Looking Back on the ECS Season 6 Finals
Season 6 of the Esports Championship Series has come to a close, and believe it or not, Astralis has taken the title. (For the second time in a row no less) Beyond the predictable ending, the tournament had a couple twists and turns that made this one of the more fun watches of the last couple months. A resurgent MIBR put up a fight, and the tier two teams tussled to solidify themselves as the best of the rest. An unusually lacking Liquid was eliminated in last, mostly due to an underperformance by their young star.
Now is the time to start looking for clues as to team’s form leading up to the Major. Rosters lock January 1, so teams are running out of time to shuffle before the big event.
Team Liquid
I figured that their first-round match against North was going to close. My best bet for the match was a Liquid win with over 26.5 rounds played, and I would have been right if Liquid had managed to pull out the game. Their second match of the event was a best-of-three against NRG, which they lost 0-2. Now, a last place finish from a team that is supposedly second best in the world is not a good look, there’s no other way to put it. That being said, it may not be as bad as it seems.
Twistzz has been at least +20 at every tournament since ESL One Cologne 2018, and he’s been putting up numbers like crazy. He’s pretty clearly the best in NA, and one of the best in the world so far this year. With a resume like that, it can be easy to forget he’s only 18 years old and has only been playing in international LANs for a year or so. Having a bad event is not the end of the world. (Honestly, I think it’s silly to be worried about it at all)
What Liquid fans should be worried about is Twistzz health. Obviously I’m not a doctor, nor do I know what’s wrong, but hopefully he feels better by SuperNova Malta this upcoming weekend. We are wishing all the best for him.
Astralis
Surprise, surprise, Astralis win again. They dropped two maps total this event, both to MIBR, before winning the grand final in a close 2-0. This tournament produced some of the most exciting games of the last couple months, with the (mostly) Brazilians playing Astralis close. Unfortunately for Fallen and co., Astralis is still a juggernaut, and closed out Inferno and Overpass, albeit both at 30+ rounds.
Astralis managed to take the grand finals while dragging Magisk through, which makes the win even more impressive. Honestly, no one on Astralis had a great game, on either map, which speaks to how scary this team is. Their teamplay and their strat-book are top tier, and they can grind out wins against MIBR-caliber teams without someone on their team being +13. (Like Fallen was on Inferno)
MIBR
I’m still not sold on this team. This tournament was their first grand finals appearance with this roster, and they still just look shaky fundamentally. The biggest example of that was their A hold on Inferno, round five. Dupreeh is able to just walk up arch side and tap Tarik in the head while in a 3v5. They disassemble their CT setup and win a round they had no right to even be competing in.
They just look uncoordinated. A lot of their rounds come from big individual performances and they rarely play team-oriented Counter Strike. I’ve said this before, but this hurts me on a personal level. Fallen’s teams were always some of my favorites to watch and seeing them perform like this is tough.
I still think that a roster shakeup is the answer here. I’d love to see them go back to an all Brazilian lineup and pick up a real support player instead of making Tarik play a role that his is unfamiliar with, and clearly isn’t a fan of.
Fuck bro. So close but something is really missing. I never had this feeling on a team where I’m so helpless during our games :/ sucks but hopefully we get better. Congrats to Astralis, they played great.
— tarik (@tarik) November 26, 2018
Oh also, just as an aside, I have no problem with the now infamous “jump through smoke on the anti eco” play. Nine times out of ten you’ll get that trade, and that’s the round over. Was it the best possible play? No not really. But MIBR didn’t have banana control, and they didn’t want to let Astralis get setup in close spots with their pistols.
Also, did you see Tarik’s clutch? Cause damn. That’s probably the highlight of the year.
Mousesports
There’s not much to glean from Mousesports’ performance at this tournament. They won a (relatively) clean 2-0 over a Cloud9 team playing with a stand-in and lost close to Astralis and MIBR. They won the games they were supposed to win and lost the games they were supposed to lose.
They did manage to push Astralis a little bit, which made for a fun best-of-three. They lost Mirage 14-16 and won 13 rounds on Nuke, one of the better performances on that map from an Astralis’ opponent.
They need to get one of suNny, STYKO, or chrisJ fragging out if they want to take a step up with this lineup. I’d give them until the Major to figure it out, as this lineup is loaded with potential. If ropz continues to improve, and oskar continues to be oskar, they could easily be a top five team in the world.
North
This was a big tournament for North. I was down on them after they kicked MSL, but it appears the change has revitalized valde. He went +16 over three maps against NRG and had an ADR of 94.9, topping the server in kills. They stumbled a little absent MIBR, but that’s expected for a lineup this young.
Now that we have seen this team without MSL, it seems silly to have worried about them without him. His style clearly didn’t mesh with these players, and they’re much more comfortable playing loose with cadiaN in-game-leading.
I’d suggest keeping a close eye on these guys as they progress with this lineup. As of right now they’re a strong upset team, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they continued to improve and make waves at the Major Qualifier next month.
Leave a Reply