ESL One Cologne 2018

Last updated
ESL One Cologne 2018
2018
Tournament information
Sport Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location Cologne, Germany
DatesJuly 3, 2018–July 8, 2018
Administrator Electronic Sports League (ESL)
Tournament
format(s)
16 team swiss group stage
Six team single-elimination playoff
Venue Lanxess Arena
Teams16 teams
PurseUS$300,000
Final positions
Champions Natus Vincere
1st runners-upBIG
2nd runners-up Astralis
FaZe Clan
Tournament statistics
Attendance15,000 [1]
MVP Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev

ESL One Cologne 2018 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. In July 2018, 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. [2] [3] It would be the second consecutive year since Cologne 2016 in which Valve decided to pass up on the historic tournament series as a Major host in favor of the FACEIT Major: London 2018.

Contents

This tournament was also the eleventh tournament of the first season of the Intel Grand Slam, 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. FaZe Clan (ESL One New York 2017, Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII - Sydney, and ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018) leads the way with three wins. SK Gaming (ESL One Cologne 2017 and ESL Pro League Season 6) and Astralis (DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 and ESL Pro League Season 7) are tied for second; however, SK Gaming's players contracts expired with the team and the players opted to sign with the Immortals-owned mibr brand. G2 Esports (DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017), Ninjas in Pyjamas (Intel Extreme Masters Season XII – Oakland), and Fnatic (Intel Extreme Masters Season XII – World Championship) have one title each. ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018 precedes the Cologne 2018 event. [4]

The finals featured Natus Vincere – which defeated Fnatic and the favorites to win the tournament Astralis – and the dark horse and hometown favorites BIG – which defeated G2 Esports and upset FaZe Clan. Natus Vincere would end up winning the tournament over BIG 3-1 for its first Intel Grand Slam win.

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 Majestic tournament competed for the last five spots. The format of the group stage was two groups of eight teams in a double elimination bracket. The initial matches were a best of one and then every other match was a best of three. The teams to win their brackets moved on to the semifinals while the next two teams were in the quarterfinals. The playoffs was a six team, single elimination best of three bracket, but the grand finals was a best of five.

Map pool

The event used Valve's Active Duty map pool. On April 20, 2018, Valve announced that revamped Dust II would be replacing Cobblestone in the Active Duty map pool. [5]

Maps

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

Broadcast Talent

Qualifiers

European qualifier

Two teams from the European qualifier moved on to the main event in Germany. North tore through the bracket after suffering an initial scare against the unknown WASD Sports while Gambit qualified through the loser's bracket after HellRaisers forfeited the series. [6]

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper finalQualified
Gambit Esports 2
Valiance0
Gambit Esports0
HellRaisers2
Space Soldiers1
HellRaisers2
HellRaisers0
North2
Heroic1
Virtus.pro 0
Virtus.pro1
North2
North 2
WASD Sports0North
Gambit Esports
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower final
Virtus.pro0
Valiance1Space Soldiers2HellRaisersFF
Space Soldiers2Space Soldiers1Gambit EsportsW
Gambit Esports2
Gambit Esports2
Heroic0Heroic2
WASD Sports1

North American qualifier

One team from the North American qualifier was given a ticket to Cologne. Renegades dominated competition as the Australian team defeated OpTic Gaming in the finals. [7]

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper finalFinal
Renegades 2
Luminosity Gaming 2Luminosity Gaming0
eUnited0Renegades2
OpTic Gaming0
OpTic Gaming W
NRG Esports FFcompLexity GamingFF
compLexity Gaming W
Renegades3
OpTic Gaming1
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower final
compLexity G.FF
OpTic Gaming2
eUnitedW
eUnited2eUnited0
Luminosity Gaming0
Luminosity GamingW
NRG EsportsFF

Asian qualifier

The Chinese powerhouse TyLoo looked to cruise its way to the main stage, but B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape pulled off a massive upset against MVP PK, the second seed in the qualifier, and then defeated the first seed TyLoo to qualify for the event. [8]

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper finalFinal
TyLoo2
ArkAngel Pro Team0
TyLoo2
B.O.O.T-d[S]1
B.O.O.T-d[S]W
EclipseFF
TyLoo2
VG.FlashGaming1
The MongolZ1
VG.Flash Gaming2
VG.FlashGaming2
Recca Esports0
MVP PK0
Recca Esports2TyLoo2
B.O.O.T-d[S]3
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower final
Recca Esports2
ArkAngel Pro TeamWArkAngel Pro Team0VG.FlashGaming0
EclipseFFRecca Esports0B.O.O.T-d[S]2
B.O.O.T-d[S]2
B.O.O.T-d[S]2
The MongolZMVP PK1
MVP PK2

GG.BET Majestic

GG.BET Majestic would determine the final team in Cologne 2018. Gambit Esports and North were invited, but since the two teams had qualified for Cologne, two other teams would take their places. Team EnVyUs and AGO Gaming were two runner-ups for the European side, but both teams could not attend, so ENCE eSports would take North's spot. AVANGAR took Gambit's spot. [9]

Upper round 1Upper finalFinal
ALTERNATE aTTaX 1
AVANGAR0
ALTERNATE aTTaX0
Team Spirit2
Team Spirit1
ENCE eSports0
Team Spirit0
ENCE eSports2
Lower round 1Lower final
ALTERNATE aTTaX0
AVANGAR1ENCE eSports2
ENCE eSports2

Participating teams

Eleven teams were invited and five teams qualified through their respective qualifiers. Teams were seeded based on ESL's ranking system.

Direct Invitees

Qualifier winners

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.

Group A

Winner's bracket

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper final
1 Astralis 1
8ENCE eSports0
1Astralis2
4Cloud90
4 Cloud9 1
5 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0
1Astralis2
7G2 Esports0
3 mousesports 1
6 Gambit Esports 0
3mousesports1
7G2 Esports2
2 Natus Vincere 0
7 G2 Esports 1
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower qualifier
3mousesports0
8ENCE eSports28ENCE eSports2
5Ninjas in Pyjamas08ENCE eSports1
2Natus Vincere2
4Cloud90
6Gambit Esports02Natus Vincere2
2Natus Vincere2

Astralis came in as the best team in the world and proved its dominance by easily handling ENCE eSports. Cloud9 had Martin "STYKO" Styk come in as a stand-in as the team struggled to find a permanent replacement for Pujan "FNS" Mehta and after STYKO was removed from the mousesports active lineup. Although STYKO struggled somewhat, Cloud9 had no problem taking care of Ninjas in Pyjamas, as the Swedes had only a few highlights in the game. mousesports also had a new player on the team after replacing STYKO with Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski, as Snax left the legendary Polish squad Virtus.pro. However, mousesports did not need Snax to shine as mousesports easily took down Gambit Esports. In the first upset of the day, G2 Esports took down the rising Natus Vincere in a very close match as the French were able to overcome a 9–0 deficit as Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux shined. In the first best of three, Astralis was able to stifle a Cloud9 comeback on the first map and then erased all hopes in the second map with a 16–1 win as Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz dominated the field. G2 continued to crawl its way through the winner's bracket as Kenny "kennyS" Schrub showed why he was considered the best AWPer one time. Both G2 and Astralis secures spots in the playoffs. In the loser's bracket, ENCE pulled off a massive upset as Aleksi "allu" Jalli was able to completely thrash his former team and the Ninjas in Pyjamas were eliminated. Gambit had the unfortunate luck to run into a top three team in the first round of loser's as Gambit could do nothing to stop the power of Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev, who many are calling the world's best player. Gambit was eliminated. ENCE somehow managed to pull off an even bigger upset against mousesports by sweeping the decorated European squad in two close maps as allu took revenge on another one of his former teams. Natus Vincere and Cloud9 were also part of a very close series, but it was s1mple to outduel Timothy "autimatic" Ta to eliminate Cloud9. In the winner's finals match, G2 made a massive comeback against the world's best, but Astralis was able to take the map into overtime. Astralis took that small wave of momentum into the next map and finished off G2 with ease to guarantee a spot in the semifinals. ENCE continued its Cinderella story as it took the first map against Na'Vi. In the second map, Na'Vi looked to easily take it, but Jere "sergej" Salo was rolling as ENCE started to make a comeback; however, Na'Vi was bailed out by s1mple and Denis "electronic" Sharipov and Na'Vi scraped by and then easily took the third map to move on to the playoffs.

Group A Results
Group A matches
Astralis 16 Nuke 5ENCE eSports
Cloud9 16 Inferno 3 Ninjas in Pyjamas
mousesports 16 Dust II 8Gambit Esports
Natus Vincere 14 Inferno 16G2 Esports
Astralis16 Mirage 12Cloud9
Astralis16 Overpass 1Cloud9
Astralis–Inferno–Cloud9
mousesports14 Dust II 16G2 Esports
mousesports16 Mirage 10G2 Esports
mousesports9 Inferno 16G2 Esports
ENCE eSports16 Inferno 6Ninjas in Pyjamas
ENCE eSports16 Train 2Ninjas in Pyjamas
ENCE eSports–Nuke–Ninjas in Pyjamas
Gambit Esports6 Overpass 16Natus Vincere
Gambit Esports5 Train 16Natus Vincere
Gambit Esports–Inferno–Natus Vincere
mousesports17 Inferno 19ENCE eSports
mousesports12 Mirage 16ENCE eSports
mousesports–Dust II–ENCE eSports
Cloud914 Inferno 16Natus Vincere
Cloud912 Overpass 16Natus Vincere
Cloud9–Train–Natus Vincere
Astralis19 Dust II 16G2 Esports
Astralis16 Nuke 4G2 Esports
Astralis–Overpass–G2 Esports
ENCE eSports16 Dust II 14Natus Vincere
ENCE eSports14 Mirage 16Natus Vincere
ENCE eSports7 Nuke 16Natus Vincere

Group B

Winner's bracket

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper final
1 FaZe Clan 1
8B.O.O.T-d[S]0
1FaZe Clan2
4mibr0
4 mibr 1
5 Renegades 0
1FaZe Clan2
3Fnatic1
3 Fnatic 1
6 North 0
3Fnatic2
7BIG0
2 Team Liquid 0
7BIG1
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower qualifier
7BIG2
8B.O.O.T-d[S]05Renegades1
5Renegades27BIG2
4mibr1
4mibr2
6North26North1
2Team Liquid0

FaZe kicked off group B with a closer-than-expected match against B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape. The two top five players on FaZe, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and Håvard "rain" Nygaard, were able to carry their team to an easy terrorist side to send the team from Singapore to the loser's bracket. mibr made its Global Offensive debut after signing one of CS:GO's most successful cores, but the legendary Brazilian brand struggled against the Noah "Nifty" Francis-lead Renegades. However, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's team showed signs of its old self: making improbable comebacks. Despite Renegades's 6–0 start and 10–5 halftime score, Marcelo "coldzera" David and Fernando "fer" Alvarenga showed why they were ranked as the best and third best players in 2017. Fnatic vs. North showcased two teams who had been struggling. Fnatic started out strong, but North winning five rounds in a row to start the second half suddenly made the game close. In the end, Fnatic was able to clutch out the 30th round to advance in the winner's bracket as Jesper "JW" Wecksell showed signs of the 2015 Fnatic days. BIG seemed eager to play in front of its home crowd and after picking up Owen "smooya" Butterfield, the team showed rapid paces of improvement. This showed in the match against Team Liquid, North America's best team as BIG was able to completely run over Liquid's defense. Although Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski topped the scoreboard out of all the ten players, the rest of his Liquid teammates struggled. After having never beaten any of FalleN's teams in his career, Finn "karrigan" Andersen found his second series win in a row in two relatively close maps as surprisingly karrigan topped the scoreboard over his superstars. In the other winner's match, Fnatic was able streak away with the series win after a close first half on the first map as the Swedes advance to the playoffs. In the loser's side, Renegades made quick work of B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape and eliminated the Singaporeans. Team Liquid struggled heavily at the event after falling to the declining North, even after a solid third-place finish at ESL One Belo Horizonte and a second-place finish at ECS Season 5. However, the American team fell to Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen's team and was ultimately eliminated. In a very tense best of three, it was the Australians and the Germans to provide the best series of the group stage. Renegades and BIG took one map each, but the third map was a toss-up. In the end BIG to end up on top in overtime behind Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz's 31 kills. Although not as exciting, North and mibr played a close best of three that went all three maps, but it was the star dup of fer and coldzera to outduel Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså and North was eliminated. In the maps they won, the players of FaZe completely dominated Fnatic. The Swedes were able to take a map, but the result was not close. The final decider match ended up being a thriller. BIG and mibr were able to split the first two maps at the same score. The third map went to double overtime and mibr looked to take it. However, BIG was able to shut down mibr's offense and BIG would face G2 Esports in front of its home crowd. With mibr's exit, the two-time defending champions of ESL One Cologne was out of the tournament.

Group B Results
Group B matches
FaZe Clan 16 Dust II 9B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape
mibr 16 Cache 13 Renegades
Fnatic 16 Inferno 14 North
Team Liquid 7 Dust II 16BIG
FaZe Clan16 Dust II 9mibr
FaZe Clan16 Mirage 12mibr
FaZe Clan–Train–mibr
Fnatic16 Cache 10BIG
Fnatic16 Train 4BIG
Fnatic–Overpass–BIG
B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape8 Cache 16Renegades
B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape7 Train 16Renegades
B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape–Inferno–Renegades
North19 Train 16Team Liquid
North16 Inferno 11Team Liquid
North–Nuke–Team Liquid
BIG13 Dust II 16Renegades
BIG16 Train 12Renegades
BIG16 Inferno 17Renegades
mibr14 Mirage 16North
mibr16 Overpass 9North
mibr16 Inferno 12North
FaZe Clan16 Overpass 4Fnatic
FaZe Clan11 Mirage 16Fnatic
FaZe Clan16 Inferno 1Fnatic
BIG16 Cache 9mibr
BIG9 Overpass 16mibr
BIG22 Inferno 20mibr

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 Astralis 1
B2 Fnatic 0 A3Natus Vincere2
A3 Natus Vincere 2A3 Natus Vincere3
B3 BIG 1
B1 FaZe Clan 1
A2 G2 Esports 0 B3BIG2
B3BIG2

Quarterfinals

1st quarterfinals

July 6, 2018
13:25 CET 		Report Fnatic 0–2 Natus Vincere Lanxess Arena, Cologne
Score by game:
12–16Natus Vincere won Overpass
10–16Natus Vincere won Train

While Natus Vincere was the favorite to win the series, Fnatic also had a good chance to steal the series away. However, the legendary Swedish brand struggled as Na'Vi took ten of the first eleven rounds before Fnatic managed to salvage a few rounds, but Fnatic was starting on the more favored side and Na'Vi looked to easily take the first map. Na'Vi eventually reached a 15-4 scoreling, but Fnatic started a massive comeback by getting eight unanswered rounds. Na'Vi would later close out the map, but Fnatic had momentum going into the next map. Na'Vi would shut down any momentum Fnatic had as the CIS team took the last six rounds of the first half. Fnatic would try to start another comeback, but it was too late as Na'Vi closed out the series, led by Egor "flamie" Vasilyev's 54 kills.

2nd quarterfinals

July 6, 2018
16:45 CET 		Report BIG2–0 G2 Esports Lanxess Arena, Cologne
Score by game:
BIG won Cache19–7
BIG won Dust II16–1

The dark horse of the tournament made it to the Lanxess Arena in front of its home crowd against G2's new lineup. The two sides would be close in the first map on Cache in both halves, as BIG won the first half 8–7 and G2 won the second half 8–7 to send the game into overtime. In the end, it was BIG to pull off what some would consider an upset over the French despite kennyS's massive 42 kills. The first map was a thriller, but the second map on Dust II would be the complete opposite. The Germans went up 13–0 before G2 even got a round on the board. BIG would push that one round loss off to the side and simply close out the game 16–1 to cruise to the semifinals, as smooya lead his team with 48 kills in the series.

Semifinals

1st semifinals

July 7, 2018
13:00 CET 		Report Astralis 1–2Natus VincereLanxess Arena, Cologne
Score by game:
13–16Natus Vincere won Overpass
Astralis won Nuke16–6
13–16Natus Vincere won Inferno

Na'Vi went up against the favorites of the tournament in the first semifinals. After the Danes took a 3–0 lead, Na'Vi went up 7–3 before Astralis could respond. At the end of the half, Na'Vi was up 9–6. However, Astralis was able to go up 10–9 and then 11–10 before taking a round loss that would ruin its economy. The teams would then go back and forth when Astralis made it a one-round game at 14–13. However, Na'Vi was able to shut down Astralis in the next round and then time out the terrorist side to take the first map. Astralis would fight back in the next map on Nuke as the world's number one took a 7–0 lead before Na'Vi got one on the board. However, Na'Vi would struggle as Astralis would easily take the second map despite s1mple's 24 kills. The third map went to Inferno. Na'Vi took a 10–5 halftime lead and then took the second half pistol round, so the CIS team looked to easily go up to at least a 13–5 lead. However, a force buy from the Danes proved successful as suddenly Astralis was only down one round after winning five unanswered. However, Na'Vi responded with four rounds of its own to get to map and series point. Astralis would take three more rounds. In the 29th round, Na'Vi started strong as Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev took down two Astralis players, but Astralis took down Edward and s1mple to make a 3 vs. 3. However, Astralis was not expecting flamie to be hiding and flamie took down two. Na'Vi would take down the last player to secure a spot in the finals. In a map in which the world's best player in s1mple struggle, Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko – a player who normally struggles to find kills – knocked down 31 kills to barely push Na'Vi to victory.

2nd semifinals

July 7, 2018
17:35 CET 		Report FaZe Clan 1–2BIGLanxess Arena, Cologne
Score by game:
FaZe Clan won Dust II19–17
13–16BIG won Train
6–16BIG won Inferno

In the first map, FaZe looked to easily take down BIG after taking an 11–4 lead, including winning seven straight rounds. FaZe won the following pistol round, but BIG was able to counter. FaZe struggled to get rounds, but eventually reached map point at 15–13. BIG was led by Fatih "gob b" Dayik to take the last two rounds in regulation to send the game to overtime. After going back and forth, FaZe was able to string two rounds together to take Dust II. The next map went to Train. BIG took an early 6–1 lead, but FaZe won the remaining eight rounds of the half to take a 9–6 lead. However, BIG's second half would be on the counter-terrorist side, which is considered to be the more favored side on Train. FaZe was able to win four out of five rounds in the middle of the half, but BIG took care of business and closed another close game. The final map went to Inferno. BIG took a massive 12–3 lead; unlike the other games in the semifinals, no comeback happened despite FaZe's best efforts and the home crowd favorites pulled off a massive upset.

Grand Finals

July 8, 2018
14:15 CET 		Report Natus Vincere3–1BIGLanxess Arena, Cologne
Score by game:
Natus Vincere won Overpass16–10
11–16BIG won Dust II
Natus Vincere won Train16–10
Natus Vincere won Inferno16–8

The grand finals started off on Overpass. After Na'Vi took a 4–2 lead, the rounds went back and forth and the half ended at 8–7 in favor of Na'Vi. Na'Vi went on the defensive afterwards and shut down most of the tactics BIG had, as the Germans could only put together three rounds, as Na'Vi slid into a 16–10 win. Dust II was a tad bit closer. Na'Vi took a 6–3 lead going into round ten, but BIG was able to figure things out as its terrorist side gave the German team an 8–7 lead. The two teams traded four rounds each in the second half, but BIG was able to pull out four more afterwards and evened the series at one. BIG once again took an 8–7 lead heading to the second half and even took a 10–7 lead. However, Na'Vi was on the more favored side and after a weak buy win, Na'Vi took that momentum and shut down BIG's offense to take the series lead. Inferno was the next map and once again there was an 8–7 lead, this time in favor of Na'Vi. However, on a map that is considered to be slightly terrorist sided, Na'Vi made it look lopsided as the CIS team took down the defense of BIG. BIG was able to salvage one round, but electronic's performance on the map outshined most of BIG's roster. After the match, s1mple was awarded as the MVP of the tournament.

Final standings

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

PlacePrize MoneyTeamRosterCoach
1stUS$125,000Natus VincereZeus, Edward, s1mple, electronic, flamiekane
2ndUS$50,000BIGgob b, nex, tabseN, tiziaN, smooyaLEGIJA
3rd – 4thUS$22,000 Astralis gla1ve, dupreeh, dev1ce, Magisk, Xyp9xzonic
FaZe Clan karrigan, cromen, GuardiaN, NiKo, rainRobbaN
5th–6thUS$11,000 Fnatic Xizt, draken, flusha, JW, KRiMZJumpy
G2 Esports Ex6TenZ, bodyy, kennyS, shox, SmithZz NiaK
7th–8thUS$7,500ENCE eSports allu, Aerial, Aleksib, sergej, xsevennatu
mibr FalleN, boltz, coldzera, fer, Stewie2K
9th–12thUS$6,000 Cloud9 tarik, autimatic, RUSH, Skadoodle, STYKOvalens
mousesports chrisJ, oskar, ropz, Snax, suNnylbmt
North MSL, aizy, Kjaerbye, mertz, valdeave
Renegades Nifty, AZR, jks, USTILO, jkaemRyu
13th–16thUS$5,000B.O.O.T-dream[S]capeImpressioN, benkai, splashske, Tommy, w1nt3rdsn
Gambit Esports Dosia, AdreN, HObbit, mou, mir
Ninjas in Pyjamas dennis, f0rest, GeT RiGhT, Lekr0, REZpita
Team Liquid nitr0, EliGE, NAF, Twistzz, TACOzews

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">PGL Major: Kraków 2017</span>

PGL Major: Kraków 2017, also known as PGL Major 2017 or Kraków 2017, was the eleventh Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. It is the first Major organized by the Romanian organization PGL and it was held in Kraków, Poland from July 16 to 23, 2017. It featured sixteen professional CS:GO teams from around the world. Eight teams qualified directly based on their top eight placement in the previous Major, ELEAGUE Major 2017, while another eight teams qualified through the Offline Major Qualifier. The PGL Major was the fourth consecutive major with a prize pool of US$1,000,000.

ESL Pro League Season 6 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the sixth season of the ESL Pro League. The finals moved back to Europe after two seasons and will be hosted for the first time in Denmark. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe will compete in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. The regular season for Europe began with Heroic defeating HellRaisers and ended with mousesports defeating Astralis. North America's season began with OpTic Gaming winning against Ghost Gaming and ended with Luminosity Gaming defeating Rogue to clinch the final spot in the finals as the last match Season 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018</span>

The ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2018 or Boston 2018, was the twelfth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and the second organized by ELEAGUE. The group stage was held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 12 to January 22, 2018, and the playoff stage took place at the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States from January 26 to January 28, 2018. It featured 24 professional teams from around the world, as ELEAGUE and Valve agreed to expand the Major from the usual 16. All 16 teams from the previous major, PGL Major: Kraków 2017, directly qualified for the Major, while another eight teams qualified through their respective regional qualifiers. Boston 2018 was the fifth consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000. This was also the first CS:GO Major to take place in two cities.

ESL Pro League Season 7 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the seventh season of the ESL Pro League. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe will compete in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. For the first time, the EPL finals returned to a location that had already hosted an EPL final as ESL decided to head back to Dallas and will host the finals at the Verizon Theatre. The regular season started on February 13, 2018, and ended on April 26, 2018. Europe's season started with Astralis overrunning Team LDLC.com. North America's season kicked off with the Season 6 champion SK Gaming edging out the Season 4 champion Cloud9. South America's season began with Dereguedere tying with W7M Gaming. Asia-Pacific's season started with B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape defeating Grayhound Gaming. Asia-Pacific's season ended with MVP PK defeating Grayhound Gaming in three maps to take first seed in the APAC region. South America's season will end with Team Wild taking on W7M Gaming. Europe's season ended with HellRaisers defeating North to take the last European spot in the finals. North America's season ended with Ghost Gaming defeating compLexity Gaming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FACEIT Major: London 2018</span>

The FACEIT Major: London 2018, also known as FACEIT Major 2018, or London 2018, was the thirteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship, the second Major of 2018, and first organized by FACEIT. It featured twenty-four professional teams from around the world and took place in London, United Kingdom. The group stages were held in Twickenham Stadium, and the playoffs were played in front of a live crowd in the SSE Arena, Wembley. The London Major was the sixth consecutive major with a prize pool of $1,000,000. The top sixteen teams from the previous Major, Boston 2018, automatically qualified for the FACEIT Major while another eight teams qualified from their respective regional qualifiers. The eight from regional qualifiers and the bottom eight teams from Boston 2018 competed in the New Challengers group stage, a Swiss-system tournament. The top eight from this stage then advanced to face the top eight teams from Boston ("Legends") in a second Swiss-system group stage, the New Legends stage. The top eight from this stage advanced to the playoffs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ELEAGUE Major 2017</span>

ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2017 or Atlanta 2017, was the tenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. It was organized by ELEAGUE and held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 22 to 29, 2017. It featured sixteen professional teams from around the world. Eight teams directly qualified based on their top eight placement in the last major, ESL One Cologne 2016, while another eight teams qualified through the ELEAGUE Offline Major Qualifier. ELEAGUE Major was the third consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NiKo</span> Esports athlete

Nikola Kovač, better known as NiKo, is a Bosnian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for G2 Esports. NiKo is often cited by many professionals and analysts alike to be one of the greatest players of all time in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the best rifler in the history of Global Offensive, and his 8x HLTV Top 20 Player Of The Year placings put him as joint 2nd for most top 20 player appearances in Global Offensive history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IEM Katowice Major 2019</span> International tournament in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII – Katowice Major 2019, also known as IEM Katowice Major 2019 or Katowice 2019, was the fourteenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship and the world championship for the thirteenth season of the Intel Extreme Masters. It was held in Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland from February 13 – March 3, 2019. Fourteen teams would qualify for the IEM Katowice Major 2019 based on their top fourteen placements from the last Major, the FACEIT Major: London 2018, while another ten teams would qualify from their respective regional qualifiers. The top eight teams from the London Major ("Legends") received a bye to the second phase of the group stage while the other sixteen teams ("Challengers") had to go through the first and second group stages in order to reach the playoffs. It featured a US$1,000,000 prize pool, the seventh consecutive Major with that prize pool. It was hosted by ESL, their first Major since 2016. This event was the start of the second season of the Intel Grand Slam.

ESL Pro League Season 8 is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It is the eighth season of the ESL Pro League. Teams from five continents, North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America, will compete in six leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. The EPL finals returned to Odense, Denmark. The regular season started on September 26, 2018, and will end on November 14, 2018. China's season started with ViCi Gaming upsetting TyLoo in a best of three series. Southeast Asia's season started with B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape taking down Recca Esports, which included a 16–0 map. Europe's season started with Space Soldiers defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas and ended with HellRaisers defeating G2 Esports. North America's season kicked off with Renegades dominating eUnited and ended with eUnited defeating Luminosity Gaming.

ESL Pro League Season 9 was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It was the ninth season of the ESL Pro League. Teams from five continents – North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America – competed in four leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals. The regular season started on April 12, 2019, and ended in June 2019. This season was also the fourth tournament of the Intel Grand Slam Season 2. The EPL Finals took place in Montpellier, France.

s1mple Ukrainian gamer

Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev, better known as s1mple, is a Ukrainian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Falcons, on loan from Natus Vincere. He is considered to be one of the best players in Counter-Strike history.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PGL Major Antwerp 2022</span> CS:GO tournament

The PGL Major Antwerp 2022, also known as PGL Major 2022 or Antwerp 2022, was the seventeenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Major Championship. It was held in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sportpaleis from May 9 to 22, 2022. Twenty-four teams participated, with most qualifying through regional tournaments. It featured a US$1,000,000 prize pool, half of the previous Major. It was the third Major hosted by the Romanian organization PGL, after PGL Major: Kraków 2017 and PGL Major Stockholm 2021. The Major would be won by FaZe Clan, the first international team in CS:GO history to win a Major.

References

  1. ↑ @ESLCS (July 8, 2018). "The #ESLOne Cologne 2018 Grand Finals will take place in a SOLD OUT Lanxess Arena in front of 15000 fans! 🙌" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ↑ "ESL One Cologne 2017 – The Cathedral of Counter-Strike". ESL. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  3. ↑ "ESL One Cologne 2018 overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  4. ↑ Mira, Luis (June 12, 2017). "ESL announces $1m Intel Grand Slam". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  5. ↑ Villanueava, Jamie (April 20, 2018). "Dust II returns to Active Duty map pool, Cobblestone removed". Dot eSports. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ "ESL One Cologne 2018 Europe Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  7. ↑ "ESL One Cologne 2018 North America Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  8. ↑ "ESL One Cologne 2018 Asia Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  9. ↑ "GG.BET Majestic – ESL One Cologne Closed Qualifier overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
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