Astralis are the first team confirmed for the playoffs at the ECS Season 5 Finals after defeating Liquid 16-6 on Inferno in the Group A winners' match.

Starting out as Terrorists, Liquid found themselves in a 3v2 situation in the pistol round after Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken had secured a triple-kill to his name, but Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen still managed to pull off the round for their team.

With a very tight defence and excellent utility usage, Astralis shut Liquid down over and over again. The Danes were simply too hot to handle — the North Americans rarely found entry-kills throughout the half — and took a 13-0 lead before finally caved in.

device led the way for Astralis with 24 kills

Up 13-2, Astralis started the second half with a fast B execution, which Liquid countered with a successful retake to find a lifeline in the game. After building up their economy, Astralis won their 14th round fairly easily, but Liquid did not let them follow that up. With nothing but CZs, however, the Danish squad hit match-point, and it would not take long for them to wrap things up.

ECS Season 5 FinalsBest of 1 AstralisMatchpage 16 6 8th June 2018 Liquid 16Inferno 6

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	24 - 11	+13	97.0	1.72
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	19 - 13	+6	94.3	1.39
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	16 - 13	+3	85.9	1.20
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	14 - 11	+3	73.9	1.17
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	14 - 9	+5	67.1	1.16

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	16 - 15	+1	66.3	1.00
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	11 - 16	-5	61.9	0.76
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	9 - 18	-9	54.9	0.64
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	12 - 21	-9	76.8	0.64
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	9 - 17	-8	52.2	0.61

Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Liquid #5 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1238 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Emil 'Magisk' Reif Age: 20 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 698 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Age: 18 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 601 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64