ESL One Cologne 2019

ESL One Cologne 2019 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. In July 2019, sixteen teams from around the globe competed in an offline (LAN) tournament that featured a group stage and playoffs with a US$300,000 prize pool. This event and Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV - Chicago were the last events before teams playing at StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019 took a month break before heading to the Major.

ESL One Cologne 2019
2019
Tournament information
SportCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
LocationCologne, Germany
DatesJuly 2, 2019–July 7, 2019
Administrator(s)Electronic Sports League (ESL)
Tournament
format(s)
Double elimination group stage
Six team single-elimination playoff
VenueLanxess Arena
Teams16 teams
PurseUS$300,000
Final positions
Champions Team Liquid
1st runners-up Team Vitality
2nd runners-up Astralis
    Natus Vincere
    Tournament statistics
    Attendance15,000
    MVP Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut

    This tournament is the fifth tournament of the second season of the Intel Grand Slam,[1] which a list of international premier tournaments run by ESL and DreamHack. Each team gets ten tournaments that it participates in to have a chance at winning four of them. The first team to win four titles earns an extra $1,000,000. With Team Liquid doing so and securing a 4th premier win, they received an extra $1,000,000 for their win against Team Vitality in the grand final.

    Format

    ESL invited eleven teams to compete in the tournament. Two teams from Europe, one team from North America, one team from Asia, and the winner of the GG.Bet Invitational tournament competed for the last five spots. The matches are broadcast-ed live on YouTube.

    There are two stages for Cologne 2019, including a group stage and a playoffs. The group stage will feature two groups of eight teams, each seeded according to the ESL World Rankings. The initial matches will be a best of one and all further matches will be a best of three. The format will be an eight team, double elimination bracket, with the top three teams going through. The winner of the groups will be given a bye for the playoffs. The playoffs will feature six teams. The winners of the groups will head straight to the semifinals while the other four teams will play in the quarterfinals. Teams will play until a winner is decided. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be a best of three and the finals will be a best of five.[2]

    Map pool

    The event used Valve's Active Duty map pool. Cache was taken out of the map pool as Valve announced it would be undergoing renovations. Rather than debuting a new Cobblestone, which is normally in the map pool, Valve introduced Vertigo for the first time as part of its competitive map pool.[3]

    • Dust II
    • Mirage
    • Inferno
    • Nuke
    • Train
    • Overpass
    • Vertigo

    Broadcast Talent

    The broadcast talent was announced on June 25, 2019.[4]

    Qualifiers

    European qualifier

    Two teams from the European qualifier moved on to the main event in Germany. Three teams were invited, one team qualified from winning ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2019, and four teams qualified from two open qualifiers.

    Team Vitality was the favorite all the way and proved so by taking down every team through the winner's side of the bracket. North or HellRaisers were favorites to be the second team to move on, but both teams stumbled on Heroic and AVANGAR. Heroic swept AVANGAR in the loser's final to be the second team to book a ticket to Cologne.[5]

    EU Cologne 2019 Qualifier
      Round 1     Round 2     Round 3     Round 4     Finals
                                                   
      Winner's Bracket
      Team Vitality 2  
      Alternate aTTaX 0    
          Team Vitality 2  
          AVANGAR 0    
      OpTic Gaming 1          
      AVANGAR 2        
          Team Vitality 2            
          Heroic 1              
      HellRaisers 1              
      Heroic 2                
          Heroic 2          
          North 1        
      Chaos Esports Club 0          
      North 2         Team Vitality Q
          Heroic Q
      Loser's Bracket      
      Alternate aTTax 0        
      OpTic Gaming 2     North 2        
        OpTic Gaming 0          
          North 0        
      HellRaisers 2         AVANGAR 2     Heroic 2    
      Chaos Esports Club 1     AVANGAR 2         AVANGAR 0  
        HellRaisers 0  

    North American qualifier

    One team from the North American qualifier was given a ticket to Cologne. Four teams were invited and another four teams qualified from two different open qualifiers.

    North America's qualifier was a toss-up as there were several teams with potential. FURIA Esports fell very early in an upset loss to the newly formed Lazarus Esports roster and compLexity Gaming fell to Lazarus in the next round. Ghost Gaming, also a favorite, defeated Lazarus and awaited its opponent. FURIA made a big run from the loser's side, defeating Bad News Bears, Team Envy, compLexity, and Lazarus to face off against Ghost. Despite Ghost given the 1-0 default lead via coming from the winner's side, FURIA had a relatively easy time and stole the spot away from Ghost.[6]

    NA Cologne 2019 Qualifier
      Round 1     Round 2     Round 3     Round 4     Finals
                                                   
      Winner's Bracket
      Ghost Gaming 2  
      ATK 1    
          Ghost Gaming 2  
          Team Envy 0    
      INTZ eSports 1          
      Team Envy 2        
          Ghost Gaming 2            
          Lazarus Esports 1              
      Lazarus Esports 2              
      FURIA Esports 1                
          Lazarus Esports 2          
          compLexity Gaming 1        
      Bad News Bears 0          
      compLexity Gaming 2         Ghost Gaming 2
          FURIA Esports 3
      Loser's Bracket      
      ATK 2        
      INTZ eSports 0     compLexity Gaming 2        
        ATK 1          
          compLexity Gaming 0        
      FURIA Esports 2         FURIA Esports 2     Lazarus Esports 0    
      Bad News Bears 1     Team Envy 0         FURIA Esports 2  
        FURIA Esports 2  

    Asian qualifier

    One team from the Asian qualifier qualified for a potential meeting at the Lanxess Arena. Four teams were invited and another four teams qualified from two different open qualifiers.

    TyLoo was the favorite, despite its recent inconsistencies, and ViCi Gaming's hot rise put them as another favorite. However, both Chinese teams fell as ViCi was edged out by B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape (B.O.O.T-d[S]) of Singapore and TyLoo was taken down by MVP PK of South Korea. MVP PK swept B.O.O.T-d[S] to book a spot in the finals. TyLoo stormed through the loser's side of the bracket, only to be stumped by MVP PK once again, allowing the Koreans to attend just their second premier tournament of the year.[7]

    Asia Cologne 2019 Qualifier
      Round 1     Round 2     Round 3     Round 4     Finals
                                                   
      Winner's Bracket
      ViCi Gaming 2  
      Big Time Regal 0    
          ViCi Gaming 1  
          B.O.O.T-d[S] 2    
      ALPHA Red 0          
      B.O.O.T-d[S] 2        
          B.O.O.T-[S] 0            
          MVP PK 2              
      MVP PK 2              
      Recca Esports 0                
          MVP PK 2          
          TyLoo 1        
      TyLoo 2          
      EHOME 0         MVP PK 3
          TyLoo 1
      Loser's Bracket      
      Big Time Regal 0        
      ALPHA Red 2     TyLoo 2        
        Alpha Red 0          
          TyLoo 2        
      Recca Esports 0         EHOME 0     B.O.O.T-d[S] 0    
      EHOME 2     ViCi Gaming 1         TyLoo 2  
        EHOME 2  

    GG.BET Invitational

    Like the last Cologne qualifier, this invitational determined the final team of the lineup. Seven teams were invited and Team Spirit qualified from a 186 team open qualifier.

    As the top ranked team in the world, Team Liquid was the favorite to come out on top while G2 Esports was the favorite to win out its group. However, both teams suffered upsets, with Liquid losing to Spirit and G2 losing to forZe. Both teams bounced back and met in the finals, where Liquid swept G2 to take the last spot at Cologne.[8]

    GG.Bet Cologne 2019 Invitational Qualifier
    Group A
    Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
    1 Sprout 2 0 48 24 +24 6
    2 Team Liquid 2 1 81 45 +36 6
    3 Team Spirit 1 2 47 81 -34 3
    4 NoChance 0 2 22 48 -26 0

    Group B

    Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
    1 forZe 2 0 60 41 +19 6
    2 G2 Esports 2 1 92 84 +8 6
    3 HellRaisers 1 2 88 111 -23 3
    4 Movistar Riders 0 2 68 72 -4 0
    Semifinals Finals
          
    Sprout 0
    G2 Esports 2
    G2 Esports 0
    Team Liquid 2
    forZe 1
    Team Liquid 2

    Teams competing

    Invited

    Qualifiers

    Group stage

    The format of the group stage was two groups of eight teams in a double elimination bracket. The teams to win their brackets moved on to the semifinals while the next two teams were in the quarterfinals.[9][10]

    Group A

    Winner's bracket
    Winner's Quarterfinals Winner's Semifinals Winner's Finals
             
    1 Team Liquid 1
    8 MVP PK 0
    1 Team Liquid 2
    4 Natus Vincere 1
    4 Natus Vincere 1
    5 mousesports 0
    1 Team Liquid 2
    2 NRG Esports 0
    3 FaZe Clan 1
    6 Renegades 0
    3 FaZe Clan 0
    2 NRG Esports 2
    2 NRG Esports 1
    7 FURIA Esports 0

    Loser's bracket
      Loser's Eighths     Loser's Quarterfinals     Playoff Qualifier
                               
          3 FaZe Clan 0  
      8 MVP PK 0     5 mousesports 2    
      5 mousesports 2         5 mousesports 1
          4 Natus Vincere 2
          4 Natus Vincere 2    
      6 Renegades 0     7 FURIA Esports 0  
      7 FURIA Esports 2  

    Team Liquid kicked off ESL One Cologne 2019 against MVP PK. Liquid was the heavy favorite, but it turned out inexperience on the big stage helped out the Koreans as they completely stumped Liquid at times. However, the North Americans pulled through and just about won the match. The simultaneous match also was a thriller as mousesports took a huge 11-4 lead. However, lead by Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev's 32 kills, Natus Vincere (Na`Vi) pulled a massive comeback to take the game 16-14. Renegades took a 9-6 halftime lead, but this game also was incredibly close. FaZe went on to take a 14-12 lead, Renegades tied it up, but FaZe took the last two rounds to squeeze past the Australians. FURIA Esports was the team that ended Astralis's Nuke win streak, but NRG came prepared on the same map, as it took a 13-2 lead and closed out the game with relative ease. With Na`Vi up 15-11, the CIS team looked to take the first map against Liquid. However, s1mple got greedy with his team in a 3 vs.1 man advantage against Liquid's captain Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella and went for a knife, but instead nitr0 went on to clutch the round. This would prove to be disastrous as Na`Vi lost the map in double overtime. Na`Vi took the next map in close fashion, but Liquid clinched a playoff berth in the third map. In two relatively close maps, NRG knocked FaZe to the lower bracket behind Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte's 47 kills. On the loser's side, MVP PK looked to surprise, but mousesports but an end to it as it easily eliminated the Koreans. FURIA advanced with a sweep against the Renegades with Andrei "arT" Piovezan raking a massive 58 kills. Finn "karrigan" Andersen continued to find success against his old team as mousesports took down FaZe after a close first map and a dominant second map. FURIA looked to have another Cinderella run as it did in Esports Championship Series Season 7, but Na`Vi put an end to that after two very close maps. The two North American teams had a hard-battled winner's finals, but Liquid clutched it out after a back and forth first map and a double overtime second map. In the last group A match, Na`Vi took the first map over mousesports in another double overtime game. mousesports responded with a win on Dust II, but s1mple's 26 kills and Denis "electronic" Sharipov's 23 overran mousesports.

    Group A Results
    Group A matches
    Team Liquid 16 Nuke 14 MVP PK
    Natus Vincere 16 Train 14 mousesports
    FaZe Clan 16 Mirage 14 Renegades
    NRG Esports 16 Nuke 7 FURIA Esports
    Team Liquid 22 Dust II 19 Natus Vincere
    Team Liquid 14 Overpass 16 Natus Vincere
    Team Liquid 16 Mirage 8 Natus Vincere
    FaZe Clan 11 Mirage 16 NRG Esports
    FaZe Clan 11 Overpass 16 NRG Esports
    FaZe Clan – Dust II – NRG Esports
    MVP PK 8 Vertigo 16 mousesports
    MVP PK 6 Inferno 16 mousesports
    MVP PK – Nuke – mousesports
    Renegades 9 Nuke 16 FURIA Esports
    Renegades 9 Mirage 16 FURIA Esports
    Renegades – Inferno – FURIA Esports
    FaZe Clan 15 Inferno 19 mousesports
    FaZe Clan 8 Mirage 16 mousesports
    FaZe Clan – Nuke – mousesports
    Natus Vincere 16 Nuke 12 FURIA Esports
    Natus Vincere 16 Overpass 12 FURIA Esports
    Natus Vincere – Inferno – FURIA Esports
    Team Liquid 16 Nuke 12 NRG Esports
    Team Liquid 22 Inferno 20 NRG Esports
    Team Liquid – Dust II – NRG Esports
    mousesports 19 Inferno 22 Natus Vincere
    mousesports 16 Dust II 8 Natus Vincere
    mousesports 9 Train 16 Natus Vincere

    Group B

    Winner's bracket
    Winner's Quarterfinals Winner's Semifinals Winner's Finals
             
    1 Astralis 1
    8 BIG 0
    1 Astralis 2
    4 Fnatic 0
    4 Fnatic 1
    5 MIBR 0
    1 Astralis 2
    6 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0
    3 Team Vitality 0
    6 Ninjas in Pyjamas 1
    6 Ninjas in Pyjamas 2
    7 Heroic 0
    2 ENCE eSports 0
    7 Heroic 1

    Loser's bracket
      Loser's Eighths     Loser's Quarterfinals     Playoff Qualifier
                               
          7 Heroic 2  
      8 BIG 2     8 BIG 0    
      5 MIBR 1         7 Heroic 0
          3 Team Vitality 2
          4 Fnatic 0    
      3 Team Vitality 2     3 Team Vitality 2  
      2 ENCE Esports 1  

    Astralis lead off group B with a dominant 16-4 win over BIG. MIBR's struggles continued despite bringing in Lucas "LUCAS1" Teles from Luminosity Gaming as Fnatic's 12-3 lead proved to be too much. Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) pulled off an upset against the red hot Team Vitality while Heroic also pulled off an upset against the Major runner-ups ENCE eSports. Astralis had no problem holding off Fnatic as the Danes did not allow the Swedes to get a second half round in either map. NiP booked a playoff spot as its second half performances held Heroic to just one round in each map. MIBR seemed to reach a low point after splitting the first two maps against BIG and then blowing a 12-3 lead and losing in overtime on the third map and the two time Cologne champions were eliminated in last place. ENCE also suffered from disappointment as it could not figure out the firepower of Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and the tactics of Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt. Heroic was able to knock out BIG from the tournament, resulting in Fatih "gob b" Dayik and his team not able to appear in front of its home crowd. Vitality and Fnatic had a very close set as the two games in the series went into overtime. In the end, Vitality held on for both maps. NiP gave Astralis a bit of trouble, but the Danes were able to regain form and took the top seed in group B. On the loser's side, the inconsistent Heroic gave Vitality a run for its money, but the French were able to hang on to head to the Lanxess Arena.

    Group B Results
    Group B matches
    Astralis 16 Overpass 4 BIG
    Fnatic 16 Inferno 11 MIBR
    Team Vitality 10 Dust II 16 Ninjas in Pyjamas
    ENCE eSports 10 Mirage 16 Heroic
    Astralis 16 Fnatic 1 Fnatic
    Astralis 16 Nuke 6 Fnatic
    Astralis – Inferno – Fnatic
    Ninjas in Pyjamas 16 Overpass 5 Heroic
    Ninjas in Pyjamas 16 Inferno 10 Heroic
    Ninjas in Pyjamas – Mirage – Heroic
    BIG 16 Dust II 11 MIBR
    BIG 7 Overpass 16 MIBR
    BIG 19 Train 16 MIBR
    Team Vitality 16 Overpass 9 ENCE eSports
    Team Vitality 12 Nuke 16 ENCE eSports
    Team Vitality 16 Inferno 9 ENCE eSports
    Heroic 16 Inferno 13 BIG
    Heroic 16 Nuke 7 BIG
    Heroic – Overpass – BIG
    Fnatic 16 Mirage 19 Team Vitality
    Fnatic 17 Overpass 19 Team Vitality
    Fnatic – Inferno – Team Vitality
    Astralis 19 Dust II 16 Ninjas in Pyjamas
    Astralis 16 Inferno 8 Ninjas in Pyjamas
    Astralis – Overpass – Ninjas in Pyjamas
    Heroic 13 Overpass 16 Team Vitality
    Heroic 14 Inferno 16 Team Vitality
    Heroic – Nuke – Team Vitality

    Playoffs

    The two runner-ups from each group each faced off in the quarterfinals. The top seeds in each group earned automatic berths to the playoffs. The quarterfinals and semifinals was best of three matches and the finals was a best of five.

      Quarterfinals     Semifinals     Grand Finals
                               
          A1 Team Liquid 2  
      B2 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0     A3 Natus Vincere 0    
      A3 Natus Vincere 2         A1 Team Liquid 3
          B3 Team Vitality 1
          B1 Astralis 1    
      A2 NRG Esports 0     B3 Team Vitality 2  
      B3 Team Vitality 2  

    Final standings

    Team Liquid nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, Stewie2K won the final game against Team Vitality and won the tournament and secured the prize money.

    The final standings are shown below. Each team's in-game leader is shown first.

    Place Prize Money Team Roster Coach
    1st US$125,000 Team Liquid nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, Stewie2K adreN
    2nd US$50,000 Team Vitality NBK-, apEx, RpK, ZywOo, ALEX XTQZZZ
    3rd – 4th US$22,000 Natus Vincere Flamie, s1mple, Zeus, Electronic, Boombl4 Kane
    Astralis dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, Gla1ve, Magisk Zonic
    5th–6th US$11,000 Ninjas in Pyjamas f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, REZ, Plopski, Lekr0 pita
    NRG Brehze, CeRq, Ethan, Tarik, stanislaw imAPet
    7th–8th US$7,500 Heroic blameF, es3tag, NaToSaphiX, stavn, friberg
    mousesports karrigan, chrisJ, frozen, ropz, woxic Rejin
    9th–12th US$6,000 BIG gob b, denis, tabseN, tiziaN, XANTARES LEGIJA
    FaZe Clan NiKo, GuardiaN, NEO, olofmeister, rain YNk
    Fnatic Xizt, Brollan, JW, KRiMZ, twist Jumpy
    FURIA Esports arT, ableJ, KSCERATO, VINI, yuurih guierri
    13th–16th US$5,000 ENCE eSports allu, Aerial, Aleksib, sergej, xseveN Twista
    MIBR FalleN, coldzera, fer, LUCAS1, TACO zews
    MVP PK HSK, stax, xeta, XigN, zeff termi
    Renegades AZR, jks, Liazz, Gratisfaction, jkaem kassad
    gollark: Which is less cool.
    gollark: Oh, right, it would have to be *contra*gollarious crusade.
    gollark: Gollarious Crusade could be REALLY cool™.
    gollark: Not very effectually, mind you.
    gollark: I don't shut up for people who threaten to murder me.

    References
    1. "Intel Grand Slam - The race to the one million dollar prize". intelgrandslam.eslgaming.com. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
    2. Bennett, Connor (June 28, 2019). "ESL One Cologne 2019 CS:GO groups, schedule revealed". Dexerto. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    3. Villanueva, Jaime (March 28, 2019). "Vertigo replaces Cache in the CS:GO Active Duty map pool". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    4. Mallow, Max (June 25, 2019). "ESL One Cologne Talent Revealed". DBLTAP. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    5. "ESL One Cologne 2019 Europe Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    6. "ESL One Cologne 2019 North America Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    7. "ESL One Cologne 2019 Asia Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    8. "GG.Bet Cologne Invitational - ESL One Cologne 2019 Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    9. Burazin, Zvonimir (June 30, 2019). "ESL One Cologne 2019 Group A preview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
    10. Švejda, Milan (June 30, 2019). "ESL One Cologne 2019 Group B preview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
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