It was a big weekend in the world of CS:GO, with new challengers rising while many were forced to relinquish their dreams of victory. The last two qualifiers for the ESL One Cologne CS:GO Championship in Europe and India have given us the final seven teams to join the show, who must face legends of Katowice such as Ninjas in Pyjamas and reigning champion Virtus.pro in their quest for success.
Europe: A hard fight for Titan, Natus Vincere and other top teams
As only the top eight at Katowice were invited to Cologne, we saw some very big teams joining the qualifiers, meaning we got to see Titan, mousesports, Natus Vincere and many more who caused upsets earlier this year trying to regain their place among the best in the scene. In the end, most of them succeeded, but two new teams also stepped up and manage to earn their spot at gamescom.
YES! This 16:7 16:3 victory over @natuCSGO's ENCORE means we are qualified for #ESLOne! See you in Cologne. #CSGO pic.twitter.com/aStCHKemGk
— Titan (@Titanorg) July 27, 2014
Well-known faces are joining the competition in Cologne, with Titan, Natus Vincere, Copenhagen Wolves and Epsilon all having earned a spot in the tournament. While both Titan and Epsilon managed to fight their way through the upper bracket, Na’Vi and Copenhagen Wolves had to go through the lower one. Titan and Na’Vi played in Katowice with almost identical teams, but both Epsilon and CPH Wolves saw some changes following the tournament in Poland. Epsilon was formed from the remains of Clan-Mystik, while Copenhagen Wolves has members from both Reason Gaming and 3DMAX.
If you missed it, our CSGO monsters qualified to attend the ESL One Cologne 2014 CS:GO Championship ! Going to be absolutely huge!
— Epsilon eSports (@Epsilon_eSports) July 27, 2014
The new faces on the list of challengers from Europe are dAT Team and London Conspiracy, who won their matches in style while knocking teams such as mousesports, ESG! and Na’Vi down to the lower bracket. Both the Norwegians as well as the Russian-Ukrainian mix have some very experienced players in their lineups, and it will be interesting to see what happens in Cologne when they meet both the other challengers as well as the legends of Katowice.
India: A howling premier for Wolf
One last new team is joining the tournament in the form of Wolf, who won the Indian qualifier and with it a shot at representing their country for the first time at one of the community funded US$250,000 tournaments. By winning the qualifier, they not only earned themselves a spot among the challengers in Cologne but also travel expanses and an extended bootcamp before the tournament itself. Now they will face Virtus.pro, NiP and all the other teams not only for themselves but also to show the CS:GO world what Indian teams are capable of.
You can find all the other details about the ESL One Cologne CS:GO Championship on the official website.
What do you think about the results of the qualifiers? Did your favorites triumph or did you think other teams were more worthy of getting a spot? Tell us in the comments below!
