ESL One Cologne has concluded with the trophy for the current #1 CS:GO team in the world, Team Liquid.
The Playoffs
The latter half of the event started with 6 teams, easily among the best currently.
Vitality overran NRG
In the quarter-final, Vitality met up with NRG. The #2 North American squad, NRG recently brought in the ex-IGL of complexity, Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz. That was supposed to help the team with more firepower and tactical plays.
However, on a good day, Vitality fought so well with a great showing of Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut in 2 maps. The young star put up a whopping 1.87 rating on Dust2 and Mirage. That great performance helped to secure the match with an overwhelming score for Vitality. 16-7 twice in a row helped Vitality advance to the semi-final against Astralis.
NRG obviously had a terrible day, Tarik 'tarik' Celik made an awkward mistake and was extremely disappointed
Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte obviously didn’t either
Natus Vincere overpowered Ninjas
The clash between the 2 former giants of CS:GO saw Natus Vincere emerge victorious over 2 maps. The game was a close affair on Inferno and more one-sided on Mirage.
We got to witness one emotional GeT_RiGhT entering the stage
There are still fire and motivation in this man. He wants to go for it and never got the intention of retiring after all those years. This man is a legend.
Unfortunately, there is only one winner to proceed to the semi-final to meet with Team Liquid. That was Natus Vincere
Astralis’ comeback attempt denied by Vitality
The Danes since their downfall have yet to get back to their prime performance. This very tournament is where they need to do it. Astralis managed to do so well in this tournament in the group stage. They did not drop a single map to book semi-final ticket.
However, the Danes seemed unable to replicate what they managed to do last year. The team struggled quite a lot against some well-established teams like NRG and then Vitality. At some point of the game, only one or two individuals showed up and that was insufficient against the all fired up Frenchmen.
Vitality won their map pick, Dust2, handily with a scoreline of 16-8. They would then go for a hard-fought battle on Inferno in overtime. Only the shining moment of Nicolai 'device' Reedtz with a quad kill could save the day for Astralis.
The last map of the series was Overpass. This time again, Astralis seemed to fall apart with a disappointing performance from device. The 4 team members of the Danes couldn’t come online, leaving only Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth with positive stats. Vitality defeated Astralis 16-9 with amazing T-side start and tight defense CT-side. Zywo0 again topped the chart with an amazing 1.52 rating. What a great showing from the French CS.
Team Liquid once again overpowered Natus Vincere
The classic matchup between the #1 North American and the CIS giant happened earlier in the tournament. Last time Natus Vince was so close to victory had it not been for the Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev’s knife attempt.
This time in the semi-final, the veto was identical to the last encounter. However, this time, the game ended in 2 maps both the same scoreline 16-12. Team Liquid displayed a great showing from Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken with a 1.35 rating.
Interesting enough, the match this time was a great attempt from the latest addition into Na`Vi, Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov. He put up a decent performance with a 1.23 rating, being the only member in Na`Vi with a positive KD.
The enticing grand final
Team Liquid performance well throughout the whole tournament. They fought as a team and did not lose a single series. They looked set to claim their 4th big tournament trophy, making their way to the grand slam title.
Vitality also looked great in the tournament. They managed to defeat the likes of ENCE, NRG, and Astralis in Bo3s. This brought back the good old days when French CS:GO was so dominant in 2014-2015. Since then, the French scene struggled quite a lot to make deep runs into tournaments.
There, in Cologne Germany, the two finalists fought in a best of five series to claim the trophy of the S-tier event. In the most star-studded event this year 2019, fans all over the world all gathered in the Lanxess area to cheer for the highest level of Counter-Strike.
A great crowd
Though BIG, the home favorite failed to make it to the playoffs, the Germany crowd was still quite supportive. They cheered for the game and made good noise to warm up the area. The crowd could get quite hyped during clutches and important rounds.
A good start
The grand final started on Overpass, the map pick from Team Liquid. The North Americans started off on the right foot. In a good day for Twistzz, he pulled off a massive 1v4 clutch.
Liquid ended the first half with 9 rounds on T-side. The #1 team in the world would then go rampant and sweep Vitality with 7 rounds in a row to close out the map.
In an attempt to come back into the game, Vitality got a convincing pistol round on Dust2. On this very map, the French defeated Astralis handily that same way. Good pickups and executions. However, Team Liquid was nothing like Astralis. They managed to trade rounds back and forth, winning the first half with 8 rounds.
Vitality was so good in the tournament with pistol rounds. They started the second half with another convincing pistol round to tie out the scoreline. The two teams traded round back and forth to bring the game to overtime. The shining moment came when Zywo0 pulled off a 1v3 clutch to close out the map in overtime 19-17 for Vitality
Yet that was the most the Frenchmen could do. Liquid was so convincing in the next 2 maps, winning most as CT-side and decent T-side rounds to close out the 2 maps Inferno and Mirage. Team Liquid defeated Vitality 16-10 on Inferno and 16-8 on Mirage
Liquid won the series 3-1 to hoist the trophy of ESL One Cologne. What a great showing from the North Americans. This was the 4th trophy in S-tier tournament for Liquid. They were awarded the Grand Slam title along with $1 million in prize money.
Team Liquid worked really well as a team the whole tournament. However, the much-valued MVP title went to Zywo0 with his great dedication to his team. It was a well-deserved title for the young French star. He was a key element in his team play, making it possible for the Frenchmen to stay on the big stage at the final.
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