We are soon heading back to Cologne for the next major tournament. Read to find out what to expect from the event.
Over five months after the previous major tournament, ESL One Katowice 2015, Cologne will be the next obsessed with ESL's largest tournament in the sphere of Counter-Strike to date within only three days.
ESL One Cologne 2015 will be the sixth official Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major tournament in cooperation with Valve Corporation. The tournament will run from 20th to 23rd of August in Cologne, Germany.
After long discussion sessions, we have decided to do more in-depth coverage for this tournament. SK Gaming will a send four men squad to Cologne to gather as much data as possible live from the event, as well as few others assisting from our office to ensure our fans and viewers will witness the best out of the competition.
In addition, SK Gaming will also have currently on trial player
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller as an expert and analyst on site to assist the broadcast crew.Read below to find out more about the tournament in details.
Preparation:
ESL announced back in February the return of their premier league ESL One to Cologne in 2015. It was furthermore stated that the tournament will feature prize purse of $250,000.
The prize pool sadly does not differ from the previous five majors, but is completely funded by ESL themselves and not by the community via the Arms Deal feature of Valve Corporation unlike all the previous majors.
In June, ESL confirmed that Valve will hand over unique in-game features for the event.
After the infamous ESWC 2015 interview in Montreal with former compLexity Gaming and Cloud 9 player
Kory 'semphis' Friesen, which revealed the use of Adderall by his now former team, ESL unveiled anti-PED measures earlier in July to prevent this from happening again. All players will be tested for forbidden substances in Cologne to ensure fair and safe environment.ESL stated the following regarding the topic on their website:
"The expertise of NADA and WADA will help ESL to produce a PED prevention program that will encompass all players participating in competitions organized, hosted or produced by ESL.
This program will help ensure that all players are provided with the information and structural support they need to help them manage the physical and emotional pressure of professional gaming."
Location:
As we mentioned above, ESL One Cologne 2015 will run from 20th to 23rd of August. The group stage is set to absorb the first two days of the tournament and will be held inside the MMC studios. This area will not be available for public visits, but instead ESL welcomes all viewers to their ESL TV studio in Cologne to watch the group stage in a special environment.
During the following two days, ESL will move to the enormous Lanxess Arena to host the playoffs. The stadium is one of the largest in Europe and can hold up to 20.000 viewers, depending on the event type.
If you happen to be near to Cologne or have the opportunity to travel there, tickets are still available for purchase. Head over to www.esl-one.com for more information.
Qualifiers:
Few weeks ago, the Electronic Sports League hosted three LAN qualifiers in Asia, Europe and North America to fit the remaining eight free spots for ESL One Cologne 2015.
The Asian qualifier was held in Malaysia from 18th to 19th of July and offered two spots for ESL One Cologne, which were secured by the Australian duo Team Immunity and Renegades. The European qualifier followed with four spots as a reward. It was held in Cologne from 25th to 26th of July and saw Team Kinguin, Flipside Tactics, Team eBettle and Titan eSports, all four receiving a chance to grab the title next month. The last qualifier was for the North American scene and was held in Burbank, California, from 1st to 2nd of August. Cloud 9 and Counter Logic Gaming won the remaining two last spots for ESL One Cologne 2015.
Results and match statistics can be found in our event section or by clicking on the links below:
ESL One Cologne 2015 - Asian Qualifier (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
ESL One Cologne 2015 - European Qualifier (Cologne, Germany)
ESL One Cologne 2015 - North American Qualifier (Burbank, California, USA)
Tournament:
ESL One Cologne 2015 will feature a total of sixteen top teams as usual for a major tournament. Same as before, the top eight finishers from the previous major tournament were directly invited, while the other eight had to secure a spot via the offline qualifiers hosted by ESL.
The group stage format however has been modified for this tournament. Back in July, ESL announced a brand new structure for the opening stage of ESL One Cologne 2015.
As before, total of four groups will be made, each consisting of four teams, two legends and two challengers. In a best-of-one scenario, the top four teams from each group will move forward to the playoffs as usual, while the other remaining teams will be reassigned in a redrawn group in order to ensure that the teams will face different opponents than those in the original drawn. Again, the top two teams of each redrawn group will also secure a spot for the playoffs inside the Lanxess Arena.
The playoffs will run on the default best-of-three single elimination format, including the grand final of the championship.
The following sixteen contenders will be striving to conquer the biggest CS:GO title to date in Cologne this week:
Furthermore we are also welcoming back Train, which replaced Nuke in the default competitive map pool assembled by Valve Corporation earlier this year. The following seven maps will be available during the tournament:
Viewing experience:
ESL TV will offer two official English live streams for the group stage as two groups will always be in process simultaneously. Afterwards only one official English stream will be available.
In addition, ESL TV will also provide streams in numerous other languages and as well as GOTV services for public use for all the hardcore fans out there. To use the GOTVs, click on the "Watch" tab inside CS:GO and find the live match you are looking for below. List of all ESL live streams will be added in our event section in the coming days.
As always, ESL TV will feature well known commentators, experts and analysts from various organizations including SK Gaming. The following crew will be responsible for your viewing experience:
Few weeks ago, the Electronic Sports League hosted three LAN qualifiers in Asia, Europe and North America to fit the remaining eight free spots for ESL One Cologne 2015.
The Asian qualifier was held in Malaysia from 18th to 19th of July and offered two spots for ESL One Cologne, which were secured by the Australian duo Team Immunity and Renegades. The European qualifier followed with four spots as a reward. It was held in Cologne from 25th to 26th of July and saw Team Kinguin, Flipside Tactics, Team eBettle and Titan eSports, all four receiving a chance to grab the title next month. The last qualifier was for the North American scene and was held in Burbank, California, from 1st to 2nd of August. Cloud 9 and Counter Logic Gaming won the remaining two last spots for ESL One Cologne 2015.
Results and match statistics can be found in our event section or by clicking on the links below:
ESL One Cologne 2015 - Asian Qualifier (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) ESL One Cologne 2015 - European Qualifier (Cologne, Germany) ESL One Cologne 2015 - North American Qualifier (Burbank, California, USA)Tournament:
ESL One Cologne 2015 will feature a total of sixteen top teams as usual for a major tournament. Same as before, the top eight finishers from the previous major tournament were directly invited, while the other eight had to secure a spot via the offline qualifiers hosted by ESL.
The group stage format however has been modified for this tournament. Back in July, ESL announced a brand new structure for the opening stage of ESL One Cologne 2015.
As before, total of four groups will be made, each consisting of four teams, two legends and two challengers. In a best-of-one scenario, the top four teams from each group will move forward to the playoffs as usual, while the other remaining teams will be reassigned in a redrawn group in order to ensure that the teams will face different opponents than those in the original drawn. Again, the top two teams of each redrawn group will also secure a spot for the playoffs inside the Lanxess Arena.
The playoffs will run on the default best-of-three single elimination format, including the grand final of the championship.
The following sixteen contenders will be striving to conquer the biggest CS:GO title to date in Cologne this week:
Group A:
Ninjas in Pyjamas (allu, f0rest, friberg, GeT_RiGhT & Xizt)
Team SoloMid (cajunb, device, dupreeh, karrigan & Xyp9x)
Renegades (AZR, Havoc, jks, SPUNJ & Yam)
Counter Logic Gaming (FNS, hazed, jdm64, reltuC & tarik)
Group B:
Team EnVy (apEX, Happy, kennyS, kioShiMa & NBK)
Luminosity Gaming (boltz, cold, FalleN, fer & steel)
Team Kinguin (dennis, fox, Maikelele, rain & ScreaM)
Flipside Tactics (B1ad3, bondik, DavCost, markeloff & WorldEdit)
Group C:
Fnatic (flusha, jw, KRiMZ, olofm & pronax)
Natus Vincere (Edward, flamie, GuardiaN, seized & Zeus)
Titan eSports (Ex6TenZ, Maniac, RpK, shox & SmithZz)
Team eBettle (Furlan, GruBy, Hyper, peet & rallen)
Group D:
Virtus.pro (byali, NEO, pasha, Snax & TaZ)
mousesports (chrisJ, denis, gob b, nex & Spiidi)
Cloud 9 (fREAKAZOiD, n0thing, sgares, shroud & Skadoodle)
Immunity (emagine, James, Rickeh, SnypeR & USTILO)
Ninjas in Pyjamas (allu, f0rest, friberg, GeT_RiGhT & Xizt) Team SoloMid (cajunb, device, dupreeh, karrigan & Xyp9x) Renegades (AZR, Havoc, jks, SPUNJ & Yam) Counter Logic Gaming (FNS, hazed, jdm64, reltuC & tarik)Group B:
Team EnVy (apEX, Happy, kennyS, kioShiMa & NBK) Luminosity Gaming (boltz, cold, FalleN, fer & steel) Team Kinguin (dennis, fox, Maikelele, rain & ScreaM) Flipside Tactics (B1ad3, bondik, DavCost, markeloff & WorldEdit)Group C:
Fnatic (flusha, jw, KRiMZ, olofm & pronax) Natus Vincere (Edward, flamie, GuardiaN, seized & Zeus) Titan eSports (Ex6TenZ, Maniac, RpK, shox & SmithZz) Team eBettle (Furlan, GruBy, Hyper, peet & rallen)Group D:
Virtus.pro (byali, NEO, pasha, Snax & TaZ) mousesports (chrisJ, denis, gob b, nex & Spiidi) Cloud 9 (fREAKAZOiD, n0thing, sgares, shroud & Skadoodle) Immunity (emagine, James, Rickeh, SnypeR & USTILO)Furthermore we are also welcoming back Train, which replaced Nuke in the default competitive map pool assembled by Valve Corporation earlier this year. The following seven maps will be available during the tournament:
Cache
Cobblestone
Dust II
Inferno
Mirage
Overpass
Train
Cobblestone
Dust II
Inferno
Mirage
Overpass
Train
Viewing experience:
ESL TV will offer two official English live streams for the group stage as two groups will always be in process simultaneously. Afterwards only one official English stream will be available.
In addition, ESL TV will also provide streams in numerous other languages and as well as GOTV services for public use for all the hardcore fans out there. To use the GOTVs, click on the "Watch" tab inside CS:GO and find the live match you are looking for below. List of all ESL live streams will be added in our event section in the coming days.
As always, ESL TV will feature well known commentators, experts and analysts from various organizations including SK Gaming. The following crew will be responsible for your viewing experience:
Hosts:
O. J. Borg - Stage Host
William 'Chobra' Cho - Desk Host
Soe Gschwind-Penski - Esports in Cinemas
Sean Charles - Reporting
Commentators:
Joe Miller
Leigh 'Deman' Smith
Anders Blume
Auguste 'Semmler' Massonnat
Lauren 'Pansy' Scott
Alex 'Machine' Richardson
Jason Kaplan
Analysts:
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller
Jason 'moses' O'Toole
Robin 'Fifflaren' Johansson
Henry 'HenryG' Greer
Observers:
Janko 'YNk' Paunovic
Simon 'pAn' Schumacher
O. J. Borg - Stage Host William 'Chobra' Cho - Desk Host Soe Gschwind-Penski - Esports in Cinemas Sean Charles - ReportingCommentators:
Joe Miller Leigh 'Deman' Smith Anders Blume Auguste 'Semmler' Massonnat Lauren 'Pansy' Scott Alex 'Machine' Richardson Jason KaplanAnalysts:
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Jason 'moses' O'Toole Robin 'Fifflaren' Johansson Henry 'HenryG' GreerObservers:
Janko 'YNk' Paunovic Simon 'pAn' Schumacher
SK|cadiaN will be one of the four experts in Cologne. (Photo courtesy of ESL)
As always during the majors, souvenir packages will be randomly dropped throughout the tournament to the viewers that are watching the event via GOTV or Twitch with linked account. This time the souvenirs will be automatically signed by the MVP of the round that the drop was delivered.
ESL is expected to release a mobile application for iOS and Android that will allow those who are watching live from the venue to be eligible for drops too. This feature was available for ESL One Katowice 2015, but there is still no information if anything like this will appear for the Cologne event too.
Aside from the souvenir drops, Valve also introduced an improved Pick'Em Challenge, which comes with the brand new player autograph stickers. Now along with the traditional weapon stickers featuring the banner of the participating teams and those of the organization hosting the tournament, you will be able to stick the autograph of any player in Cologne on a weapon of your choice.
The new Pick'Em Challenge now offers more points by guessing the individual who will come with better statistics in given aspect in the end of the stage. You need to own stickers from both the player signature and team stickers to participate in the Pick'Em Challenge. You can purchase them via the Steam Market or inside CS:GO. More information regarding Valve's features can be found at www.counter-strike.net.
Schedule:
The first two matches of the tournament will kick off on August 20th at 14:00 CEST. Group A and B will open the Cologne tournament, followed by Group C and D at approximately 18:15 CEST. All four winner bracket matches will be played on this day.
The groups will be redrawn on the next day with the elimination match of Group A starting first, followed by the group's decider match. All the matches will continue as followed until the end match of the group stage.
The playoffs will hit on August 22nd with all the four quarter-finals taking place inside the Lanxess Arena, the first of which is set to begin at 11:00 CEST.
All the remaining matches will be played on August 23rd, with the first semi-final kicking off at 12:00 CEST.
The complete schedule for the ESL One Cologne 2015 CS:GO Championship is the following:
Expectations:
An interesting fact is that the previous major tournament in Cologne was conquered by Ninjas in Pyjamas, who defeated their Swedish rivals Fnatic in the grand final to win the championship. Several months later, Fnatic overwhelmed Ninjas in Pyjamas to win the most recent major tournament, ESL One Katowice 2015.
Fnatic are currently on streak, but Ninjas in Pyjamas are the returning champions of Cologne. Will Fnatic claim their second in a row and third in total major tournament championship? Will Ninjas in Pyjamas reach six out of total six major grand finals? Those two questions are only a few of the many, which will be answered later this week in Cologne.
On the other side we have the French shuffle, which saw Team EnVy and Titan eSports exchanging players. Titan are still experiencing trouble, as we saw during the European qualifier where they finished as runners-up of Group B after losing to Team eBettle. Team EnVy's performance after the shuffle however seems to be promising so far.
Team SoloMid are also among the teams that are expected to claim the title. Aside from a few unfortunate results here and there, the Danes have been on point most of the time lately.
ESL One Cologne 2015 could also witness the first champion from North America as we have Cloud 9, Luminosity Gaming and Counter Logic Gaming on the list.
More in-depth overview of the teams will be released by us before August 19th.
SK Gaming at ESL One Cologne 2015:
Our CS:GO division unfortunately could not qualify for the major tournament, but SK Gaming will bring in in-depth coverage for the event.
SK Gaming will be providing match statistics, news, reviews, albums, videos, interviews and more from the $250,000 ESL One Cologne 2015 major tournament. Stay tuned.
ESL is expected to release a mobile application for iOS and Android that will allow those who are watching live from the venue to be eligible for drops too. This feature was available for ESL One Katowice 2015, but there is still no information if anything like this will appear for the Cologne event too.
Aside from the souvenir drops, Valve also introduced an improved Pick'Em Challenge, which comes with the brand new player autograph stickers. Now along with the traditional weapon stickers featuring the banner of the participating teams and those of the organization hosting the tournament, you will be able to stick the autograph of any player in Cologne on a weapon of your choice.
The new Pick'Em Challenge now offers more points by guessing the individual who will come with better statistics in given aspect in the end of the stage. You need to own stickers from both the player signature and team stickers to participate in the Pick'Em Challenge. You can purchase them via the Steam Market or inside CS:GO. More information regarding Valve's features can be found at www.counter-strike.net.
Schedule:
The first two matches of the tournament will kick off on August 20th at 14:00 CEST. Group A and B will open the Cologne tournament, followed by Group C and D at approximately 18:15 CEST. All four winner bracket matches will be played on this day.
The groups will be redrawn on the next day with the elimination match of Group A starting first, followed by the group's decider match. All the matches will continue as followed until the end match of the group stage.
The playoffs will hit on August 22nd with all the four quarter-finals taking place inside the Lanxess Arena, the first of which is set to begin at 11:00 CEST.
All the remaining matches will be played on August 23rd, with the first semi-final kicking off at 12:00 CEST.
The complete schedule for the ESL One Cologne 2015 CS:GO Championship is the following:
August 20th - Thursday
14:00 CEST – Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Counter Logic Gaming - Group A - Round 1 (Bo1)
14:00 CEST – Team EnVy vs. Flipside Tactics - Group B - Round 1 (Bo1)
15:25 CEST – Team SoloMid vs. Renegades - Group A - Round 2 (Bo1)
15:25 CEST – Luminosity Gaming vs. Team Kinguin - Group B - Round 2 (Bo1)
16:50 CEST – Group A - Winners Match (Bo1)
16:50 CEST – Group B - Winners Match (Bo1)
18:15 CEST – Fnatic vs. Team eBettle - Group C - Round 1 (Bo1)
18:15 CEST – Virtus.pro vs. Team Immunity - Group D - Round 1 (Bo1)
19:40 CEST – Natus Vincere vs. Titan eSports - Group C - Round 2 (Bo1)
19:40 CEST – mousesports vs. Cloud 9 - Group D - Round 2 (Bo1)
21:05 CEST – Group C - Winners Match (Bo1)
21:05 CEST – Group D - Winners Match (Bo1)
August 21st - Friday
12:00 CEST – Group A Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
13:25 CEST – Group A Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
14:50 CEST – Group B Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
16:15 CEST – Group B Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
17:40 CEST – Group C Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
19:05 CEST – Group C Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
20:30 CEST – Group D Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
21:55 CEST – Group D Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
August 22nd - Saturday
11:00 CEST – Quarter-final - 1/4 (Bo3)
14:05 CEST – Quarter-final - 2/4 (Bo3)
17:10 CEST – Quarter-final - 3/4 (Bo3)
20:15 CEST – Quarter-final - 4/4 (Bo3)
August 23rd - Sunday
12:00 CEST – Semi-final - 1/2 (Bo3)
15:20 CEST – Semi-final - 2/2 (Bo3)
19:00 CEST – Grand final (Bo3)
14:00 CEST –
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Counter Logic Gaming - Group A - Round 1 (Bo1)14:00 CEST –
Team EnVy vs. Flipside Tactics - Group B - Round 1 (Bo1)15:25 CEST –
Team SoloMid vs. Renegades - Group A - Round 2 (Bo1)15:25 CEST –
Luminosity Gaming vs. Team Kinguin - Group B - Round 2 (Bo1)16:50 CEST – Group A - Winners Match (Bo1)
16:50 CEST – Group B - Winners Match (Bo1)
18:15 CEST –
Fnatic vs. Team eBettle - Group C - Round 1 (Bo1)18:15 CEST –
Virtus.pro vs. Team Immunity - Group D - Round 1 (Bo1)19:40 CEST –
Natus Vincere vs. Titan eSports - Group C - Round 2 (Bo1)19:40 CEST –
mousesports vs. Cloud 9 - Group D - Round 2 (Bo1)21:05 CEST – Group C - Winners Match (Bo1)
21:05 CEST – Group D - Winners Match (Bo1)
August 21st - Friday
12:00 CEST – Group A Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
13:25 CEST – Group A Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
14:50 CEST – Group B Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
16:15 CEST – Group B Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
17:40 CEST – Group C Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
19:05 CEST – Group C Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
20:30 CEST – Group D Redrawn - Elimination Match (Bo1)
21:55 CEST – Group D Redrawn - Decider Match (Bo1)
August 22nd - Saturday
11:00 CEST – Quarter-final - 1/4 (Bo3)
14:05 CEST – Quarter-final - 2/4 (Bo3)
17:10 CEST – Quarter-final - 3/4 (Bo3)
20:15 CEST – Quarter-final - 4/4 (Bo3)
August 23rd - Sunday
12:00 CEST – Semi-final - 1/2 (Bo3)
15:20 CEST – Semi-final - 2/2 (Bo3)
19:00 CEST – Grand final (Bo3)
Expectations:
An interesting fact is that the previous major tournament in Cologne was conquered by Ninjas in Pyjamas, who defeated their Swedish rivals Fnatic in the grand final to win the championship. Several months later, Fnatic overwhelmed Ninjas in Pyjamas to win the most recent major tournament, ESL One Katowice 2015.
Fnatic are currently on streak, but Ninjas in Pyjamas are the returning champions of Cologne. Will Fnatic claim their second in a row and third in total major tournament championship? Will Ninjas in Pyjamas reach six out of total six major grand finals? Those two questions are only a few of the many, which will be answered later this week in Cologne.
On the other side we have the French shuffle, which saw Team EnVy and Titan eSports exchanging players. Titan are still experiencing trouble, as we saw during the European qualifier where they finished as runners-up of Group B after losing to Team eBettle. Team EnVy's performance after the shuffle however seems to be promising so far.
Team SoloMid are also among the teams that are expected to claim the title. Aside from a few unfortunate results here and there, the Danes have been on point most of the time lately.
ESL One Cologne 2015 could also witness the first champion from North America as we have Cloud 9, Luminosity Gaming and Counter Logic Gaming on the list.
More in-depth overview of the teams will be released by us before August 19th.
SK Gaming at ESL One Cologne 2015:
Our CS:GO division unfortunately could not qualify for the major tournament, but SK Gaming will bring in in-depth coverage for the event.
SK Gaming will be providing match statistics, news, reviews, albums, videos, interviews and more from the $250,000 ESL One Cologne 2015 major tournament. Stay tuned.
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