ESL One Cologne 2015

ESL One Cologne 2015
E lectronic S ports L eague One Cologne 2015
Disciplines	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
winner	fnatic
organizer	Electronic Sports League
venue	Lanxess Arena , Cologne
Participating clans	16
Beginning	20th August 2015
final	23rd August 2015
Prize pool	$ 250,000
Games	27
Sponsors	Valve Corporation , Paysafecard, among others
Homepage	www.esl-one.com/csgo/cologne-2015/
← ESL One Katowice 2015 DreamHack Cluj-Napoca 2015 →

The ESL One Cologne 2015 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, which was held on August 22nd and 23rd, 2015 in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne . The prize money of the tournament was 250,000 US dollars . When Valve Corporation joined as a sponsor on June 3, 2015, ESL One Cologne 2015 became the sixth major tournament sponsored by Valve . For the first time, random doping tests were carried out in cooperation with the German anti-doping agency NADA at an esports tournament .

Due to the capacity of the Lanxess Arena , the tournament has the potential to become the largest event in its discipline to date . The tournament was seen by more than 10,000 viewers on site and up to 1.3 million viewers online.

The winner of ESL One Cologne 2015 was fnatic , who achieved their third victory in a major tournament and were the first team to defend a major title.

qualification

Eight participants in ESL One Cologne 2015 were found through regionally limited offline qualification tournaments. The participants were either invited or qualified through various pre-qualifiers.

Asia

The Asian qualification took place on July 18 and 19, 2015 in the eCurve shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur . Eight teams played for two slots for the main Cologne tournament. The first two of the group played in the playoff game against the runners-up of the respective other group for the two qualifying places for Cologne.

Group A

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Team Immunity	16
		The Mongolz	10
							Team Immunity	16
							Skyred	8th
		myRevenge.kr	9
		Skyred	16

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Skyred	14th
		The Mongolz	14th				myRevenge.kr	16
		myRevenge.kr	16

Group B

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Renegades	16
		NeckBREAK	0
							Renegades	16
							QeeYou	8th
		MVP.Karnal	11
		QeeYou	16

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							QeeYou	5
		NeckBREAK	7th				MVP.Karnal	16
		MVP.Karnal	16

Playoffs

	Semifinals							qualified for the main tournament
		Team Immunity	16	16
		MVP.Karnal	13	7th
									Team Immunity
									Renegades
		myRevenge.kr	16	2
		Renegades	19th	16

Europe

The European qualification tournament took place on July 25 and 26, 2015 in the ESL studios in Cologne. Four lineups of the 16 teams qualified.

Group A

First round

Semifinals

final

Consolation finals

Qualified for the main tournament

Game 1

Team Dignitas

16

OverGaming

9

Game 5

Team Dignitas

16

Game 2

Team Property

14th

Team Property

16

PiTER

7th

Game 7

Winning round

Team Dignitas

8th

Game 3

Team Kinguin

16

Flipsid3 Tactics

14th

KILLERFISH eSport

16

Game 6

KILLERFISH eSport

8th

Game 4

Team Kinguin

16

Team Kinguin

16

PENTA Sports

9

Team Kinguin

-

Flipsid3 Tactics

-

OverGaming

16

PiTER

8th

KILLERFISH eSport

16

OverGaming

8th

Losers round

KILLERFISH eSport

14th

Flipsid3 Tactics

19th

Flipsid3 Tactics

16

Team Dignitas

16

PENTA Sports

17th

Team Property

3

Flipsid3 Tactics

19th

Flipsid3 Tactics

16

Group B

First round

Semifinals

final

Consolation finals

Qualified for the main tournament

Game 1

HellRaisers

19th

LGB eSports

17th

Game 5

HellRaisers

14th

Game 2

Team eBettle

16

Epiphany Bolt

19th

Team eBettle

22nd

Game 7

Winning round

Team eBettle

25th

Game 3

Titan eSports

23

Team ROCCAT

9

k1ck.hu

16

Game 6

k1ck.hu

8th

Game 4

Titan eSports

16

Gamers2

5

Titan eSports

16

Team eBettle

-

Titan eSports

-

LGB eSports

16

Epiphany Bolt

11

k1ck.hu

9

LGB eSports

16

Losers round

LGB eSports

16

Team ROCCAT

5

HellRaisers

7th

Titan eSports

16

Gamers2

16

HellRaisers

16

LGB eSports

2

Gamers2

9

America

For the American qualifier, eight teams met on August 1st and 2nd, 2015 in the ESL Studio in Burbank and played for two qualification slots.

Group A

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Cloud 9	16
		Classy esports	2
							Cloud 9	16
							Team Liquid	10
		Team Liquid	16
		Tempo Storm	11

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Team Liquid	16
		Classy esports	10				Tempo Storm	10
		Tempo Storm	16

Group B

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Counter Logic Gaming	16
		eLevate	11
							Counter Logic Gaming	16
							Mythic	14th
		Maximum effort	13
		Mythic	16

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Mythic	13
		eLevate	16				eLevate	16
		Maximum effort	3

Playoffs

	Semifinals							qualified for the main tournament
		Cloud 9	16	16
		eLevate	7th	5
									Cloud 9
									Counter Logic Gaming
		Team Liquid	9	14th
		Counter Logic Gaming	16	16

Attendees

The eight quarter-finalists of ESL One Katowice 2015 and eight other teams who were able to secure participation in the competition through regional qualifications in Europe , America and Asia were eligible to participate.

• fnatic (winner at ESL One Katowice 2015)
• Ninjas in pajamas (finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015)
• Team EnVyUs (semi-finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015)
• Virtus.pro (semi-finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015)
• Luminosity Gaming (quarter-finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015) ¹
• mousesports (quarter-finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015) ²
• Team SoloMid (quarter-finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015)
• Natus Vincere (quarter-finalist at ESL One Katowice 2015)
• Team Kinguin (Europe Qualifier)
• Flipsid3 Tactics (Europe Qualifier)
• Team eBettle (Europe Qualifier)
• Titan eSports (Europe Qualifier)
• Cloud 9 (North America Qualifier)
• Counter Logic Gaming (North America Qualifier)
• Team Immunity (Asia Qualifier)
• Renegades (Asia Qualifier)

¹The lineup of Keyd Stars at ESL One Katowice 2015 changed organization

²The majority of the PENTA Sports lineup at ESL One Katowice 2015 switched to mousesports , which means that mouz is pre-qualified instead of PENTA.

Team lineups

Cloud 9	Counter Logic Gaming	Flipsid3 Tactics	fnatic
Ryan "fREAKAZOiD" Abadir	Tarik "TaRiK" Celik	Andrew "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy	Freddy "KRiMZ" Johansson
Sean "seangares" Gares	James "hazed" Cobb	Yegor "markeloff" Markelov	Olof "olofm" Kajbjer
Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert	Steve "reltuC" Cutler	Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk	Robin "flusha" Rönnquist
Mike "shroud" Grzesiek	Josh "jdm64" Marzano	Vadim "DavCost" Vasilyev	Markus "pronax" Wallsten
Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham	Pujan "FNS" Mehta	Georgi "WorldEdit" Yaskin	Jesper "JW" Wecksell
Luminosity Gaming	mousesports	Natus Vincere	Ninjas in pajamas
Fernando "fer" Alvarenga	Fatih "gob b" Dayik	Denis "seized" Kostin	Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund
Marcelo "cold" David	Chris "chrisJ" de Jong	Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács	Adam "friberg" Friberg
Lucas "Steel" Lopes	Denis "denis" Howell	Ioann "Edward" Sukharev	Aleksi "allu" Jalli
Ricardo "boltz" Prass	Johannes "nex" Maget	Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko	Richard "Xizt" Landström
Gabriel "TrapN" Toledo	Timo "Spiidi" judge	Egor "flamiE" Vasilyev	Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg
Renegades	Team eBettle	Team EnVyUs	Team Immunity
Chad "Spunj" Burchill	Piotr “peet” Ćwikliński	Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer	Ricky "Rickeh" Mulholland
Yaman "yam" Ergenekon	Damian "Furlan" Kislowski	Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey	Karlo "USTILO" Pivac
Luke "Havoc" Paton	Karol "rallen" Rodowicz	Dan "apEX" Madesclaire	James "james" Quinn
Justin "jks" Savage	Dominik "GruBy" Swiderski	Nathan "NBK" Schmitt	Chris "emagine" Rowlands
Aaron "AZR" Ward	Bartosz "Hyper" Wolny	Kenny "kennyS" Schrub	Iain "Snyper" Turner
Team Kinguin	Team SoloMid	Titan eSports	Virtus.pro
Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom	Finn "Karrigan" Andersen	Kévin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans	Paweł “byali” Bieliński
Mikail "Maikelele" Bill	René "cajunb" Borg	Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux	Jarosław “pasha” Jarząbkowski
Dennis "dennis" Edman	Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth	Cédric "RpK" Guipouy	Filip "Neo" Kubski
Håvard "rain" Nygaard	Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen	Richard "shox" Papillon	Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski
Ricardo "fox" Pacheco	Nicolai "device" Reedtz	Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez	Viktor "TaZ" Wojtas

draw

On August 10, 2015, the Electronic Sports League announced the results of the group draw.

Seeding list	Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
1	Ninjas in pajamas	Team EnVyUs	fnatic	Virtus.pro
2	Team SoloMid	Luminosity Gaming	Natus Vincere	mousesports
3	Renegades	Team Kinguin	Titan eSports	Cloud 9
4th	Counter Logic Gaming	Flipsid3 Tactics	Team eBettle	Team Immunity

Maps

During the tournament, the teams have seven maps to choose from, which can be played. In the best-of-one mode, both teams can delete two maps each. From the remaining three maps, the map that is ultimately played is selected at random. In the best-of-three mode, both teams will initially delete one map each. Then each side chooses a map, both of which are played in the first two matches. A possible decision map is chosen at random from among the three remaining maps.

The following maps are available:

• de_dust2 (map overview)
• de_inferno (map overview)
• de_mirage (map overview)
• de_cache (map overview)
• de_cobblestone (map overview)
• de_overpass (map overview)
• de_train (map overview)

Winner bracket

Group A

In Group A, Team SoloMid prevailed after a 16:11 on de_train against the Australian team Renegades against the ninjas in pajamas with an impressive 16: 3 victory on de_cache. NiP had previously won a varied game on de_dust2 against Counter Logic Gaming 16:13.

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Ninjas in pajamas	16
		Counter Logic Gaming	13
							Ninjas in pajamas	3
							Team SoloMid	16
		Renegades	11
		Team SoloMid	16

Group B

The first round of Group B was marked by one-sided wins from Team EnVyUs and Luminosity Gaming . In the direct encounter between the two teams, the tournament was extended for the first time. EnVyUs was able to prevail there with 19:16 on de_cobblestone.

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Team EnVyUs	16
		Flipsid3 Tactics	3
							Team EnVyUs	19th
							Luminosity Gaming	16
		Team Kinguin	6th
		Luminosity Gaming	16

Group C

Defending champion fnatic was a strong and dominant team in Group C and only allowed two rounds against Team eBettle and Natus Vincere .

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		fnatic	16
		Team eBettle	2
							fnatic	16
							Natus Vincere	2
		Titan eSports	17th
		Natus Vincere	19th

Group D

In Group D, the German team mousesports around announcer Fatih “gob b” Dayik suffered a defeat in their first game against Cloud 9 on de_overpass. After a 7: 3 lead, the mice could not hold their lead and lost with 16:10. Virtus.pro prevailed against Team Immunity before . In the game for group victory, the Poles were strong on de_cobblestone and beat Cloud 9 16: 8.

	Semifinals					Group victory game
		Virtus.pro	16
		Team Immunity	8th
							Virtus.pro	16
							Cloud 9	8th
		Cloud 9	16
		mousesports	10

Lower bracket

After the winner bracket, the remaining teams that had not yet qualified for the final round were reassigned to new groups in the lower bracket in order to avoid two teams clashing again.

team	Group before	Group after
Counter Logic Gaming	Group A	Group E
Team Kinguin	Group B	Group F.
Titan eSports	Group C	Group G
mousesports	Group D	Group H.

Group E

Natus Vincere was able to prevail against Counter Logic Gaming with 16:14 on de_cobblestone and thus moved into the quarter-finals.

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Natus Vincere	16
		Team eBettle	14th				Counter Logic Gaming	14th
		Counter Logic Gaming	16

Group F.

In Group F, the newly drawn Team Kinguin prevailed against Team Immunity and Cloud 9 each with 16:13 on de_dust2.

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Cloud 9	13
		Team Immunity	13				Team Kinguin	16
		Team Kinguin	16

Group G

In group G, the ninjas in pajamas were able to secure their place in the quarterfinals with a 16: 5 win on de_inferno against the Australian team Renegades .

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Ninjas in pajamas	16
		Renegades	16				Renegades	5
		Titan eSports	9

Group H.

In the match against Flipsid3 Tactics could mousesports on de_cobblestone not prevail and lost with 14:16. Flipsid3 then lost to the Brazilians from Luminosity Gaming , who made it to the quarter-finals.

	Loser match					Game for the second group place
							Luminosity Gaming	22nd
		Flipsid3 Tactics	16				Flipsid3 Tactics	18th
		mousesports	14th

Final round

In the quarter-finals, all group leaders of the winner bracket groups prevail against the winners of the lower bracket groups. In the semifinals, Team EnVyUs secured the final with a 16: 9 win after a 16:12 win on de_cache and an 8:16 defeat on de_dust2 on the final map de_inferno. In the second semi-final game, Virtus.pro showed a strong performance at the beginning and won the first map de_mirage impressively with 16: 6. On the second de_inferno card, fnatic was able to equalize with a 16:14 after a strong final phase. on the third map de_cobblestone the Swedes finally secured the final with a 16: 7 success.

The final game between Team EnVyUs and fnatic started furiously on de_dust2 with a knife kill from Nathan "NBK" Schmitt . EnVyUs was able to develop a 10: 5 half-time lead in a high-class game. Towards the end of regular time, the Swedes got stronger and were able to earn extra time. In this fnatic decided the first map without giving up a round. The second map de_cobblestone was characterized by a dominance of the Swedes from the beginning. After a 9: 6 half-time lead on their T-half, fnatic let the French only have one more round until the end of the match. The British organization celebrated its third title in a major tournament .

	Quarter finals							Semifinals							final
		Team EnVyUs	16	16
		Natus Vincere	13	10
									Team EnVyUs	16	8th	16
									Team SoloMid	12	16	9
		Team SoloMid	16	16
		Team Kinguin	6th	8th
																Team EnVyUs	15th	7th
																fnatic	19th	16
		Virtus.pro	16	16
		Ninjas in pajamas	14th	5
									Virtus.pro	16	14th	7th
									fnatic	6th	16	16
		fnatic	16	16
		Luminosity Gaming	5	14th

Prize money distribution

space	team	Prize money (in US dollars )
1.	fnatic	$ 100,000
2.	Team EnVyUs	$ 50,000
3rd - 4th	Team SoloMid Virtus.pro	$ 22,000
5th - 8th	Luminosity Gaming Natus Vincere Ninjas in Pajamas Team Kinguin	$ 10,000
9-16	Cloud 9 Counter Logic Gaming Flipsid3 Tactics mousesports Renegades Team eBettle Team Immunity Titan eSports	$ 2,000

facts and figures

• In addition to the prize money, the Valve Corporation distributed more than 4.2 million US dollars to the teams from the income from in-game sticker sales.
• The tournament was watched by over 27 million unique viewers on Twitch and by up to 1.3 million viewers simultaneously on Twitch and the in-game GOTV.
• Robin "flusha" Rönnquist ( fnatic ) had the highest K / D rate of the tournament with 1.72 .
• The players Fernando "fer" Alvarenga (Luminosity Gaming), Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács ( Natus Vincere ), Karlo "USTILO" Pivac (Team Immunity), Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski ( Virtus.pro ) and Gabriel "fallen "Toledo (Luminosity Gaming) each scored an ace (a pentakill) over the course of the tournament .
• The Swedish team Ninjas in pajamas missed the finals for the first time in a major tournament .
• Team Immunity won all of its pistol rounds in the tournament.

Web links

• Tournament website
• Coverage page from 99damage
• ESL One Cologne facts & numbers , facts and figures about the tournament at hltv.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ESL hosts world's largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event. LANXESS arena to host US $ 250,000 ESL One Cologne tournament from August 22-23. (No longer available online.) Esl-one.com, June 3, 2015, archived from the original on May 15, 2015 ; accessed on June 3, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Valve to support ESL One Cologne. hltv.org, June 3, 2015, accessed June 3, 2015 . 
3. ↑ World's largest standalone Counter-Strike event confirmed as next Valve Major. ESL One Cologne 2015 has now officially been named a CS: GO Major Championship. (No longer available online.) Esl-one.com, June 3, 2015, archived from the original on July 11, 2015 ; accessed on June 3, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ ESL leads anti-PED initiative for esports with the support of NADA. eslgaming.com, July 23, 2015, accessed August 10, 2015 . 
5. ↑ The wrong game with the mouse. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 3, 2015, accessed on August 10, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Qualifiers. (No longer available online.) ESL, archived from the original on July 10, 2015 ; accessed on July 9, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Announcing the ESL One Cologne groups! With ESL One Cologne less than two weeks away, it's time to meet the groups. www.esl-one.com, October 18, 2015, accessed on October 18, 2015 (English). 
8. ↑ Milestones. counter-strike.net, August 25, 2015, accessed on August 26, 2015 . 
9. ↑ ESL One Cologne 2015 the world's biggest and most watched Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event to date! ESL, August 25, 2015, accessed on August 26, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Player statistics for ESL One Cologne 2015 on hltv.org
11. ↑ Acestatistics for ESL One Cologne 2015 ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on hltv.org  
12. ↑ PR statistics for ESL One Cologne 2015 ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on hltv.org