fnatic triumphant at ESL One Cologne

With both grand finalists having won hard fought semifinals, EnVyUs against TSM (2-1) and fnatic against Virtus.pro (2-1), to make the Cologne 2015 grand final, the map draw threw up de_dust2, de_cbble, and potentially de_inferno as the three maps of contention.

nV opened up on de_dust2 with aggressive, no-nonsense plays, with Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt managing to knife a dazed Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist on the B site after the latter player ran out of ammo. Despite fnatic taking the first gunround, EnVyUs won the ensuing round and continued to pressure fnatic successfully.

The Swedes finally picked up a round with the score at 7-1 for nV, and strung together two before EnVyUs answered with an aggressive buy. flusha played a crucial role in fnatic winning its fourth round of the half, and the Swedish defense clinched the final round of the half as well. EnVyUs finished in the lead at a 10-5 scoreline.

With the first half of de_dust2 showcasing how importantly pacing and momentum function in CS:GO, the second half saw fnatic opt for a short A rush and despite Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer's attempts at trying to appear ghostlike behind stairs, the Swedish team picked up the pistol regardless.

A textbook EnVyUs force-buy saw NBK- hit two crucial double deagle kills and helped the Frenchmen win their pistol round and reverse fnatic's fortunes. nV continued to simply rely on individual aggressive plays, moving the score up to 14-7, which forced fnatic to call a timeout.

Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson picked up an important 4K and fnatic continued to grow in apparent danger, despite nV picking up the match point. The French team could simply not find an answer to fnatic's newfound confidence, and both teams waltzed into overtime.

The first half of overtime saw the fnatic show shut down EnVyUs across all three rounds, with the final T-side round for fnatic seeing the Swedes confidently buy four AWPs to obliterate the mid cross. The final round was merely a formality, and fnatic calmly picked up the win on de_dust2, 19-15.

EnVyUs came into de_cbble determined to not stay aggrieved about the past map's results and team captain Happy set an example with three crucial pistol kills on nV's CT side. After the eco conversion rounds however, fnatic, led by the fragging of Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer regained control of the game and began to garner rounds.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire gave nV its fourth round of the game with clever smoke play, yet a patient pick-based take in the next round gave fnatic yet another round win, bringing the score to 6-4. Despite nV managing to secure two more rounds on the CT side of cbble, fnatic powered forward with three more, finishing the half 9-6.

On their CT side, Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten's Swedes rocketed off to a 13-6 scoreline before nV could muster an answer when Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey pulled off a quad kill including a one-versus-one clutch on the B site. fnatic once again turned the game around and pulled ahead to get matchpoint, at 15-7. The final round saw fnatic stop a nV forcebuy and win the organisation its third major in CS:GO.

ESL One Cologne 2015Best of 3

Envy

Matchpage

0

2

23rd August 2015

fnatic

15

Dust2

19

7

Cobblestone

16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating1.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	51 - 33	+18	-	-	1.39
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	48 - 32	+16	-	-	1.31
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	45 - 36	+9	-	-	1.14
Markus 'pronax' Wallstenpronax	29 - 36	-7	-	-	0.79
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	33 - 44	-11	-	-	0.76

Envy	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating1.0
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	44 - 41	+3	-	-	1.14
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	43 - 40	+3	-	-	1.04
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	35 - 43	-8	-	-	0.84
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	32 - 43	-11	-	-	0.74
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	26 - 39	-13	-	-	0.69

ESL One Cologne 2015 final standings:

1. fnatic - $100,000
2. EnVyUs - $50,000
3-4. Virtus.pro - $22,000
3-4. TSM - $22,000
5-8. Null element Na`Vi - $10,000
5-8. Kinguin - $10,000
5-8. Luminosity - $10,000
5-8. NiP - $10,000
9-12. CLG - $2,000
9-12. FlipSid3 - $2,000
9-12. Renegades - $2,000
9-12. Cloud9 - $2,000
13-16. mousesports - $2,000
13-16. Titan - $2,000
13-16. Immunity - $2,000
13-16. eBettle - $2,000