ESL One Cologne viewer's guide

4-7-2016 18:51

With ESL One Cologne just around the corner, we have prepared a viewer's guide which contains all the information you need to keep up with the Major, including the group draw, the schedule and the talent lineup.

Running from Tuesday to Sunday at the LANXESS Arena, ESL One Cologne - the second Major of the year - will see 16 of the world's top teams face off for their share of a $1 million prize purse.

The group stage, featuring a best-of-one format in the first three matches and then a best-of-three format in the decider clashes, will be played behind closed doors.

CS:GO Major returns to LANXESS Arena - now with $1 million on offer

The top two teams from each group will advance to the single-elimination, best-of-three playoffs, which will be played in front of a live crowd at the sold-out indoor arena.

Below are the groups for the Major:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Astralis	Natus Vincere	Liquid	SK
CLG	Ninjas in Pyjamas	Virtus.pro	fnatic
Gambit	OpTic	MOUZ	FaZe
Dignitas	FlipSid3	Envy	G2

The complete tournament schedule looks as follows:

Tuesday, July 5
11:00	Astralis	vs.	Dignitas
12:15	Gambit	vs.	CLG
13:30	Natus Vincere	vs.	FlipSid3
14:45	OpTic	vs.	Ninjas in Pyjamas
16:00	Liquid	vs.	Envy
17:15	MOUZ	vs.	Virtus.pro
18:45	SK	vs.	G2
20:00	fnatic	vs.	FaZe
Wednesday, July 6
11:00	Group A - Winners' Match
12:15	Group A - Elimination Match
13:30	Group B - Winners' Match
14:45	Group B - Elimination Match
16:00	Group C - Winners' Match
17:15	Group C - Elimination Match
18:45	Group D - Winners' Match
20:00	Group D - Elimination Match
Thursday, July 7
11:00	Group A - Decider Match
14:30	Group B - Decider Match
18:15	Group C - Decider Match
22:00	Group D - Decider Match
Friday, July 8
10:00	Quarter-final #1
13:45	Quarter-final #2
17:45	Quarter-final #3
21:45	Quarter-final #4
Saturday, July 9
15:00	Semi-final #1
18:45	Semi-final #2
Sunday, July 10
15:00	Showmatch
17:00	Grand final

Like at MLG Columbus, the $1 million prize pool will be distributed between the participating teams as follows:

1. $500,000
2. $150,000
3-4. $70,000
5-8. $35,000
9-12. $8,750
13-16. $8,750

Taking viewers through all the action over the course of this six-day event will be a 14-person panel led by stage host Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner and that includes Duncan "Thorin" Shields, who returns to casting duties with ESL after a prolonged absence.

Below you can find the full talent lineup for the Major:

Stage Host

Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner

Roaming Host

Mitch "UberShouts" Leslie

Analyst desk

Alex "Machine" Richardson
Duncan "Thorin" Shields
Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole

Commentators

Anders Blume
Auguste "Semmler" Massonat
Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer
Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett
Daniel "⁠ddk⁠" Kapadia
James "⁠BARDOLPH⁠" Bardolph
Lauren "Pansy" Scott
John "BLU" Mullen

Make sure to give our previews a read, as we have prepared one for each group during this past week:

Group A preview by Michal "stich" Malachowski
Group B preview by Milan "Striker" Švejda
Group C preview by Michal "stich" Malachowski
Group D preview by Milan "Striker" Švejda

We have also released interviews with players from some of the teams who will be in attendance at ESL One Cologne. Check them out below if you missed any:

Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev: "We'll do everything we can"
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo: "Have to beat them all"
Jacob "⁠pyth⁠" Mourujärvi: "We will definitely recover"
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke: "Main goal is top eight"
Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele: "Focus on getting out of groups"

COLONGE MAKE SOME NOISE IN THIS BITCH

2016-07-04 18:52

5 replies

Everyone Who loves CS, loves Natu. That is why we need Natu back for the one more year.

2016-07-04 18:53

2 replies

Natu coach pls

Natu is going to Cologne. I guess they will be selling ENCE stuff with Allu and maybe on ASUS ROG stand too?

2016-07-04 20:22

HYYYYYYYPE

2016-07-04 18:55

You forgot to mention the veto process freaking amateurs

2016-07-04 19:00

major hype

HOW THE FUCKING BITCH

2016-07-04 18:51

Showmatch is casters vs casters or what?

Prob allstars

1 reply

Yeah, I hope so, but there is no all-star in Pick'em like in Columbus Pick'em. :<

2016-07-04 18:56

Thx

go G2

lmao

asdad

hello

yoooooooooooooo

hype

group a is so boring

two bo1 and you can be out :/

7 replies

if you cant win a one out of 2 bo1, you wont win the major and thats what its all about.

2016-07-04 18:58

6 replies

I would disagree especially with partially randomly drawn maps during the bo1 phase.

ye the randomly drawn maps are shit.

2016-07-04 19:04

what do you mean? how will the veto go?

2016-07-04 19:10

3 replies

I'm not so sure honestly but at the last major the teams vetoed about 4 maps overall in some order i dont know. And the map gets randomly drawn out of the remaining maps. This veto format is not up to the tournament organizer, its up to valve to decide it.

2016-07-04 19:48

Higher Seed starts Veto: Bo1: Veto T1 Veto T2 Veto T2 Veto T1 Random out of 3. [it is possible that they changed it so that Team T1 has 3 vetos and the randomiser only chooses out of 2 maps] Bo3: Veto T1 Veto T2 Pick T1 Pick T2 Random out of 3.

2016-07-04 20:16

They are doing the same system as MLG where higher team picks if they want 3 vetos or to pick the side they start on then goes: Veto Team A Veto Team B Veto Team A Veto Team B Veto Team A Random out of last 2 Team B gets to pick starting side

2016-07-05 02:42

Hyped!

6 am, are you fucking serious? dont you care about americas?

2016-07-04 18:54

8 replies

you guys got your e-league

2016-07-04 19:17

Last major was in Murica.. guess what that mean

2016-07-04 19:24

4 replies

timings were perfect for europens, all the matches were played in the afernoon/evening gmt while the matches in murica were over by 5-6 pm. this obv tells you that mlg made the schedule for europeans

2016-07-04 20:21

2016-07-04 21:34

We got some matches at 3am in Europe

2016-07-04 22:38

4 at night on weekdays is perfect?

2016-07-05 00:32

Wake up early "hermano"

I will, is not that bad for ARG, UY or BR, but check #44

2016-07-04 21:38

my body is ready

fix Astralis, +gla1ve

Final is on day one? That's nice

2016-07-04 18:57

lets go!

Hype! Go Sk!

C'mon VP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2016-07-04 18:59

Thorin at an ESL event? Can't be right...?

Europe ppl "eleague Friday matches are the worst fucking NA" *2-11 am PST* every damn major man. how come everything in NA except eleague Friday tries to cater to Europe but all majors besides mlg give no fucks about the americas

2016-07-04 19:07

how would you schedule them?

2016-07-04 19:12

Push every groups match forward two hours

They would lose so many viewers on the last match because of the euros semifinals.

2016-07-05 04:20

Always this shitty format... 2 map losses and you are out.

2016-07-04 19:18

ReDeYe hype!

2016-07-04 19:23

blu and pansy

2016-07-04 19:26

What's the quarterfinal seeding ?!?!?! Who plays who ??

2016-07-04 19:28

Group A: 1.Astralis 2.Dignitas Group B: 1.NiP 2.NaVi Group C: 1.EnVyUs 2.Virtus Pro Group D: 1.SK 2.G2

2016-07-04 19:31

GOGOGO SK

2016-07-04 19:32

twitter.com/fnaticFlusha/status/74960809.. flusha confirms fnatic gonna win this major all in fnatic !!!!!!!!!

2016-07-04 19:35

#GoSK

2016-07-04 19:45

final is bo5 ?

2016-07-04 19:56

major final always bo3

2016-07-04 22:11

Yea and it really should be a bo5 because it is the biggest tournament of the year and they have it on a day with only a showmatch

2016-07-05 02:45

I prefer bo3's for majors, more tension, more excitement. bo5's can be really, really long. is too much for a major. bo5's are better for smaller, more obscure lan tournaments imo.

2016-07-05 02:54

I see what you mean but sometimes the better team doesn't always win in a bo3 all because of a small mistake or maybe even the randomiser favouring the weaker team. I prefer bo5 for this big tournament is all im saying.

2016-07-05 07:11