ESL One Cologne 2015

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Counter Logic Gaming

Casters: Anders Blume & moses

The Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) came off of their fifth straight major finals appearance in five majors, the most out of any team, but only had one in its pocket coming into the major. It defeated Keyd Stars and Counter Logic Gaming in the group stage and defeated Team SoloMid and Team EnVyUs in the playoffs before falling to Fnatic in a close three game set in the finals. Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) defeated the HellRaisers in the group stage at the last major, but lost to NiP and Keyd Stars in the group stage. CLG defeated Team Liquid to qualify for the major. NiP came into the game as overwhelming favorites.

The first match of the major started with CLG taking a 2-0 lead but NiP was able to the third round with almost no money spent. The game was close throughout and the teams were tied at 7 going into the last round of the half. There, NiP had a very broken guy, with three pistols, a shotgun, and a rifle. Steve "reltuC" Cutler took down Richard "Xizt" Landström early in the round and followed up onto Aleksi "allu" Jalli. the rest of CLG headed to the B bombsite and Tarik "tarik" Celik took down Adam "friberg" Friberg to open up the site. reltuC took down Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and then shortly killed Christopher "GeT RiGhT" Alesund to give CLG a one-round lead over NiP. NiP proceeded to win the first three rounds of the second half and then CLG's first gun round came up. tarik held back two NiP members in the middle area, but friberg took down Josh "jdm64" Marzano near the A bombsite. friberg planted the bomb and then allu and friberg took out James "hazed" Cobb and Pujan "FNS" Mehta, respectively. allu then took down reltuC and Xizt took down tarik and NiP won the round and an 11-8 lead. CLG, however, was able to bring it back and tied the game at 12 and then the lead at 13-12. NiP was able to take three straight rounds heading into the 29th round. FNS won a duel against friberg but f0rest was able to trade. tarike the traded out f0rest to give CLG a man advantage. GeT_RiGhT then rushed into an open B bombsite and took down tarik hurrying back. Xizt was lurking near the A bombsite and took down an unsespecting jdm64. Xizt then took down reltuC before hazed traded out the NiP in game leader. GeT_RiGhT was able to trade right after and NiP secured the map. f0rest lead all players with 29 kills while tarik was second with 23. allu and Xizt each had 21 kills for NiP while reltuC had 21 for CLG. NiP went on to face the winner of Team SoloMid and Renegades.

Team SoloMid vs. Renegades

Casters: Anders Blume & moses

Team SoloMid (TSM) at Katowice 2015 had an early loss to Cloud9 but bounced back and defeated 3DMAX and Cloud9 to hold on to its Legends status. However, the Danes fell short as it was taken out by NiP in the quarterfinals. Renegades was also at the previous major, but was with the organization Vox Eminor. The team lost to Fnatic, defeated FlipSid3 Tactics, but then was eliminated by Natus Vincere. At the qualifiers, it defeated the Korean team myRevenge.kr to qualify for the major.

Renegades started the game with a flawless pistol round – Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill was near the B bombsite while his teammates were executing towards the A bombsite. Aaron "AZR" Ward took down Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz through a smoke grenade. SPUNJ then made his appearance and was able to take down Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth. TSM thought the bomb was going to the B bombsite so it rotated to B while the bomb was planted at A. AZR took down Finn "karrigan" Andersen and Luke "Havoc" Paton followed up onto Peter "dupreeh" Rothmann. René "cajunb" Borg was unable to win a duel against SPUNJ and the Renegades captain was able to secure the round. Renegades then took a 5-0 lead but TSM's experience showed and took the last ten rounds of the half. TSM then took a 13-5 lead before Renegades was able to stop TSM's 13 round win streak. Renegades then went on a win streak of its own, winning 6 straight rounds to close the gap at 13-11. In the 25th round, with TSM on a limited buy, SPUNJ took down karrigan in a battle of the two captains but dev1ce was able to refrag. Xyp9x took down AZR and then followed up onto Havoc. Xyp9x then killed Yaman "yam" Ergenekon midair and Justin "jks" Savage was forced to save his gun for the next round. TSM would not give up another round and took the game 16-11. AZR lead all players with 26 kills but it was not enough against the Danish team as the rest of the Australians fell behind. dev1ce and dupreeh each had 22 kills and karrigan had 21 to lead TSM to victory. TSM went on to face NiP and Renegades to the loser's match of Group Phase 2.

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Team SoloMid

Casters: Joe Miller & moses

Both veteran teams each had difficult games in the initial matches of the major, as the heavy underdogs gave them a run for their money. TSM started on the less favored side but dominated the Swedes. TSM took an early 5-0 lead before NiP took one back. NiP eventually made it 8-3, but would be unsuccessful in the later rounds, as TSM took eight straight rounds to close out the map. f0rest and Xizt had 11 kills each to top the scoreboard for NiP, but allu only had 3 kills. Meanwhile, Xyp9x had 23 kills and dev1ce had 20 kills to lead TSM and the rest of the field. TSM moved on to the playoffs and NiP went on to the winner's match of the second phase of the group stage.

Team EnVyUs vs. FlipSid3 Tactics

Casters: JKaplan & Machine

Group B began with Team EnVyUs and FlipSid3 Tactics squaring off. At Katowice 2015, EnVyUs defeated fellow Frenchmen Titan and LGB eSports in the group stage and defeated Natus Vincere in the quarterfinals before falling to NiP in the semifinals. FlipSid3 had to defeat four teams, including Team Dignitas in the final round, to qualify for the major. EnVyUs would get the first three rounds and 7 of the first 8 rounds. In the 9th round, Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk was able to kill Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey. Flipsid3 sold a fake so that Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt was the only one on the B bombsite. NBK- took down Yegor "markeloff" Markelovabd then put a bullet to the head of Georgi "WorldEdit" Yaskin.bondik found Dan "apEX" Madesclaire near the A bombsite but NBK- found another kill onto Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy. NBK- completed the shut down by taking down Vadim "DavCost" Vasilyev and EnVyUs went up 8-1. EnVyUs went up 12-1 before Flipsid3 stabilized and acquired the final two rounds of the half. EnVyUs did not let down after and took the final four rounds it needed to claim the game 16-3. apEX lead the server with 24 kills and Kenny "kennyS" Schrub followed close by with 22 kills. bondik had 17 kills for Flipsid3 but the rest of the Ukrainian team struggled, including the in game leader B1ad3 with just 6 kills. EnVyUs went on to face the winner of Luminosity Gaming and Team Kinguin.

Luminosity Gaming vs. Team Kinguin

Casters: JKaplan & Machine

Luminosity Gaming (LG) was an up-and-coming team, surprising many after achieving Legends status at its very first major at Katowice 2015 when it was under the banner of Keyd Stars; it lost to NiP in the initial matches, but upset HellRaisers and CLG to make it to the playoffs. There, it lost to the Polish legends of Virtus.pro, but took a map off of the team. After becoming the first South American team to make the major, LG went from obscurity to fame. Team Kinguin was the newly formed team that was made of European star free agents. It defeated PENTA Sports, KILLERFISH, and Team Dignitas to reach the major. Kinguin was favored by 92% of Pick'Em predictions to defeat the Brazilians. Kingiun started with a 3-0 lead after the pistol and anti-economy rounds before LG got its first round. However, Kinguin picked up an economy round to make it 4-1 but LG came right back with an economy round of its own to make it 4-2. In the 7th round, Fernando "fer" Alvarenga took down Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom with just over a minute left. Dennis "dennis" Edman killed Marcelo "coldzera" David, but Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo traded out Håvard "rain" Nygaard. fer then wrapped up onto dennis and FalleN took down Ricardo "fox" Pacheco after the Portuguese player knocked out Ricardo "boltz" Prass. Mikail "Maikelele" Bill was able to kill fer midair, but FalleN held the angle from where the former NiP member was coming from and LG secured the round. The score was 6-5 when LG went on a 10-1 run to close out the map 16-6. LG went on to face EnVyUs in the winner's match.

Team EnVyUs vs. Luminosity Gaming

Casters: JKplan & Semmler

EnVyUs and LG both made quick work of their opponents in their first matches, with both winning by double digits.

The two teams traded two rounds each heading into the fifth round. fer took down kioShiMa early but kennyS was able to trade out Lucas "steel" Lopes. FalleN stepped down from the Drop area on the map and took down Vincent "Happy" Cervoni, but apEX flanked across the map and took down fer. NBK- won a duel against boltz but coldzera was able to trade him out shortly after. FalleN planted the bomb after taking down apEX and kennyS was forced to back away as he was on the other side of the map with no defuse kit, which reduces the time to defuse the bomb from 10 to 5 seconds. LG took a 4-2 lead. The game was close until the end, as each team had 8 rounds on its terrorist side and 7 rounds on its counter-terrorist side. EnVyUs took the first overtime round to go up 16-15. In the next round, steel was taken down by NBK- but boltz was there to trade. apEX and boltz found kills onto coldzera and kioShiMa, respectively, on nearly the same time, but apEX gave the French team the man advantage as he caught boltz reloading his gun. apEX took down fer while FalleN took down Happy. FalleN would then have one of the most memorable plays in major history, as he took a random unscoped shot through smoke and took down apEX through a door, leaving both AWPers of the teams in a 1 vs 1 situation. FalleN was not so lucky against kennyS as he pulled out his pistol just as kennyS peeked to take a shot. EnVyUs would close out the map and move on to the playoffs while LG moved on to the second group stage on the winner's side. FalleN lead all players with 33 kills and fer had 28 kills, but apEX's 31 kills and Happy's 30 kills were able to give EnVyUs the edge over LG.

Fnatic vs. Team eBettle

Casters: Joe Miller & Fifflaren

Fnatic looked to defend its title from ESL One Katowice 2015, in which it defeated Vox Eminor and Natus Vincere in the group stage, PENTA Sports in the quarterfinals, Virtus.pro in the semifinals, and Ninjas in Pyjamas in the finals. The little-known Team eBettle upset HellRaisers and Titan to make the major. Fnatic came into the match as overwhelming favorites.

The match would end up being a one-sided affair. Fnatic started with a 3-0 lead before eBettle got one round back. In the 5th round, Bartosz "Hyper" Wolny took down Robin "flusha" Rönnquist with 1:05 remaining in the round. With less than 30 seconds remaining, eBettle charged into the B bombsite, but Fnatic captain Markus "pronax" Wallsten found Dominik "GruBy" Świderski and Piotr "peet" Ćwikliński and nearly took down Damian "Furlan" Kisłowski but died to the latter player's gun. Freddy "KRiMZ" Johansson was able to take down Furlan shortly after and then KRiMZ killed Karol "rallen" Radowicz after rallen planted the bomb. Hyper was able to take down Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer while the said Polish player was near the middle area, but Jesper "JW" Wecksell picked him off and KRiMZ defused the bomb. eBettle would have little success as Fnatic only allowed a total of two rounds and took the game 16-2. Hyper lead his team with 12 kills, but nobody else on the team was in double digits; meanwhile, olofmeister had 22 kills and flusha had 18 kills to lead Fnatic. The Swedes went on to face the winner of Natus Vincere and Titan.

Natus Vincere vs. Titan

Casters: Deman & Fifflaren

Natus Vincere (Na'Vi), at the previous major, defeated Flipsid3 Tactics and Vox Eminor and lost to Fnatic in the group stage, but fell to Team EnVyUs in the quarterfinals. The team has never made it past the quarterfinals despite being at many majors. Titan was also at the last major, but it lost to its fellow countrymen Team EnVyUs and then lost to the Germans of PENTA Sports to be knocked out at 13th place. At the major qualifier, it lost to Team eBettle in the winner's bracket, but defeated LGB eSports in the loser's bracket for a flight to Cologne.

The game fluctuated heavily. Na'Vi started strong heading into the 13th round with a 9-3 lead. In that round, Titan executed towards the B bombsite. However, Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács picked off Titan's star player Richard "shox" Papillon. Egor "flamie" Vasilyev threw a flashbang grenade for Na'Vi captain Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko and he took down Cédric "RpK" Guipouy and Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux. Titan's captain Kevin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans was able to sneak from the A bombsite and catch flamie and Zeus but he was shortly killed by Denis "seized" Kostin. The Swiss player Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez quickly traded. GuardiaN went back to the A bombsite, but Maniac only pretended to run back to A but walked back to B. However, Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev was sneaking up the whole time and caught Maniac trying to plant the bomb. Na'Vi ended the half with the 11-4 lead before the two teams switched sides. Titan came roaring back as its defense held up strong against Na'Vi's terrorist side. Na'Vi reached map point first at 15-13, but Titan claimed one more round. In the last round of regulation, round 30, Na'Vi executed towards the B bombsite and got the bomb planted fairly early. Rpk took down flamie shortly after the plant and Maniac caught seized with his back turned. Zeus took down Ex6TenZ but Maniac took down GuardiaN in the meantime. Zeus was able to take down Maniac but shox pushed through and took down both Edward and Zeus and defused the bomb to send the game to overtime. The overtime rounds were also close. Na'Vi once again got to map point first at 18-17. In the last round of the first overtime, Titan only had four pistols and one rifle to spend its remaining money on grenades. Titan went to the B bombsite. Ex6TenZ tried to push through but Zeus took him down. Rpk was able to trade, but seized but seized traded right back. flamie then locked onto shox and seized followed up onto SmithZz. Maniac caught Edward looking the wrong way. Maniac tried to get the bomb that was dropped on the B bombsite, but all Na'Vi players were waiting and flamie sent Na'Vi to face off against Fnatic. shox topped the Titan scoreboard with 27 kills and Maniac was close by with 25. For Na'Vi, flamie had 29 kills, GuardiaN had 28, and Edward had 27 and all Na'Vi players had over 20 kills.

Fnatic vs. Natus Vincere

Casters: Deman & Fifflaren

Fnatic stomped on Team eBettle in its initial match while Natus Vincere had to scrape past France's second best team. This was a rematch of Katowice 2015's winner's match. Although it was a winner's match, Fnatic did not give Na'Vi any room for error. Na'Vi would only get two rounds on its terrorist half against Fnatic's Inferno counter-terrorist defense and then the Swedes took the last three rounds of the second half to easily send Na'Vi to the second group phase and them to the playoffs. olofmeister and flusha were on the top of the scoreboard once again, with 24 and 22 kills, respectively. GuardiaN was the only Na'Vi member with kills in the double digits as the Slovakian AWPer picked off 12 people. Edward only had 4 kills this game after 27 kills against Titan. Fnatic moved on the playoffs and Na'Vi was forced to wait another day.

Virtus.pro vs. Team Immunity

Casters: Semmler & HenryG

Virtus.pro (VP) was one of the few teams to appear at every major and placed top eight at every major with the exception of DreamHack Winter 2013; it also has one major win at ESL One Katowice 2014. At the previous major back in its home country, the Poles defeated 3DMAX and Cloud9 in the group stage and defeated Keyd Stars (now Luminosity Gaming) but fell in the semifinals to Fnatic, which ended up being the eventual winners. Team Immunity was playing in its first ever major; at the qualifier, it defeated MVP Karnal from Indonesia.

Immunity started with a 3-0 lead before VP tied things right back up. The Polish team eventually took a 6-3 lead going into the 10th round. There, Chris "emagine" Rowland started with an early kill onto Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski. Filip "NEO" Kubski was able sneak up on Immunity with roughly 50 seconds left but was only able to tag some damage before falling back. Immunity chased NEO, but James "James" Quinn killed his own teammate in Karlo "USTILO" Pivac before taking down the VP in game leader. James made up for the team kill by taking down the Counter-Strike veteran Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas. Paweł "byali" Bieliński caught out a flanking Iain "SnypeR" Turner. Ricky "Rickeh" Mulholland was able to trade, but Rickeh did not see Jarosław "pashaBiceps" Jarząbkowski sneaking his way up onto the A bombsite corner. pashaBiceps attempted to put down a smoke grenade and flash his way past the last two members of Immunity, but James found his fourth kill of the round to give the Australians their fourth round. VP went with a 9-6 lead into the half, a much better half for Immunity than most had anticipated. However, when the teams switched sides, VP's offense proved too much and VP went on a 7-2 run in the second half to claim the Cobblestone map, 16-8. pashaBiceps lead all players with 22 kills and byali followed with 20 kills. USTILO had the most impact for Immunity with 17 kills while the rest of the team struggled. VP went on to face the winner of mousesports and Cloud9.

mousesports vs. Cloud9

Casters: Pansy & HenryG

mousesports acquired Legends status for the second straight major since its debut at DreamHack Winter 2014. Under the team PENTA Sports at the previous major, it fell to LGB eSports of Norway but bounced back to defeat Titan from France and then got revenge against LGB in the elimination match. In the quarterfinals, it fell to the eventual champions of Fnatic. Cloud9 was also at the last major, in which it upset Team SoloMid in the initial matches, but lost to VP and TSM to be eliminated from the tournament at 9th place. At the major qualifier, it defeated Team eLevate. Cloud9 was the favorite to win the match.

The first half was close as the Americans and the Germans continually traded rounds. mousesports went up 5-1 and then 7-3 before Cloud9 went on a 4-1 run to close the half. mousesports was still up by 1 round at that point. mousesports won the second half pistol round and had a chance to go up 11-7. Cloud9 forced bought in the 17th round, which included to SSG sniper rifles, which is a much weaker AWP and three pistols. mousesports started to go to the A bombsite but Cloud9 was able to spot them. Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham was able to kill mousesports captain Fatih "gob b" Dayik and then Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert and Michael "shroud" Grzesiek took down Chris "chrisJ" de Jong and Johannes "nex" Maget, respectively, in quick succession. Denis "denis" Howell took down n0thing but Cloud9's leader Sean "seang@res" Gares was able to trade. Timo "Spiidi" Richter was too far away from the fight and had to let the clock run down to zero and give Cloud9 the round win. That seemed to be the turning point as Cloud9 went on an 8-1 run to close the map out 16-10. seang@res lead the server with 24 kills and mousesports's denis had 21. shroud followed close by with 19. Cloud9 went on to face VP.

Virtus.pro vs. Cloud9

Casters: Pansy & HenryG

The map bans went to Cobblestone, a map both teams are strong on, as VP has historically been good on and Cloud9 defeated Fnatic recently on the map. The teams traded three rounds each before Cloud9 took the lead at 4-3. It eventually reached 6-3 and then 7-5 in the Americans' favor, but VP held strong and took the last three rounds of the half for an 8-7 advantage. However, like in VP's last map, Cloud9's defense struggled against the Polish offense. VP went up 13-7 before Cloud9 finally got a round on the board. In the 22nd round, NEO started early with a kill on seang@res. Skadoodle took down byali but Snax was able to kill shroud about twenty seconds later. n0thing spotted NEO creeping into the bombsite and started shooting, but NEO was able to react quickly and take the Cloud9 veteran down. Skadoodle was able to kill Snax and Ryan "fREAKAZOiD" Abadir took down NEO to make the field even, but TaZ was able to trade, leaving the A bombsite open. Skadoodle found TaZ through a pillar and pashaBiceps took that as a cue to rotate back to the B bombsite to plant the bomb with roughly five seconds left. Skadoodle ran into the bombsite and pashaBiceps heard the Cloud9 AWPer and took him down. Cloud9 would find no success after and VP took the game 16-8. TaZ had 25 kills and byali had 22 kills to lead VP to the win. shroud was close with 19 kills, but other players like seang@res who only had 5 kills did not show up. VP went on to the playoffs and became Legends once again.

Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team eBettle

Casters: Joe Miller & HenryG

The second best teams from the teams' respective regions faced off. CLG from the United States lost a close game to the Ninjas in Pyjamas in the first match of the majors. Meanwhile, eBettle from Poland was stomped on by Fnatic back in Group C. In this game, eBettle did not show the hardships it had shown against Fnatic. CLG took the pistol round after jdm64 had a ninja defuse, meaning that the CLG player was defusing the bomb and none of the eBettle players knew that he was defusing. CLG eventually took a 10-5 lead at the half. However, eBettle proved that its counter-terrorist half could go head-to-head with that of CLG. The Poles tied the score at 10 and then an 11-10 lead before CLG took a 12-11 lead. The score later became a 15-14 CLG lead affair heading into round number 30. In the last round, CLG had full grenades to work with, but reltuC only had a pistol so that he could afford grenades. On the other side, eBettle had all the guns and equipment it needed, including an auto-sniper on GruBy. GruBy was on the A bombsite but later rotated to the B bombsite with less than a minute remaining but CLG was about to run into the A bombsite. peet was able to pick off hazed with the AWP, but reltuC caught Hyper near middle. rallen was able to trade, but tarik was there to trade out rallen. jdm64 took down peet in the back of the A bombsite. tarik planted the bomb, but GruBy caught tarik running for cover. FNS took down GruBy, who spotted jdm64. Furlan traded, but jdm64 secured the last kill of the game. peet lead all players with 27 kills and Hyper and GruBy had 21 kills each, but it was not enough against hazed's 24 kills and tarik's 22 kills. CLG moved on to the next stage of the group stage and eBettle was eliminated.

Natus Vincere vs. Counter Logic Gaming

Casters: Deman & HenryG

CLG just came off of a win in a close game against Team eBettle. In the group stage, Na'Vi defeated Titan in a close game that ended in overtime, but, like eBettle, was dominated by Fnatic 16-2. CLG started with a 6-1 lead before Na'Vi stormed back with 4 rounds. The two teams continued to trade rounds until the end of the half, but it was the Americans who pulled ahead 9-6 heading into the second half. Na'Vi closed the gap to 9-8, but CLG, who was on weak pistols in the next round, was able to win the round after jdm64's 1 vs. 2 clutch. The game came down to Na'Vi at 15 rounds and CLG at 14 rounds going into the last round of regulation. However, CLG was only on upgraded pistols while Na'Vi had mostly a full buy. tarik started CLG well with a kill onto flamie,but Zeus lined up tarik and FNS to sway the advantage back into Na'Vi favor. Edward then caught hazed trying to sneak up, GuardiaN picked off jdm64 with his AWP, and seized clinched the map with a kill onto CLG's in game leader reltuC. jdm64 had a big game with 32 kills and tarik was second on the server with 28 kills, but the rest of the team fell behind severely, including reltuC on just 11 kills. Na'Vi had flamie's 27 kills and Zeus's 22 kills to lead the way for the CIS team. Na'Vi obtained Legends status and clinched a spot in the playoffs once again and CLG was eliminated.

Team Kinguin vs. Team Immunity

Casters: Anders Blume & JKaplan

Group F began with the Europeans against the Australians. Both teams did not do very well in their first matches. Kinguin was stomped on by Luminosity Gaming and Immunity were run over by Virtus.pro. Immunity started with a pistol round win, but Kinguin won a force buy in the second round and went on to a 4-1 lead before Immunity picked up a second. In the seventh round, rain went through the long area doors through fire and SnypeR took advantage with an early kill. However, Immunity failed to provide backup and SnypeR was taken down by ScreaM. emagine was killed by dennis, but dennis was caught off guard by USTILO, who was sneaking up on him. fox planted the bomb with ScreaM covering him. Rickeh tried to hit the planting terrorist with a jumping no scope but missed. Rickeh jumped up a second time and was able to hit the Belgian player to give Immunity the advantage. fox returned a kill onto USTILO. James eliminated fox, but Maikelele was waiting in the long area and took down Rickeh. However, Maikelele did not realize James was defusing the bomb and Immunity clinched the round. Immunity ended the half with a surprising 9-6 lead over the European favorites. Immunity eventually reached a 13-8 lead and Kinguin was on its last leg. However, Kinguin's defense became sturdy and the team was able to pull off eight straight rounds and avoid the upset. dennis and Rickeh lead the server with 27 kills and USTILO and ScreaM had 23 kills. Kinguin stayed alive in the tournament and Immunity was sent home.

Cloud9 vs. Team Kinguin

Casters: Semmler & JKaplan

Team Kinguin survived a scare against Immunity in a game it was heavy favorites. Cloud9 was able to win against mousesports, but the Americans fell to Virtus.pro in the winner's match. Cloud9 came into the match as favorites. Kinguin started with a 2-0 lead, but Cloud9 was able to win the first gun round. Cloud9 tied things up, but Kinguin eventually took a 5-3 lead. Cloud9 tied things at 5 going in to the 11th round. ScreaM won a duel against fREAKAZOiD. Skadoodle took down Maikelele from the long area to the A bombsite and seang@res's molotov roasted rain to death and Cloud9 had a man advantage. dennis took down n0thing on catwalk, but was immediately traded by shroud. shroud followed up onto ScreaM. fox was able to take down shroud but was forced to back off as he had no defuse kit, which halves the time to defuse the bomb, and had to players to find. Cloud9 took a 9-6 lead going into the second half. The game eventually reached 13-13 after Cloud9 won a full economy round with just pistols and no armor. In the next round, ScreaM was able to pull off a clutch to put Kinguin back in the lead and then the Europeans rolled through the next two rounds to win 16-13. Maikelele ended the game with 24 kills after starting the match with little impact and ScreaM had 23 kills. fREAKAZOiD had 23 kills and Skadoodle had 22, but it was not enough to push Cloud9 to the playoffs. Kinguin acquired a legends spot and Cloud9 was eliminated.

Titan vs. Renegades

Casters: moses & Machine

Titan lost a very close game against Natus Vincere in its initial match, as the two teams went to overtime and lost by two rounds. Renegades had a somewhat close game against Denmark's best team in Team SoloMid, but fell short in the end.

The French powerhouse of Titan went up against Australia's best team Renegades. Titan took the first three rounds before Renegades took two. Titan took one more, but yam taking down Rpk and SmithZz at the bottom of middle and SPUNJ trading out Ex6TenZ at the top of middle gave Renegades a strong advantage. Maniac took out Havoc at the A bombsite. shox tried to make a play, but a quick reaction from SPUNJ with the AWP yam dropped left Maniac alone. Maniac tapped away at AZR, but SPUNJ took down the last Titan member to reset the French team's economy. Titan forced up the next round with two rifles and three pistols. SPUNJ took down a blind SmithZz in the underpass area of Mirage, which leads up to the bottom middle area. Rpk traded him out almost immediately. Ex6TenZ killed yam with his pistol and AZR traded the Titan in-game leader out. shox caught out Havoc on the A bombsite, but Rpk was taken down by AZR in the meantime. AZR almost killed Maniac, but lost the duel. The remaining two members of Titan went to the B bombsite to plant the bomb. After jks was spotted by Maniac, jks opted to simply give Titan the round and backed away to tie the game at four. After Titan reached six rounds, Renegades seemed to adapt and quickly took over the half, not allowing Titan to take another round to end up on top 9-6. The second half went great for the Australians. Little success went to the French as they only took three rounds, allowing Renegades to pull off the upset win. SPUNJ had 27 kills and AZR had 23 to lead Renegades. Maniac's 18 and shox's 17 kills were not enough and Titan was eliminated in last place.

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Renegades

Casters: moses & Machine

NiP defeated Counter Logic Gaming in a very close first game but struggled immensely against Team SoloMid to send the Swedes to the second round of group stage. Renegades came off of an upset win against Titan and looked to ride the momentum.

Renegades started off strong after a strong performance from jks in the pistol round and won the next round. However, NiP was able to win an economy round and set the tone for the rest of the map. The Swedes went on to win twelve of the last thirteen rounds to close out the half at 12-3. In an important thirteenth round to get Renegades back into the game with NiP up 9-3, GeT_RiGhT found a quick kill onto AZR and friberg took out SPUNJ in the banana area of Inferno. Havoc won a duel against f0rest, but allu was able to kill jks. allu peeked again to erase Havoc. yam was able to find a running friberg, but Xizt took out yam who was trying to retrieve the bomb. Renegades was able to find two rounds in the second half, but NiP proved to be too strong. allu had 27 kills and f0rest had 25 kills to lead NiP. jks finally stepped up for his team with 17 kills, but AZR and yam only had 5 kills each. NiP qualified for the playoffs and Renegades was eliminated.

mousesports vs. FlipSid3 Tactics

Casters: Fifflaren & Pansy

FlipSid3 started off well in the first half, as the Ukrainians took a massive 8-2 lead. mousesports took three rounds to make it 8-5, but was in danger of being reset in terms of its economy late in the half. In the 14th round, denis found bondik with 23 seconds left in the round as FlipSid3 needed to plant the bomb quickly. denis found another kill onto DavCost and chrisJ followed up onto B1ad3. chrisJ killed a blind WorldEdit and then followed up onto markeloff and mousesports won the round. A turnaround from the Germans allowed them to make it a one-round game. mousesports won the first four rounds of the second half to put it in a good position to win the game. However, FlipSid3 was able to tie the game at twelve to bring it back into the game. FlipSid3 then took the lead heading into the 26th round. There, with about thirty seconds to go in the round, WorldEdit peeked from his hiding spot to take down denis and then bondik found a quick double kill onto Spiidi and nex. gob b killed markeloff on the B bombsite and then followed up onto WorldEdit with about twenty seconds to go. DavCost took out chrisJ with an AWP and bondik found a third kill onto gob b and FlipSid3 won a critical round. The teams went back and forth. In the last round of regulation with FlipSide up 15-14, FlipSid3 was on a very limited buy with three less-than-optimal rifles, a weak sniper rifle, and a submachine gun that does not penetrate armor very well with almost no grenades. mousesports tried to rush down the long A area, but DavCost found a headshot onto denis with his sniper rifle. As mousesports headed out to the A bombsite, nex took down markeloff and chrisJ killed DavCost on the A bombsite. B1ad3 tried to spray with his submachine gun, but the FlipSid3 captain could only tack on some damage and no kills. bondik was able to trade one with a kill onto gob b. WorldEdit won a crucial duel against chrisJ, but was traded out by nex and bondik was already spotted by Spiidi. However, Spiidi was left on 14 health points and nex on 5 and bondik was still full at 100. nex planted the bomb, but bondik won the 1 vs 2 clutch to keep FlipSid3 alive in the tournament. markeloff had 30 kills and bondik had 28 to lead FlipSid3. nex had 25 kills and denis had 24, but Spiidi only had 16 kills as mousesports was eliminated.

Luminosity Gaming vs. FlipSid3 Tactics

Casters: Fifflaren & Pansy

LG dominated in its game against Kinguin, but fell just short against EnVyUs in an overtime game. The last playoff spot would go to the winner of this game. The game started with LG taking a huge 9-2 lead, but FlipSid3 made adjustments and took the last four rounds to make it close at 9-6. FlipSid3 continued to ride momentum as it went on a 9-3 run to get to match point first at 15-12. In the 28th round, B1ad3 smoked off the long A area, but an aggressive coldzera jumped right through and won the duel against the FlipSid3 in-game leader. DavCost hit a quick flick onto boltz after LG waited some time. DavCost tried to run away to the bombsite after killing boltz, but FalleN was able to take down the FlipSid3 AWPer. coldzera then killed WorldEdit and fer followed through onto markeloff. bondik got one kill onto fer, but after being dinked to one health point, bondik fell back to save his gun. LG eventually completed the comeback in regulation. The two teams traded three rounds each and the game headed to double overtime. The second overtime was a different story as LG took four rounds straight and the Brazilians kept its Legends status. The two in-game leaders topped the scoreboard as B1ad3 had 41 kills and FalleN took down 37. FlipSid3 was eliminated and LG moved on to the playoffs.

Team EnVyUs vs. Natus Vincere

Team EnVyUs easily took down FlipSid3 Tactics in the initial matches of the group stage, but had to squeak past Luminosity Gaming in overtime to take the top spot in Group B. Natus Vincere had to fight its way past Titan in overtime but was dominated by Fnatic. However, it was able to reach the playoffs but barely pulled out a win against Counter Logic Gaming in the second phase of the group stages. EnVyUs came in as heavy favorites, especially with the recent struggles Na'Vi had been experiencing.

Casters: Anders Blume, Deman, & JKaplan

The first match at the Lanxess Arena had the best team from France against the best team in the CIS region. Na'Vi started out the quarterfinals strong as seized's three kills to start the series lead to a 3-0 start. After EnVyUs took the fourth round, the French were in danger of having their economy reset. flamie went aggressive into the Banana area of the map, which leads to the B bombsite from the terrorist spawn, and a flashbang had most of EnVyUs blind. Despite some damage, NBK- was able to take down flamie without anyone dying for EnVyUs. NBK- then went aggressive with the bomb and tried to duel out seized, but seized won the duel. More heroics from seized lead to the deaths of kioShiMa and apEX at nearly identical times. A Zeus high explosive grenade killed an already crippled kennyS and before Happy could do anything, seized took him down through a smoke grenade, giving Na'Vi a three-round lead again. However, a force buy from EnVyUs lead to a round for the French after catching Na'Vi off guard. A reply from Na'Vi the next round gave the CIS team another three round lead. EnVyUs bought up again with what limited money it had and then came one of the most memorable rounds in CS:GO. With about thirty seconds gone from the clock, EnVyUs started pushing towards the A bombsite. GuardiaN took out kioShiMa. NBK- killed Zeus but was traded out by Edward and seized took down Happy. Edward tried to get a second kill, apEX took him down with his pistol. kennyS took out seized on the A bombsite. kennyS planted the bomb and took out flamie some seconds after. GuardiaN took down apEX with a quick shot with his AWP. GuardiaN then charged to the site to defuse the bomb while kennyS had his pistol out to kill him. After a brief struggle, kennyS pulled out his knife while GuardiaN kept trying to hit the French player with his sniper rifle and the struggle ended with kennyS knifing GuardiaN after avoiding all the shots GuardiaN fired. The half later ended with Na'Vi up 8-7. Na'Vi later took an 11-7 lead after winning the pistol and two anti-economy rounds. Na'vi later won a crucial 13th round, but EnVyUs responded with three straight rounds. In the 24th round, with under a minute apEX went aggressive in the apartments area of the map, which is next to the A bombsite, and killed an off-guard flamie with the help of kioShiMa. kennyS landed a quick shot onto GuardiaN in the battle of the two best AWPers at the time, but was traded out by Zeus right after. Zeus then landed a headshot onto apEX, evening out the player count. kioShiMa was able to kill Zeus, but Edward rushed out right after to trade. seized subsequently planted the bomb. A few moments later, Edward sneaked up onto Happy to leave it up to NBK-. NBK- found seized in the corner but he was dinked down to 19 health points. NBK- then took a huge risk and started defusing the bomb with Edward still alive. He threw am ineffective flashbang while Edward through a molotov onto NBK-. However, it was too late for the Ukrainian player and NBK- got the defuse and won the round. EnVyUs continued to ride the momentum and completed the comeback from 7-13 to 16-13. apEX lead all players with 26 kills and kennyS had 21 kills. Na'Vi had 23 kills each from seized and Zeus.

Na'Vi had an even better start than last map's start with a 4-0 lead and then an 8-1 lead. However, EnVyUs readjusted and went on to win six rounds in a row to make the score close, but Na'Vi was still up 8-7 before the teams switched sides. EnVyUs won its first pistol of the series and then went up 12-8. In the 21st round, EnVyUs executed towards the A bombsite. apEX was able to quickly rush down GuardiaN and then followed up onto Zeus. Edward was able to finally take apEX down, but consecutive kills from NBK- and kioShiMa onto flamie and Edward, respectively, left seized alone on the B bombsite. Mirage continued to be the story of EnVyUs as it only allowed Na'Vi to take two rounds in the second half before closing out the game. Since Na'Vi's 7-1 lead, EnVyUs went on a 15-3 tear. Happy lead all players with 25 kills while his teammates were bunched up with 19 or 20 kills. Edward had 22 kills, but his team fell behind, as seized only had 12 kills and flamie with 13. EnVyUs moved on to the semifinals and Natus Vincere was eliminated.

Team EnVyUs vs. Natus Vincere Scores
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team EnVyUs	16	Inferno	13	Natus Vincere
Team EnVyUs	16	Mirage	10	Natus Vincere
Team EnVyUs	–	Dust II	–	Natus Vincere

Team SoloMid vs. Team Kinguin

Team SoloMid had a relatively easy time in the group stage, defeating the Renegades in somewhat of a close game and easily took down the Swedish powerhouse of the Ninjas in Pyjamas. Team Kinguin lost to Luminosity Gaming in a game that Brazilians took full control in the first part of the group stage, but the European team pulled itself together and took down the Australians of Team Immunity and the Americans of Cloud9, both in close games.

Casters: Pansy, HenryG, & Machine

As a new Legend, Team Kinguin was the underdog against the experienced Team SoloMid. Map one was on Dust II and TSM took the pistol round after a device 1 vs. 2 clutch against Maikelele and fox. TSM later went up 4-0. As Kinguin were pushing through the doors that connect the terrorist spawn to the long area of the map, TSM's captain karrigan sprayed but could not find a target as rain took him down. device was pushed up aggressively in the upper tunnels area, which leads to the B bombsite and nearly caught dennis off guard but he missed and dennis took him down and Kinguin had a two-man advantage. cajunb took out ScreaM back at the A bombsite and dupreeh was able to trade out dennis to keep it even. A quick peek from Maikelele was enough for Kinguin's in-game leader to take out cajunb with the AWP. dupreeh killed fox while Xyp9x failed to kill rain. rain planted the bomb, but was taken out by Xyp9x shortly after. Maikelele took down dupreeh, but the repeek onto dupreeh cost him and TSM went up 5-0 after Xyp9x defused the bomb. TSM kept rolling all the way to 8-0 before Kinguin finally took a round. After the 0-8 deficit, Kinguin made it a reasonable scoreline at the half with a 6-1 run to make it 6-9 before the teams switched sides. However, the second half belonged to TSM. A 7-0 second half easily had the Danes push past Kinguin for the first map victory. karrigan had 26 kills and dupreeh was close by with 24 kills. ScreaM had 16 kills for Kinguin, but fox had very limited impact with just 6 kills.

On Overpass, TSM won the pistol round, but Kinguin won the following economy round with ScreaM's three kills with a pistol and went on to go up 5-1. At 5-2, dupreeh found an early kill on fox about twenty seconds into the round. Xyp9x planted the bomb and then dennis took out dupreeh. ScreaM then caught out Xyp9x. Maikelele started to defuse the bomb and then rain took out cajunb. karrigan just about took out Maikelele and device quickly followed up onto a blind ScreaM. dennis traded out device and then killed karrigan, leaving rain just about time to defuse the bomb. TSM later brought it all the way back despite starting on the less favored side and took the lead at the half after a 5-2 run. The second half proved to be Kinguin's enemy against TSM as the multinational team could barely get anything going as the only round it had was with TSM already up 14-7 and required fox's four kills, which included a 1 vs. 2 clutch. TSM followed up with the last two rounds and went on to the semifinals against Team EnVyUs. dupreeh had 26 kills and karrigan had 22 to lead TSM. ScreaM had 18 kills, but fox and dennis were both quiet at just 11. TSM looked to reach the finals for the first time in its roster history while Kinguin was eliminated.

Team SoloMid vs. Team Kinguin
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team SoloMid	16	Dust II	6	Team Kinguin
Team SoloMid	16	Overpass	8	Team Kinguin
Team SoloMid	–	Inferno	–	Team Kinguin

Virtus.pro vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas

Two legendary teams faced off in this quarterfinals. Virtus.pro had no problems taking down Team Immunity and Cloud9 in Group D. The Ninjas in Pyjamas, however, struggled in the first group stage, edging a win against Counter Logic Gaming before being taken down by Team SoloMid 16-3 in the winner's match. In the second group stage, the Swedes easily took down Renegades and moved on to the playoffs. Predictions of the winner were split right down the middle.

Casters: Anders Blume, Semmler, & moses

The two storied teams started out on Train, VP's map pick. NiP was able to jump out to a 5-0 lead before VP took two rounds. In round number seven, with less than ninety seconds to go in the round, a late reaction from friberg combined with a headshot from pashaBiceps allowed VP to take a one-round lead. However, GeT_RiGhT, who is widely known as the king of lurking, was able to sneak up and catch the bomb carrier byali and quickly turned around to take out Snax. pashaBiceps tried to make a play as his team was down a man, but f0rest was waiting on a creeping pashaBiceps to give NiP a two-man advantage. GeT_RiGhT got the backstab on NEO and he was able to defuse the planted bomb. TaZ was able to take down three NiP members after NEO was out, but the round went to the Swedes. VP would later come back to make it a 6-9 halftime score, but still in favor of NiP. One of the highlights of the tournament came in the second half pistol round. VP went very aggressive as the exited the B bombsite into terrorist territory of what is called halls, which connects the terrorist spawn to the B bombsite and VP had a 4 vs. 2 advantage and even took down the bomb carrier, so the terrorist were forced to grab the bomb while VP was just looking at it. Xizt later took out byali after the fiasco. allu shortly after killed a hiding pashaBiceps to even out the playing field, but VP still had the advantage as it still had control of the bomb. TaZ tried to make an aggressive play and was able to take out Xizt, but was traded immediately by allu. allu switched his Glock into burst-fire mode, which spray three bullets at a time and is wildly inaccurate, especially as allu was going up and down the ladder trying to land a shot on NEO while only on thirty health points. allu then switched back to a manual fire and then took a risk and went straight up the ladder, only to catch NEO reloading his pistol and land a fast headshot onto the VP in-game leader. NiP later took a 12-6 lead, but the Poles came all the way back to take a 15-14 lead. In the last round of regulation, VP had a strong buy barring a lack of grenades while NiP went to two AWPs, which are sniper rifles and usually a one shot, one kill weapon, a Galil AR, which is the inferior rifle to the AK-47, and two Tec-9s, which was arguably the best pistol in the game but still vastly inferior to a rifle. With less than twenty seconds left in the round, NiP decided to go to the B bombsite. TaZ caught an off-guard GeT_RiGhT, but was traded out by friberg. NEO then took out an unsuspecting f0rest, who was watching the connector area for VP players to rotate. friberg just about planted the bomb, but NEO took him down right after. Xizt found a shot onto byali with an AWP he picked up. Xizt continued to look for kills, but could not react fast enough to take down Snax. allu found a good shot onto Snax, but NEO was already on the defuse and allu could not stop it in time, giving VP the comeback victory. allu lead all players with 27 kills and f0rest had 23, but VP had TaZ with 25 kills, Snax with 24, and NEO with 22.

Inferno would be a different story. After NiP took a sixth round after a 5-0 VP start, VP was limited as pashaBiceps only had a MAG-7, a shot gun that only deals damage at very close ranges and has a long recoil time, and byali on a Five-seveN, a pistol, but the other three VP members had rifles. byali tried to make a play in the apartments area, which is next to the A bombsite, but GeT_RiGhT won the duel. TaZ later took down a rushing f0rest. friberg later killed pashaBiceps and Xizt found a headshot on TaZ, but Snax was able to trade out the NiP leader and then a follow up onto friberg before GeT_RiGhT took him down. NEO flanked the NiP members and was able to kill GeT_RiGhT and spotted allu shortly after. allu and NEO decided to duel it out and NEO quickly shut the Finn down and VP took an important seventh round, which would set the tone for the game. NiP never got into the stride it showed in the early rounds of Train and VP easily shut down the Swedes. Snax had 25 kills and byali had 22 to lead VP. GeT_RiGhT had 15 kills, but f0rest only had 7 as NiP was eliminated.

Virtus.pro vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Virtus.pro	16	Train	14	Ninjas in Pyjamas
Virtus.pro	16	Inferno	5	Ninjas in Pyjamas
Virtus.pro	–	Cache	–	Ninjas in Pyjamas

Fnatic vs. Luminosity Gaming

The most decorated CSGO team at the time, Fnatic, faced off against Luminosity Gaming, which was playing in just its second major and was the first South American team to play at a major. Fnatic faced nearly zero issues playing in the group stage, as it won both of its games by fourteen rounds against Team eBettle and Natus Vincere. Luminosity Gaming easily took down Team Kinguin but fell just short against Team EnVyUs in overtime, 16-19. In the second group stage, the Brazilians had to go into double overtime against FlipSid3 Tactics to make it to the playoffs. LG continued to perform at the major, but now it had to go against the strongest team in the world.

Casters: Deman, Joe Miller, & Fifflaren

The first map would be a complete blowout. After Fnatic took a 3-0 lead, LG finally had the weapons it needed. With about thirty seconds left in the round, pronax flashed himself into the Ivy area of Train, which leads to the A bombsite from the long area of the map, and took out boltz before coldzera traded. steel was able to kill olofmeister, but KRiMZ sneaked into a smoke grenade and killed FalleN and coldzera to quickly give Fnatic the advantage. JW jumped through a smoke grenade to take out fer and steel had to back off to save his rifle, setting the tone for the rest of the game. Fnatic would take a 12-3 halftime lead and then finish the game 16-5 to claim Train. olofmeister had 21 kills and flusha had 20. fer and coldzera both had 13 kills each, but steel and boltz fell behind as they each only had 8 kills.

Mirage was chosen by Fnatic, but it was a map LG gained international fame on. Fnatic claimed a 5-0 lead before LG came back with five of its own. Fnatic later went up 7-6 heading into the 14th round. Fnatic just reset LG's economy, but FalleN decided to force buy with three upgraded pistols, a shot gun, and a FAMAS, which is an inferior rifle to the usually used M4; LG also took a huge risk with putting four players on the A bombsite, leaving just coldzera on the B bombsite. Fnatic had the right read, as it stormed its way into the B bombsite, overwhelming coldzera as pronax took LG's star player down. fer killed olofmeister, who was lurking in the connector area, which connects the middle area to the A bombsite. fer then caught JW looking the wrong way and killed him, but Fnatic already planted the bomb. fer picked up the AWP JW dropped and killed KRiMZ, who was focusing on steel. fer immediately took out flusha right after and then used his pistol to kill pronax, giving fer the ace and enough time to defuse the bomb. Although fer single-handedly took out Fnatic, the experienced Swedes came back to take the last round of the half before the teams switched sides. The rest of the game would be incredibly close and the teams continued to go back and forth. The game was later tied 13-13, but LG lost a crucial round in one that it force bought, depleting its money for the next round. In round 29, with Fnatic up 15-13, olofmeister pushed up middle aggressively to catch an unsuspecting coldzera. flusha fell to boltz, but pronax backed him up with kills on steel and boltz, leaving the main core of LG – FalleN and fer – in a 2 vs. 4 to save the Brazilians. Fnatic left the A bombsite empty, so it gave LG an opportunity to set up. fer got a quick kill onto JW and FalleN got one onto olofmeister and then the LG in-game leader planted the bomb. fer then followed up onto KRiMZ, leaving pronax on just five health points to fall back and save his gun for the final round of regulation. Fnatic had limited money, but it still had a decent buy for the last round; LG was also somewhat limited as coldzera was only on the Galil AR, the terrorist inferior rifle to the AK-47. With just over thirty seconds left, LG executed to the B bombsite. pronax killed boltz, but steel was able to kill flusha. JW traded out steel and coldzera took down pronax, but boltz had the bomb and it was stuck on an elevated ground, giving trouble to LG. fer was hiding in the middle area and took out olofmeister, but KRiMZ traded him out as fer was jumping to the B bombsite. coldzera planted the bomb with just five seconds to spare. KRiMZ pushed on to the site and took down a wounded coldzera. FalleN was left and missed an important shot onto KRiMZ. FalleN hit KRiMZ the second time, but only legged him as KRiMZ barely stayed alive on eleven health points and then defused the bomb, giving the thriller in favor of Fnatic. olofmeister had 28 kills and KRiMZ had 24 kills as arguably the deadliest duo on the CS:GO scene came through once again. fer had 27 kills and coldzera had 22, but FalleN only had 16 kills and missed some crucial shots that he normally hits. Fnatic went on to play Virtus.pro and LG was eliminated in the quarterfinals once again.

Fnatic vs. Luminosity Gaming
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Fnatic	16	Train	5	Luminosity Gaming
Fnatic	16	Mirage	14	Luminosity Gaming
Fnatic	–	Cache	–	Luminosity Gaming

Team EnVyUs vs. Team SoloMid

Team EnVyUs had relatively close games against Natus Vincere while Team SoloMid did not have any problems against Team Kinguin. Both teams looked forward to making their first major finals as the French has had a resurgence in power and the Danes were one of the favorites to cruise into the finals, but EnVyUs was still the favorite in the head to head matchup.

Casters: Anders Blume, Semmler, & moses

The first map headed to Cache. TSM took the first round after EnVyUs sloppily tried to plant the bomb quickly, but EnVyUs decided to buy up with the limited money it had and won the round as this was something the French had proven to be successful at many times. However, karrigan decided he needed to keep the pressure up and decided his team needed to force buy in return. EnVyUs had four rifles and an SSG 08, which is the inferior sniper rifle as it usually does not have a one hit, one kill potential like the AWP does, onto NBK- while TSM was all on pistols. TSM had four players onto the B bombsite, hoping to get lucky that EnVyUs would execute towards that site and it started well as karrigan pushed kioShiMa and took him down; NBK- tried to make a play to at least even out the playing field, but dev1ce took him down. apEX was able to follow NBK- and kill karrigan, but dupreeh traded him out. Happy barely won a battle against cajunb, but Xyp9x was able to follow up to give TSM A 3 vs. 1 advantage. kennyS nearly got lucky as two TSM members were heading back to the A bombsite thinking the prized French AWPer would go to A to plant the bomb, but kennyS sneaked into B instead. Unfortunately for him, dupreeh was hiding right under the vents area, which connects the middle area to the B bombsite, and TSM was able to win a force of its own. TSM eventually went up 5-1, but adjustments from Happy's team let EnVyUs go on a nine-round win streak to close the half at 10-5 in its favor. In the second half, TSM won another pistol round and then the following five rounds to tie the game at 10. In the 21st round, NBK- sprayed through a smoke grenade his teammate put up in the middle main area and found karrigan to quickly give the French the advantage. The rest of TSM then decided to run into the B bombsite without using any of the utility it had, which proved to be a mistake, as kennyS took down dupreeh and flashbangs from the terrorist side allowed kioShiMa to pick up a frag on Xyp9x. cajunb was able to take out apEX, but kennyS quickly traded, but kennyS was downed by his teammate kioShiMa, who was also trying to kill cajunb. dev1ce was left in a 1 vs. 3 and although he was considered to be one of the most consistent players to play on a high level, it proved to be too much, as NBK- won a duel to put EnVyUs on top by one round. In the 28th round, EnVyUs was up 15-12 after a brawl in the A bombsite came down to kioShiMa winning a duel against dev1ce. While EnVyUs had full buys with the exception of two players with a lack of utility, TSM was limited to three rifles and two pistols while only two players had a good set of grenades to work with and karrigan didn't even have armor. With about thirty seconds left, TSM executed to the A bombsite. Happy took down Xyp9x and NBK killed karrigan, but dupreeh charged in to trade out both players and plant the bomb. apEX denied the plant as he ran in to take out dupreeh, but was immediately traded out by cajunb. dev1ce planted the bomb and cajunb swung around to catch kennyS off-guard, but could not kill kioShiMa. In another kioShiMa vs. dev1ce battle, kioShiMa clutched another round to secure the round. NBK- had 24 kills, but it was kioShiMa's performance in the end that ended in 22 kills to lead EnVyUs to take the map in what could have easily gone the other way.

The next map was Dust II, a map in which TSM had innovated many strategies and historically a map many teams avoid against the Danes, but EnVyUs decided to test the Danes by removing Overpass instead of Dust II. TSM came out dominant, starting with a pistol round that threw off EnVyUs's timing and then eventually a 7-0 lead before EnVyUs came back with five rounds. In the 13th round, TSM started towards the A bombsite with about fifty seconds left in the round. karrigan quickly ran through the counter-terrorist spawn to take out kennyS, who had been shutting down TSM for the past few rounds, but Happy quickly got the backstab to get the trade as the bomb was planted for TSM. dupreeh was caught off-guard but a creeping apEX, but was avenged by Xyp9x. However, Xyp9x was brought down very low, allowing Happy to get the easy kill. dev1ce found a quick flick onto the EnVyUs captain and the followed up onto kioShiMa. NBK- somehow won the duel against dev1ce's AWP, but did not spot cajunb. NBK- started to defuse the bomb, but a jump from cajunb pulled NBK- off the bomb. NBK- jumped down from the bombsite to kill cajunb, but he was two seconds to late to get to the bomb, finally giving TSM another round. The half would end with TSM up 9-6. In the second half, EnVyUs would be largely unsuccessful against TSM's defense as it only mustered up two rounds, compared to TSM's seven to take home the map. NBK- and apEX had 14 kills each for EnVyUs, but Xyp9x had 24 and karrigan had 20 to lead TSM to a relatively easy victory.

The last map went to Inferno, a historic map that many French teams had been aggressive and very successful on, but TSM also proved that it could take down some big names on the map. EnVyUs finally won a pistol round and kept going with a 5-0 lead before TSM took a round. In the 7th round, EnVyUs wanted to go to the A bombsite. cajunb found apEX and dupreeh took down kioShiMa before kennyS traded out dupreeh and Happy killed cajunb. dev1ce missed a crucial shot onto kennyS, who was carrying the bomb, but karrigan was able to blind Happy and then kennyS fell to Xyp9x, but after the bomb was planted. NBK- took down karrigan with a high explosive grenade to make it a 1 vs. 2, but despite the big disadvantage, NBK- took down the remaining TSM players to win a critical round. This would set the tone for the rest of the half as the French went up 12-3. In the second half, TSM won the pistol round and the following anti-economy round to give the team some life, but it lost a round in which EnVyUs barely invested anything into. TSM would get to nine rounds, but EnVyUs somehow winning economy rounds lead the team to the finals. NBK- continued to perform with 24 kills and apEX had 22 kills. karrigan had 16 kills, but with star players not coming alive, TSM failed to reach the finals for another major.

Team EnVyUs vs. Team SoloMid
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team EnVyUs	16	Cache	12	Team SoloMid
Team EnVyUs	8	Dust II	16	Team SoloMid
Team EnVyUs	16	Inferno	9	Team SoloMid

Virtus.pro vs. Fnatic

Virtus.pro barely won on Train, its map pick, 16-14 against the Ninjas in Pyjamas, but completely dominated the second map in Inferno to make the semifinals. Fnatic had the opposite story, as it dominated Luminosity Gaming on the first map but barely won the second map.

Casters: Pansy, Machine, & Fifflaren

The longtime fan favorites of VP set up on Mirage against the most storied CS:GO roster at the time. Fnatic took the early pistol round, but VP took advantage of Fnatic's mistakes in the second round to win the round with just pistols. Fnatic later went up 6-4, but round eleven was the start of a VP storm. olofmeister attempted to push the palace area, which is one of the entrances to the A bombsite, with the aid of his flashbang, but TaZ was ready and took down arguably the best player in the world, but KRiMZ was able to trade to keep the field even. KRiMZ took down Snax in the middle area and pronax was able to push through the apartments area, which leads to the B bombsite, and alert his teammates that nobody was near the B bombsite, allowing Fnatic to set up at the A bombsite to prepare for a VP attack. flusha was able to take down NEO before pashaBiceps traded. JW attempted to trade pashaBiceps out, but the Pole came out on top again. pronax was in the connector area, which connects middle to the A bombsite and was caught off-guard by pashaBiceps. to suddenly give the advantage to VP. KRiMZ was pushing to the B bombsite, but pashaBiceps was there to get his fourth kill of the round. VP would tear through the rest of the match by taking twelve unanswered rounds to take the first map with ease. pashaBiceps tallied 22 kills to lead his team while flusha had 20 for Fnatic. Fnatic's star player in olofmeister struggled and only had 6 kills.

The second map proved to be an extremely close one. Fnatic would go up 7-4 before flusha pulled off a miraculous 1 vs. 3 clutch to make it 8-4. In round 14, with Fnatic up 8-5, the hero of the last map would turn up to have a career highlight of his own. Fnatic tricked VP and faked that it was going to the B bombsite, sending three players to the B bombsite with about 35 seconds left in the round while actually going to the A bombsite. pronax killed Snax i the arches area, which leads from the counter-terrorist spawn to the A bombsite, but pashaBiceps held his ground to kill pronax, KRiMZ, olofmeister, and JW, all within a span of two seconds. flusha went down and VP secured the round. The half ended 8-7 in favor of Fnatic. VP looked like it was going to have a replay of Mirage as it won the first six rounds of the second half to go up 13-8. pronax then proceeded to call one of his infamous timeouts, as Fnatic was very well known to come back from massive deficits after a timeout against any opponent. The pronax timeout worked once again, as Fnatic later tied the game at 13. VP would go up again at 14-13 and the next round would virtually decide which teams takes map 2, as VP had just won a round after consecutive losses, meaning that its economy would be in shambles if it lost, while Fnatic had three members relatively low on money. With 35 second left in the round, olofmeister took down byali in the arches area before dying to TaZ. flusha pushed through a smoke grenade to catch Snax off-guard while VP was going into the counter-terrorist spawn to try to wrap to the B bombsite. However, VP changed plans and tried to run down flusha, but the Swede was able to take down one more before falling. pashaBiceps was able to kill pronax, but he was quickly traded out by JW. TaZ planted the bomb, but he was unable to clutch, giving the crucial round to Fnatic. Fnatic finalized the comeback and took game 2 at 16-14. flusha had 28 kills and KRiMZ had 27. TaZ and Snax had 22 kills each, but it was not enough in the end.

VP took a solid 7-3 lead on Cobblestone in an effort to eliminate Fnatic in the semifinals. In the 11th round, Snax opened up the round with a kill onto KRiMZ, but was traded out by olofmeister. Meanwhile, VP executed towards the A bombsite, but Fnatic already rotated two players to prepare for the rush. flusha took down TaZ and byali took down flusha. pronax gave Fnatic the mad advantage back with a kill onto byali and olofmeister followed up onto pashaBiceps. NEO was unable to make much from the 1 vs. 3 and Fnatic started a streak that VP had no answers for. Starting with that round, Fnatic came through with 13 unanswered rounds, including an 8-0 sweep in the second half to push Fnatic through against Team EnVyUs. olofmeister went big with 23 kills and flusha was close by with 20. TaZ had 19 kills, but the big performers in Snax and pashaBiceps only had 9 kills each.

Virtus.pro vs. Fnatic
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Virtus.pro	16	Mirage	6	Fnatic
Virtus.pro	14	Inferno	16	Fnatic
Virtus.pro	7	Cobblestone	16	Fnatic