This weekend, the offline qualifier for the US$250,000 ESL One Katowice 2015 tournament is set to take place. Now, with all 16 qualifier spots filled, we’d like to give you a rundown of all the teams who’ll be clashing at the Angelo Hotel in Katowice on February the 14th and 15th.
The invited teams
Last Tuesday night, three more invites were given out, making the field at the offline qualifier way more international. Cloud 9 and Team Liquid are joining us for the offline qualifier, and with them a chance of bringing the US flag back to a CS:GO major after both Cloud 9 and iBUYPOWER dropped out during group stage at DreamHack Winter.
The third invite was given to Vox Eminor, the Australian organization who already qualified for ESL One Cologne 2014, where they placed fourth in a group with the new TSM lineup, Cloud 9 and Titan. The last invite went to Brazilian team KaBuM, who were invited initially but still needed to accept as they had to clear funding for their journey to Europe.
The invitees:
- Cloud 9
- Team Liquid
- Vox Eminor
- Team Dignitas
- Titan
- ex-ESC Gaming
- KaBuM.TD
From the qualifiers
Besides already qualified mousesports and Copenhagen Wolves, more teams made it as the second European, the Polish and the North American qualifiers ended last week. The EU qualifier especially was a massive event, with over 400 teams taking part, beating the 300+ from the first installment.
After the additions of INSHOCK (Polish qualifier) and Piter (CIS qualifier), all eyes were on the European and North American qualifiers for the final four teams to fill the ranks. In North America, the top-seeded Counter Logic Gaming and eLevate managed to make their way to the grand final of the 54 team bracket, fighting for the one spot in the offline qualifier. Giving each other a hard nut to crack, CLG were able to win the match 2-1, joining the invited Cloud 9 and Team Liquid in representing the US in Katowice next week.
The second European qualifier caused some trouble, with some team banned for being involved with match fixing. As Team WinneR got removed from the qualifier, both LGB and 3DMAX, who had a third place decider scheduled to determine the team to take the one remaining spot, got a ticket to the offline qualifier. Still, as Epsilon’s former invite spot needed to be filled, a last chance qualifier was held, giving teams who reached the quarterfinals of the European qualifier #2 but didn’t earn themselves a spot another chance. se mi puta (Temporary) were the one team to come out on top, making them the final addition to the roster and causing the number of Danish teams in Katowice to rise even more.
The qualified teams:
- mousesports
- Copenhagen Wolves
- INSHOCK
- PiTER-ONLiNE
- Flipsid3 Tactics
- LGB eSports
- 3DMAX
- Counter Logic Gaming
- se mi puta (Temporary)
Join us for the offline qualifier next week!
We have 100 weekend tickets up for grabs for fans who can’t wait for the main event. For 25PLN (~€6) you’ll get to see all the teams invited or qualified fight for their spot among world’s best CS:GO teams at ESL One Katowice 2015.
Join us on the spot at the Angelo Hotel in Katowice on February the 14th and 15th and see who is able to become a Challenger in the US$250,000 tournament!
Get your ticket for the offline qualifier now!
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Who will make it and join ESL One Katowice 2015? Share your view in the comments below!
