ESL One Cologne 2019

ESL One Cologne 2019

2019
Tournament information
Sport	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location	Cologne, Germany
Dates	July 2, 2019–July 7, 2019
Administrator	Electronic Sports League (ESL)
Tournament format(s)	Double elimination group stage Six team single-elimination playoff
Venue	Lanxess Arena
Teams	16 teams
Purse	US$300,000

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

This tournament is the fifth tournament of the second 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.

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.

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.

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

Broadcast Talent

The broadcast talent was announced on June 25, 2019.

Desk host

• Alex "Machine" Richardson

Stage host

• Oliver James "OJ Borg" Borg

Interviewer

• Tres "stunna" Saranthus

Analysts

• Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill
• Janko "YNk" Paunović
• Duncan "Thorin" Shields

Commentators

• Anders Blume
• Henry "HenryG" Greer
• Jason "moses" O'Toole
• Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett

Observers

• TBD

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.

EU Cologne 2019 Qualifier

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.

NA Cologne 2019 Qualifier

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.

Asia Cologne 2019 Qualifier

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.

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

• Astralis
• BIG
• ENCE eSports
• FaZe Clan
• Fnatic
• MIBR
• mousesports
• Natus Vincere
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• NRG Esports
• Renegades

Qualifiers

• Team Vitality (Europe)
• Heroic (Europe)
• FURIA Esports (North America)
• MVP PK (Asia)
• Team Liquid (GG.Bet Invitational)

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

	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

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

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

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

B2

Ninjas in Pyjamas

A3

Natus Vincere

B1

Astralis

A2

NRG Esports

B3

Team Vitality

Final standings

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
2nd	US$50,000
3rd – 4th	US$22,000
5th–6th	US$11,000
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