NiP receive direct invite to ESL One Cologne 2019

18-4-2019 16:46

Ninjas in Pyjamas have received a direct invitation to participate at ESL One Cologne 2019.

The Swedish quintet will be joining fifteen other teams in contending for $300,000 in prize money at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany come July 2-7. Ninjas in Pyjamas are one of twelve sides to receive a direct invite to the event, leaving seven invitation slots left to be dealt out, as well as four regional qualifier slots.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are currently duking it out in Group B of the ESL Pro League Season 9 - Europe in Leicester, UK in looks to qualify for the league finals, held in Montpellier, France.

NiP will return to Cologne in 2019

Formatting for this year's iteration of ESL One Cologne will see a GSL group format, with the sixteen squads split into two equal groups. Top three from each group will advance straight to the playoffs, where first place finishers advance to the semi-finals, meanwhile second and third duke it out in the quarter-finals. All playoff matches will feature a single-elimination, best-of-3 barring the grand final, which will be a best-of-5 series.

Below are all currently-known participants of ESL One Cologne 2019:

Astralis

FaZe

Ninjas in Pyjamas

TBA

European Qualifier #1

NA Qualifier

BIG

Natus Vincere

TBA

European Qualifier #2

Asian Qualifier

ezz

2019-04-18 16:46

1 reply

hahahaaha

2019-04-18 16:47

2 replies

mibr ??

2019-04-18 17:02

m16r should disband by the time cologne starts so yeah, i dont see the point in inviting them xd

2019-04-19 11:19

yes

yikes, but good luck to draken and co anyway

3 replies

draken its not in nip bro

2019-04-18 17:01

I think me b8ed you

2019-04-18 23:31

He*

2019-04-20 02:07

wasted

5 replies

2019-04-18 17:50

Your existence is wasted

2019-04-18 18:04

flair checks out

2019-04-19 01:57

mad?

2019-04-19 08:39

Liquid/Ence/Renegades Please

14 replies

All three of them will be invited 4 suree

yep 100%

2019-04-18 16:55

Hopefully, would make it awesome event.

2019-04-18 17:11

I have a feeling liquid declined, doesn’t make sense to invite nip befpre liquid

2019-04-18 17:25

9 replies

Why would they decline

2019-04-18 17:33

To take big break before the major I don’t know

2019-04-18 17:34

But cologne is at the start of july and major is in september so doesnt make sense

2019-04-18 19:06

Could be, hope not though, skipping out on one of the biggest events of the year seems strange.

2019-04-18 17:55

still 7 invites left, they will for sure be in it :D

2019-04-18 18:37

Hopefully :)

2019-04-18 19:03

DH Dallas took a couple a bit before they brought in NRG and Liquid.

2019-04-18 19:52

Do you really expect that ESL doesn't make an invitation list (including backup teams if teams decline) and doesn't sent the invites all at once on the same day? The invitation slots are already filled before ESL even announces the first invitation team to the public. I don't know how they decide in which order they announce the teams, but just because team E got announced before team C doesn't mean that team C won't get an invitation.

2019-04-19 04:12

Usually, last year’s winner is announced first, then a home team and then from best to worst

2019-04-19 10:01

of course

2019-04-18 17:38

Wasted SpoT

LETS GO BOIS

makes sense Kappa

Where is MIBR ?

2019-04-18 17:20

Still 7 invites left, MIBR will 100% be one of them

2019-04-18 17:39

not deserved

2019-04-18 16:48

noice

Devils.One invite too please

8 replies

2019-04-18 16:49

This is not a tier 1000 event

2019-04-18 17:07

6 replies

So why nip is on it?

2019-04-18 17:09

Because they're nr 6 in the world

2019-04-18 17:10

4 replies

Ranking means shit tbh

I know but thats the thing with big events

2019-04-18 17:13

IEM Sydney is a big event and features teams like chiefs or Boot something this indonesian

2019-04-18 17:14

Yeah they qualifed even colonge has it watch at the bottom of the list

2019-04-18 17:16

ENCE/Liquid/VIT please

Wasted spot

good joke

Wasted

2019-04-18 16:51

What is an indirect invite?

To closed quali I guess? I don't get why did they think it was necessary to put that in the title

2019-04-18 16:53

deserved #GONINJAS

Next ditect invites : MIBR, Mousesports,Liquid,RNG,NRG,Ence

2019-04-18 16:56

Invited Bots in Pyjamas before ENCE and Liquid kek

you know they have probably already invited everyone, they’re just announcing in their preferred order

2019-04-18 17:03

It's just so that hltv can write 16 articles for 16 teams and send us unnecessary notifications.

2019-04-18 17:22

next will be Fnatic

2019-04-18 16:58

I hope Sprout pulls out a miracle and somehow gets through the european qualifier. That would be hype af

2019-04-18 17:00

+1, funny how IEM Sydney has 2 Australian and 3 Asian spots for the main event while Cologne has 1 spot for the qualifier for german teams

I agree but I think Cologne is seen as more prestigious and it's probably easier to get teams to travel there (like Astralis) so maybe not enough spots. Add to that that Australia is more isolated so it's kind of more interesting to see their teams try vs EU/NA etc. And until recently Germany really lacked strong teams. With Sprout it might change.

2019-04-18 17:21

Agreed. ESL Cologne is a bit different from the others, even if its not a major anymore. It's arguably the most famous CSGO tournament. Would prefer to see invited, stronger teams than qualified teams given a chance for this one

last 7 invites: Liquid, ENCE, fnatic, NRG, mouz, 2 out of Renegades/mibr/G2/North/Vitality

2019-04-18 17:06

10 replies

so you're more sure that mouz will be invited and not mibr (that already won cologne two times)? rlly dude? lul

because mibr isn't even top 20 right now and german fans still love mouz. and mouz > mibr is obvious

MIBR top 6 wtf mens

2019-04-18 18:53

bro, youre high? mibr not top-20? mousesports dont even have german player im done w u

2019-04-18 19:40

you obviously don't know shit

2019-04-18 19:41

Probably Renegades and mibr/Vitality as last invites.

2019-04-18 19:56

You sure nrg should be invited before renegades? I mean rng beat them on lan with a standing, If I had to prioritise invites it would be liquid, Ence, renegades, nrg, fnatic and the last 2 out of MIBR, vit or mouz

2019-04-19 10:02

I actually messed up, switch mibr with NRG

2019-04-19 10:37

again i would have rng ahead of mibr based on current form anyway

2019-04-19 11:29

I think that they will prefer mibr because of the name tbh

2019-04-19 11:50

is it a joke?

i think all the inivte shit is not good. it`s like an exclusive club of top teams and organizers in a secret alliance to make cash.

7 replies

Yeah but the important thing is we get to see top teams only. It's a win-win: like I mean, we as viewers don't really lose anything from them making money

2019-04-18 17:31

That's why we have tier 2 and tier 3 events . U don't want shitty unknown teams fucking up the biggest event of the year or any other tier 1 event for that matter. The top 12 teams are invited and we want a good event

2019-04-18 17:32

If the teams are good, they can qualify. Scene is more interesting with less invites.

2019-04-18 17:41

no , shit teams that cant win a damn thing in the actual tournament can qualify by chance. the major is a perfect example

2019-04-18 18:23

And the major is all the better for it. My main complaint with the major is that EU deserves more representation because their teams which miss out are better. Super excited to see Lucid Dream play DHM Dallas!

2019-04-18 18:39

see , you just contradicted yourself right there

2019-04-18 22:38

need Vitality please

2019-04-18 17:08

2019-04-18 17:19

WASTED Team Liquid Ence Vitality Renegades

mouz

2019-04-18 17:24

+ Liquid + ENCE + Renegades + MIBR + fnatic + Vitality + NRG mouz should go through qualifiers

2019-04-18 17:30

Not wasted. Everyone wants to see the best counter-strike player of all time in action

2019-04-18 17:35

The two best even

2019-04-18 17:44

Invite Devils.one because they won against NIP XD

2019-04-18 17:36

Ence?!?

2019-04-18 17:37

NIEN

2019-04-18 18:57

deserved

Hopefully their lineup wont include dennis or pita by then

wasted spot

2019-04-18 17:45

what do you mean direct invite. If it was invite, wouldn't it be enough?

Wasted spot. After all those bad results ????

2019-04-18 17:46

yeah, as usual step 1: be a garbage team step 2: still have some idiots who have heard you were good in 2012 when there was ZERO competition who will blindly follow you step 3: get invited

2019-04-18 17:47