Olivia R. April 23, 2019
Astralis has been ranked number one for an entire year by one of the game's most respected rankings.
The Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team has a staggering 1,000 points on HLTV's ranking system. The next closest organization is Team Liquid with 591 points. HLTV ranks CS:GO teams based on their performances at events throughout the year while factoring in the relevance of each tournament played.
Astralis has won 15 titles in the team's last 22 major or premier events. This includes the FACEIT London Major in 2018 and the Katowice Major earlier this year. HLTV has the recent Katowice Major at 74.9 percent relevancy, while last year's FACEIT Major is now at 17.9 percent currently.
The Katowice Major was very important for Astralis. Not only did it help to solidify the Danish team's spot as the number one CS:GO team in the world, but Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen's father had passed away just a few days before it began, making it the player's most emotional victory in an illusrious career. His family has since said that CS:GO is in his blood, something that may be true for every member of the prolific team.
Last year, Astralis received the Intel Grand Slam championship title. This is awarded to the first team that wins four ESL or DreamHack Masters events out of 10 within one year. This gave Astralis a $1 million prize in addition to the team's other winnings after the team defeated Team Liquid at the ESL Pro League Finals.
Astralis' current run of success began with its last roster change in early 2018. From there, Astralis has continued its reign as the one team to beat in Counter-Strike. A recent defeat at BLAST Pro Series Miami did little to shake up the rankings given how entrenched Astralis is at the top spot, but it may be just what the team needs to push themselves even further moving forward.
HLTV's full rankings can be found here.