Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: iBUYPOWER Masters 2019

iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 Final Overview

The iBuyPower Masters is now over, and the final matchup was what most people predicted.
We saw again a Final that included Team Liquid vs Astralis. It’s the same matchup, just a different year. In 2018, we saw these two teams face each other in multiple tournament finals. Team Liquid has always struggled to win versus Astralis, but maybe this time it would be different.

This event was the debut for Team Liquid’s new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. We would find out whether or not the addition of Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip would push them over the finish line, and if Stewie2k could help Team Liquid win that elusive trophy against Astralis.

Map One (Inferno)

The Grand Final was a best-of-three series. Astralis picked Inferno as the first map of the series, followed by Liquid picking Dust 2.  Overpass was left over and would be the decider. Astralis came out and dominated on Inferno, and Astralis’s Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander and Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth both played nearly flawless Counter-Strike. Xyp9x would finished with a 119.5 ADR, while gla1ve had a 112 ADR. With elite individual performances and their ability to control the map, Astralis won convincingly at 16-4.

Map Two (Dust 2)

Astralis was feeling hot, yet on the second Dust 2 they struggled. Liquid would end up winning the map 16-11 behind the heroics of both Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic and Stewie2k. Stewie2k would finish Dust 2 with 27 frags and a match high 111.2 ADR. NAF did his part by clutching up and winning key rounds for Team Liquid, which forced the third and final map to be played.

Map Three (Overpass)

Entering the final map, it was clear that this was the closest Liquid had been to beating Astralis in a tournament final. Astralis is notorious for playing extremely well on Overpass, and the team rarely ever lost on that map during 2018. However, the stars would align for Team Liquid, who, with the fragging power of Stewie2k and NAF, would prevail and win 16-11 to become the iBUYPOWER Masters Champions. NAF was the MVP of the event with a 1.23 HLTV Rating for the series.

Courtesy of iBUYPOWER

Congratulations to Team Liquid on winning, but let’s not think that Astralis is going away anytime soon! They will be back and better than ever. I predict we will see this matchup again at the IEM Katowice Major Finals.

You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Andrew!

“From Our Haus to Yours”