2018 – A year of passion truly pierced the veil as CS:GO Danish titans Astralis collected back to back ESL Pro League titles at both EPL S7 and S8. The victory in the Sparekassen Fyn Arena also witnessed history as the Danes earned their first and only Intel® Grand Slam

Championship adding another $1,000,000 to their Counter-Strike crusade. The Danes weren’t the only passionate team competing in their craft, FaZe Clan picked up pertinent victories at both ESL One Belo Horizonte and IEM Sydney 2018. To this day the core of FaZe have yet to replicate championships at an ESL One or IEM event.

Esports continued to bolster forward as ESL and Intel® extended their partnership with $100 Million invested in the space, rendering the deal the largest brand and tech partnership in esports history. ESL also welcomed Mercedes-Benz, Vodafone, Alienware and continued valuable partnerships with DHL, Mountain Dew® and more, thus enhancing the landscape of our tournaments across multiple titles.

Dota 2 and StarCraft II continued to grow as flagship titles. Virtus Pro cracked history in Dota 2 as Poland won their first ever Dota 2 Major at ESL One Katowice 2018. They also went on to win the UK’s first ever Dota 2 Major at ESL One Birmingham 2018. Rogue took out the IEM Katowice 2018 StarCraft II division a few days after Scarlett 

Claimed the title of IEM Season XII in PyeongChang, South Korea.