IBuyPower Masters Invitational evacuated after alleged weapon threat

Liquid breezed through the group stage with a 2-0 record, before taking on Fnatic in the semifinals yesterday. The series went to three maps, after they lost an overtime game on map two Mirage to the Swedes. The North American side came out on top against Fnatic on Dust II to advance to the grand finals, where Astralis awaited.

The world’s best CS:GO team of 2018 crushed the home team on map one Inferno of the finale, but Liquid persevered. With the help of key fraggers Stewie2k and Keith “NAF” Markovic, Liquid surprised Astralis on Dust II and Overpass to take the series 2-1. Many of Astralis’ players were out of form, especially star AWPer Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, who was named as the number two player in the world by HLTV yesterday.

Group A

Initial Matches

  • Astralis won Dust II 16-3 vs. compLexity Gaming
  • Cloud9 won Overpass 16-7 vs. Fnatic

Winners’ Match

  • Astralis won Mirage 16-9 vs. Cloud9

Losers’ Match

  • Fnatic won Train 16-14 vs. compLexity Gaming

Decider Match

  • Fnatic won Mirage 16-14 vs. Cloud9

Group B

Initial Matches

  • Team Liquid won Mirage 16-11 vs. Luminosity Gaming
  • Ghost Gaming won Train 16-14 vs. FaZe Clan

Winners’ Match

  • Team Liquid won Inferno 16-8 vs. Ghost Gaming

Losers’ Match

  • FaZe Clan won Overpass 16-8 vs. Luminosity Gaming

Decider Match

  • Ghost Gaming won Train 16-13 vs. FaZe Clan

Playoffs

Semifinal One

Astralis vs. Ghost Gaming

  • Astralis won Train 16-2
  • Astralis won Inferno 16-14

Semifinal Two

Team Liquid vs. Fnatic

  • Liquid won Cache 16-6
  • Fnatic won Mirage 19-17
  • Liquid won Dust II 16-9

Grand Final

Team Liquid vs. Astralis

  • Astralis won Inferno 16-4
  • Liquid won Dust II 16-11
  • Liquid won Overpass 16-11

Considering that this event was the first after the holiday break, the biggest takeaway is that this new iteration of Liquid with Stewie2k and adreN is a legitimate and immediate threat to Astralis’ dominance at the top. They seem to be ahead of the curve in terms of pre-Major roster changes, compared to Cloud9 and FaZe Clan, and their best-of-three win vs. Astralis proved that. Astralis will be looking to defend their Major title at IEM Katowice next month.


Dot Esports is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Vitality demolish C9 to put themselves two matches from defending Counter-Strike Major title
Apex screaming to the fans in the Royal Arena at the Copenhagen CS2 Major.
Read Article XQc finally redeems himself in Counter-Strike with stunning Deagle ace
xQc smiling with his thumb up
Read Article M0NESY’s settings, crosshair, and viewmodel for CS2
M0nesy, Counter-Strike player for G2 Esports, celebrates after a round victory at ESL Pro League with his teammates.
Related Content
Read Article Vitality demolish C9 to put themselves two matches from defending Counter-Strike Major title
Apex screaming to the fans in the Royal Arena at the Copenhagen CS2 Major.
Read Article XQc finally redeems himself in Counter-Strike with stunning Deagle ace
xQc smiling with his thumb up
Read Article M0NESY’s settings, crosshair, and viewmodel for CS2
M0nesy, Counter-Strike player for G2 Esports, celebrates after a round victory at ESL Pro League with his teammates.
Author
Jamie Villanueva
CS:GO writer and occasional IGL support pugger that thinks he's good but is actually trash.