ESL One Cologne 2019

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

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.

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
Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper final
Team Vitality2
Alternate aTTaX0
Team Vitality2
AVANGAR0
OpTic Gaming1
AVANGAR2
Team Vitality2
Heroic1
HellRaisers1
Heroic2
Heroic2
North1
Chaos Esports Club0
North2
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower final
North2
Alternate aTTax0OpTic Gaming0Heroic2
OpTic Gaming2North0AVANGAR0
AVANGAR2
AVANGAR2
HellRaisers2HellRaisers0
Chaos Esports Club1

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
Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper final
Ghost Gaming2
ATK1
Ghost Gaming2
Team Envy0
INTZ eSports1
Team Envy2
Ghost Gaming2
Lazarus Esports1
Lazarus Esports2
FURIA Esports1
Lazarus Esports2
compLexity Gaming1
Bad News Bears0
compLexity Gaming2
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower final
compLexity Gaming2
ATK2ATK1Lazarus Esports0
INTZ eSports0compLexity Gaming0FURIA Esports2
FURIA Esports2
Team Envy0
FURIA Esports2FURIA Esports2
Bad News Bears1

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
Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper final
ViCi Gaming2
Big Time Regal0
ViCi Gaming1
B.O.O.T-d[S]2
ALPHA Red0
B.O.O.T-d[S]2
B.O.O.T-[S]0
MVP PK2
MVP PK2
Recca Esports0
MVP PK2
TyLoo1
TyLoo2
EHOME0
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower final
TyLoo2
Big Time Regal0Alpha Red0B.O.O.T-d[S]0
ALPHA Red2TyLoo2TyLoo2
EHOME0
ViCi Gaming1
Recca Esports0EHOME2
EHOME2

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

Bracket

Winner's QuarterfinalsWinner's SemifinalsWinner's Finals
1Team Liquid1
8MVP PK0
1Team Liquid2
4Natus Vincere1
4Natus Vincere1
5mousesports0
1Team Liquid2
2NRG Esports0
3FaZe Clan1
6Renegades0
3FaZe Clan0
2NRG Esports2
2NRG Esports1
7FURIA Esports0
Loser's EighthsLoser's QuarterfinalsPlayoff Qualifier
3FaZe Clan0
8MVP PK05mousesports2
5mousesports25mousesports1
4Natus Vincere2
4Natus Vincere2
6Renegades07FURIA Esports0
7FURIA Esports2

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, led 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 Score Map Score Team
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

Bracket

Winner's QuarterfinalsWinner's SemifinalsWinner's Finals
1Astralis1
8BIG0
1Astralis2
4Fnatic0
4Fnatic1
5MIBR0
1Astralis2
6Ninjas in Pyjamas0
3Team Vitality0
6Ninjas in Pyjamas1
6Ninjas in Pyjamas2
7Heroic0
2ENCE eSports0
7Heroic1
Loser's EighthsLoser's QuarterfinalsPlayoff Qualifier
7Heroic2
8BIG28BIG0
5MIBR17Heroic0
3Team Vitality2
4Fnatic0
3Team Vitality23Team Vitality2
2ENCE Esports1

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
Team Score Map Score Team
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

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.