With 1,000,000$ in prize money on the table at ESL One Cologne 2016, there is a lot at stake this week. Sixteen of the best CS:Go teams in the world are looking to show up big as they fight their way through the Group Stage to make it all the way to the semifinals and finals, who will be played in front of a 14,000 people crowd in the Lanxess Arena.
With so many high tier teams around, upsets are bound to happen, especially if there’s a group that has been nicknamed as the “Group of Death”, consisting of teams like Fnatic, SK Gaming, G2 Esports and FaZe Clan. That also means that there’s a lot of great CS:GO going on and unless you took the entire week off, you probably can’t watch all of it. Don’t worry though, we’ve got you covered if you didn’t. Let’s take a look at the results from the first two days of the Group Stage.
ESL One Cologne Day 1: The first Major upsets
Group A: Gambit Gaming, Astralis, Team Dignitas, Counter Logic Gaming
Group A saw Danish teams Astralis and Dignitas go up against each other in a rather even series that could have gone either way. Eventually however, a win was picked up by Astralis. After that, CLG went up against Gambit Gaming. The Russian team started strong only to let CLG come back before ultimately closing things out.
Astralis – Team Dignitas: 16-12 on Overpass
Counter Logic Gaming – Gambit Gaming: 13-16 on Dust2
Group B: Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, OpTiC Gaming, FlipSid3
Group B saw much more one-sided games as it was Navi and NiP who took convincing wins against FlipSid3 and OpTic.
Natus Vincere – FlipSid3 Tactics: 16-7 on Train
Ninjas in Pyjamas – OpTic Gaming: 16-4 on Dust2
Group C: Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, mousesports, Team EnVyUs
Group C was played solely on Train and it was Liquid and Virtus.pro who came out ahead. While Liquid versus EnVyUs started off with a rather even first half, the second half saw Liquid as the dominant force. Virtus.pro met their own dominant force in mousesports but proved that a bad start doesn’t mean anything. Virtus tied soon enough and the game turned in their direction, giving mousesports very little to work with.
Team Liquid – Team EnVyUS: 16-7 on Train
Virtus.pro – mousesports: 16-10 on Train
Group D: SK Gaming, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports
Group D was by far the most anticipated group of ESL One Cologne and with a major upset it did not disappoint at all. First, SK Gaming and G2 Esports were at each other’s throats for the majority of the map. They went even all the way to 10-10 before it was SK who took control and closed things out. Those of us who expected a repeat of the ECS finals from two weeks ago might have been surprised by this result but this wasn’t that big of an upset at all.
It was the match between Fnatic and FaZe where the real upset happened. Fnatic took an early lead, confident to repeat their ELEAGUE performance against FaZe (2-0). They did not count on FaZe defending as well as they did though, setting the score 7-8 in their favor at the end of the first half. FaZe increased their advantage even more and while Fnatic started coming back in the end, it was too little, too late for the Swedes as FaZe finished the closest match of the day.
SK Gaming – G2 Esports: 16-11 on Cobblestone
Fnatic vs FaZe Clan: 14-16 on Dust2
ESL One Cologne Day 2: Matches worthy of a Grand Final
As promised, the Group of Death delivered on the very first day. Fnatic ended up in the Elimination Match against G2 Esports while FaZe would take on SK Gaming for a chance to make it to the Quarterfinals on Friday. This could only mean one thing: there was a lot of nail biting CS:GO action still to come and that’s exactly what we got on Day 2!
Group A
The Winners’ Match saw Gambit go up against Astralis. The Russian squad was off to a flying start as they got a 5 round advantage. Astralis did not give up without a fight though and evened out the score. In the next 12 rounds, however, they could only secure one more and it was Gambit who won the match convincingly.
The Losers’ Match was quickly decided as Dignitas needed no more than 17 rounds to finish the match and kick CLG out of the tournament.
Astralis – Gambit Gaming: 6-16 on Dust2
Team Dignitas – CLG: 16-1 on Cobblestone
Group B
Na’vi and Ninjas in Pyjamas put up a much more enjoyable show in their Winners’ Match as both teams tied at 10-10 and once more at 12-12, only for Na’Vi to close out the series by taking the next 4 rounds. FlipSid3 and OpTic also provided us with an equally matched game as the teams went back and forth until the score reached 12-12. One more round for OpTic wasn’t enough and in the end it was FlipSid3 who’d be moving on to face NiP in the Deciders’ Match.
Natus Vincere – Ninjas in Pyjamas: 16-12 on Cobblestone
FlipSid3 Tactics – OpTic Gaming: 16-13 on Train
Group C
In the group C Winners’ Match it was Virtus.pro who were off to a great start, securing an early advantage before Liquid fought back and regained control of the match while going into the second half. Virtus.pro kept kicking however, took back the lead and never let it go again. A similar thing happened between EnVyUs and mousesports as it was EnVyUs who got ahead originally but could not control mousesports in the end, allowing them to pick up all the rounds they needed to close things out.
Team Liquid – Virtus.pro: 12-16 on Cobblestone
Team EnVyUs – mousesports: 12-16 on Train
Group D
After FaZe’s somewhat surprising win against Fnatic they were set to go up against Brazilian powerhouse SK Gaming. SK took the early lead and was not looking to give FaZe more than an inch the entire game. 12-3 was the score at halftime and it soon became 16-6, meaning that FaZe will be playing against Fnatic once more for the final Playoff spot. The reason for this is Fnatic beating G2 Esports in the Losers’ Match of Group D, where both teams fought for their lives in a very even match. Fnatic eventually came out on top after pulling off some impressive plays and avoiding the game from going into overtime.
SK Gaming – FaZe Clan: 16-6 on Cobblestone
G2 Esports – Fnatic: 13-16 on Train
These results mean that we’ll see the following matches this Thursday, as the teams fight for the final ESL One Cologne Playoffs spots in best-of-three series.
Group A: Astralis vs Dignitas
Group B: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs FlipSid3 Tactics
Group C: Team Liquid vs mousesports
Group D: Fnatic vs FaZe Clan
