In February, Kjaerbye unexpectedly left Astralis to join North.

Astralis were left

scrambling for a fifth player but fortunately, they were able to sign Emil "Magisk"
Reif a few days later. This would mark the beginning of an astronomical rise to
the top and domination over the Counter-Strike scene. After a quarter-final finish
at StarSeries S4 and a semi-final loss at IEM Katowice 2018, they reached the
summit after a spectacular performance at DreamHack Marseille 2018,
convincingly beating FaZe Clan, Fnatic, and Natus Vincere on their way to the
title. Although they lost to FaZe Clan in the grand final after a narrow 3-0 best of
five series at IEM Sydney 2018, they bounced back at ESL Pro League Season 7
Finals, swiftly defeating FaZe Clan and beating Team Liquid 3-1 to grab the
trophy. They continued their dominance with trophies at ECS Season 5 Finals
and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, with a semi-final loss to Natus
Vincere at ESL One: Cologne 2018 in between.
Astralis then crowned their era with their second Major title at FACEIT Major:
London 2018, quickly beating FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, and Natus
Vincere without dropping a single map in the playoffs. A mere 6 days later, they
defeated MIBR 2-1 in the grand-final at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018 - after
having an undefeated 5-0 group stage - to continue their dominance over the
scene.
At the IEM Katowice Major 2019, they picked up their third Major title, becoming
the second team in CS:GO history (after Fnatic) to take home three Major titles,
and the third to win two majors back-to-back. They made it into the New
Champions stage after a convincing 3-0 score in the New Legends stage,
beating Complexity Gaming, Cloud9 and Renegades. They then went through
the New Champions stage without dropping a single map, beating Ninjas in
Pyjamas, MIBR, and finally ENCE to secure the Major win.