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Former Major winners: Astralis (2017, 2018, 2x 2019)

Astralis-

While the title of greatest CS2 team of all time is far from settled, by winning four majors, Astralis has an iron grip on the title for Global Offensive.

In the rolling world of esports, it is rare for one team to dominate a game for longer than a few months. Even rarer is the roster that can effectively solve the game, both creating and dominating a metagame that endures for years. These teams, few as they are, become synonymous with the games they compete in. In the history of Counter-Strike, few teams can even approach the greatness of Astralis. With four major wins under its belt, it ties T1 in League of Legends as the winningest team in the history of gaming.

Here’s a look back at the Astralis majors explaining how the squad dominated and the impact it had on Counter-Strike history.

How many majors did Astralis win in CSGO?

 Astralis won four majors in CSGO, the most of any team, from 2017 to 2019.

Here are the four majors Astralis won from 2017 to 2019.

  • Eleague Major Atlanta 2017 – January 29, 2017
  • FACEIT London Major 2018 – September 23, 2018
  • IEM XIII Katowice Major 2019 – March 3, 2019
  • StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 – September 8, 2019

The following players contributed to the Astralis era. The number of majors they won is indicated by the trophies next to their names.

  • Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander 🏆🏆🏆🏆
  • Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen 🏆🏆🏆🏆
  • Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth 🏆🏆🏆🏆
  • Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz 🏆🏆🏆🏆
  • Emil “Magisk” Reif 🏆🏆🏆
  • Markus “kjaerbye” Kjaerbye 🏆

Who was the coach of Astralis in CSGO?

Danny “zonic” Sørensen was the coach of Astralis in CSGO when the team won its four majors.

From Denmark, zonic began his career in 2003 playing the original Counter-Strike with Team Magic. He played for SK Gaming, mTw, and other early stacks all the way up to 2015. He began coaching Dignitas, then moved to Team Question Mark, which later evolved into Astralis.

zonic Astralis CSGO coach

zonic stuck with the team for the entirety of the Astralis era before moving to Team Vitality in 2022. He added another major victory to his tally at the 2023 BLAST.tv Paris Major, matching dupreeh for the most major wins of anyone in Counter-Strike history. He currently coaches Team Falcons, which has struggled to earn top results despite its star-studded roster.

When was the Astralis era?

The Astralis era typically refers to early 2018 through late 2019 when the team won three of its four major championships.

The exact timing of the era is difficult to pin down, as it’s purely a fan-made term. The era could have started in 2017 with the team’s win at the Eleague Atlanta Major. However, this is generally considered foreshadowing for the era rather than its beginning. That even marked the first major win for Astralis. The next two majors would go to Cloud9 and Gambit.

Astralis’ consecutive major championships are generally considered the Astralis era. That streak started with the  2018 FACEIT London Major. Astralis also won nearly every top-tier event that year, taking home five big trophies before the London Major in September.  The team then won effectively ever major event for the next 12 months. The squad had a few shaky moments in 2019, falling out of both ESL Pro League 9 and ECS Season 7 at 5th. What would be great finishes for other teams were disappointments for the juggernaut. The team quickly regained form and earned its third major at the StarLadder Berlin Major.

Astralis era StarLadder Berlin Major 2019

The end of the Astralis era was arguably the start of another equally important era in Global Offensive history. As events switched to online-only at the start of 2020, the squad lost its pace. It still dominated the first few tournaments, earning gold at ESL One: Road to Rio and ESL Pro League 12. However, the team’s grip on the meta quickly loosened. Astralis began falling off the podium entirely for multiple events in a row. The legendary stack managed to pull off a last dance at IEM Global Challenge XV to the tune of $200,000.

The definitive end date of the Astralis era is April 23, 2021, when star AWPer dev1ce left the team to join Ninjas in Pyjamas. He eventually returned to the Astralis banner in October 2022 to middling success.

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