Despite being eight years old, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive keeps on growing. The game and the associated esport see a steady influx of new players and viewers. To get these newcomers familiar with the history of CS: GO, we will recap its most important moments in ‘Global Origins’. Today, we look back at the third major, ESL One Cologne 2014, and recap what happened at the event.
This article is part of a series. You can read the first part by clicking here.
While the first major had surpassed expectations, the second one smashed them. A quarter of a million people had watched as Virtus.pro lifted the trophy. Since then, the game had seen steady growth, almost doubling the active player base in five months. This success spurred Valve to organize another Major: ESL One Cologne 2014. It would once again have the same format, prize pool, and amount of participants. The biggest change was made to the maps. Thanks to the addition of Overpass and Cobblestone and swapping in Cache for Train, teams could now pick between seven maps.
Aiming for Number one
The most notable lineup change going into the tournament was Fnatic adding the ex-LGB duo of Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer and Freddy ‘krimz’ Johansson. They replaced Jonatan “Devilwalk” Lundberg, who became the coach of the team, and Andreas “schneider” Lindberg. The ComPlexity lineup was taken over by Cloud9, replacing Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce with Michael “shroud“ Grzesiek. And finally, Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen created a Danish roster under the name Copenhagen Wolves. The team featured all the Danish top players available at the time.
Because the LGB roster had fallen apart, with krimz and olofmeister joining Fnatic and the other players scattering around the Swedish scene, a spot at the major became vacant. This spot went to a new region, India.
The biggest storyline was whether NIP could break their final-losing curse. The Ninjas had played in all the Major finals thus far but had lost both of them. Their star player, Christopher ‘GeT_RiGht’ Alesund, alluded to their problem closing out finals in an interview with HLTV. “We’re aiming for the number one spot. I think it’s time for us to clinch on those majors”, the Swede said about their ambitions, adding: “Even though it’s going to be really tough with so many good teams attending.”
Titans crumble
NIP kicked off the action in Group A by beating Indian representatives Wolf. In the other opener, Epsilon dominated Hellraiser. The French team, who formerly played as Clan Mystyk, later beat NIP to top the group. The Ninjas had to play a decider against Hellraisers, beating them on Overpass the secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
In Group B, Na’Vi, LDLC.com, and Copenhagen Wolves were all considered to be equally matched. LDLC had no problem beating the fourth team, London Conspiracy, as had Na’Vi with overcoming Copenhagen Wolves in the opening matches. The winners game saw an exciting game on Inferno between the French and the Russians, with the former coming out on top. Copenhagen Wolves earned a rematch against Na’Vi by dispatching London Conspiracy. The rematch was much closer, but eventually, Na’Vi won. It was the first time the organization managed to make it out of the group stage at a Major.
Group C saw the only teams who had previously won a Major lock horn. Fnatic and Virtus.pro both dispatch of their opposition in the openers, secure a match for the group win between them. It was hard to see which team would end up on top. But despite Janusz ‘snax’ Pogorzelski’s best effort, it was Fnatic who won in overtime. The loss triggered the Polish squad, and they unleashed their anger on iBuypower, beating the Americans in 16-2 fashion.
The storyline in the final group was the Swan song of Titan. The French powerhouse, with star AWP’er Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub, had another disappointing performance at a Major. Their opening match against Cloud9 was close, but they lost in a double-overtime on Dust II. They managed to beat Australian underdogs Vox Eminor, but lost yet another decider match against Dignitas.
Icarus fell
The quarter-finals of ESL One Cologne 2014 all had the potential to be the match of the year. They were all played on Friday, meaning that the fans in attendance and watching at home had roughly 12 hours of top-notch Counter-Strike to enjoy. Fnatic and Na’Vi kicked off the day. The match saw Jesper ‘jw’ Wecksell and Ladislav ‘guardian’ Kovacs, at the time contenders for the title of best AWP’er, go head to head. Both teams won their map picks in decisive fashion, bringing the series to a third map, Nuke. But then guardian dropped the ball. He had one of the worst maps of his career, only netting 13 kills in 30 rounds. It was a miracle that Na’Vi made the map so competitive, but eventually, Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist closed it out with a 4K clutch.
The second series was between the Danes of Dignitas and the Frenchmen of Epsilon. Both teams were considered to be mid-off the table teams: they were always able to challenge the top teams, but never got their real break. Epsilon was built around Richard ‘shox” Papillon. Shox was considered to be one of the best riflers inside the server, but he wasn’t without flaws. The problem with shox was, or rather, is, that he believes he could be the best at everything. He doesn’t just want to be a world class rifler, he wants to be the best AWP’er, and the best IGL, and the best support. This pursuit of all-round greatness makes him clash with teammates, leading to short stints on different itterations of lineups.
Shox’ heroics weren’t enough, as Dignistas won the series in two decisive maps.
Can you believe it?
LDLC, the second French team that made it to the quarter-finals, were more successful in their match. Against the defending champions, Virtus.pro, they showed tenacity and survived the plow. This series became infamous for the “KQLY jump shot”. With his back against the wall, Hovik ‘KQLY’ Tovmassian whipped out his USP, jumped to check A-site, and fired one bullet. He hit the impossible shot, got the defuse, and won his team the map. A couple of months after ESL One Cologne 2014, KQLY received a VAC-ban, ending his career as a pro player.
In the last quarter-final, NIP came close to losing their tournament hopes against Cloud9. At this point in time, the ever-present EU vs NA discussion had heavily swung in EU’s favor. Despite this discrepancy, Cloud9 had proven they could beat the best European teams. But when they entered the server against NIP, not a single soul expected them to deliver as they did. They won the first map, Nuke, and pushed NIP to the limit in the other two maps. Most notable was the performance of the newest C9’er, shroud. The young Canadian had no experience playing on a stage like this but consistently delivered throughout the series, despite being on the losing team.
The king reigns
The semi finals were decided. In the first, we would see a Scandinavian derby between the Danes of Dignitas and the Swedes of Fnatic. The second would see a matchup between Ninjas in Pyjamas and LDLC.
Dignitas were slight favorites going into their match. Fnatic had made roster changes before the event, and the Danes had made a solid impression thus far. But suddenly, they choked, losing the first map of Dust II before getting a 12-4 lead on the second. Fnatic dug deep, won a force buy, and strung the next eight rounds together. Dignitas fought back, won a couple of rounds, but the momentum had swung away from them. Fnatic closed out the map with a 16-14 scoreline.
NIP had more trouble on their side of the bracket. Their star players, GeT_RiGhT and Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg didn’t deliver. Fortunately for them, the “King of Banana”, Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg, picked up the mantel. Despite his best efforts, they lost Inferno but clawed back on Nuke. On the third and final map, Cobblestone, we were treated to an absolute brawl. Both teams threw everything they had into the scale, gaining small advantages before losing them, winning force buys, only to lose to pistols in the next round. One of the main reasons for this chaotic game was the fact that Cobblestone was such a recent addition to the map pool. Teams hadn’t figured out how to use and abuse the unique aspect of the map.
In a map that could’ve gone both ways, NIP came out on top, securing a spot in the final.
Third time’s the charm
The stage for the final could not have been more perfect. NIP played their third consecutive final, against the team that managed to beat them in Dreamhack Winter. And contrary to their semi-final, their star players did show up. The series was a real barn burner, going all three maps and being decided on Inferno. The teams were neck and neck, but the luck that Fnatic lacked, NIP had. With over 400.000 people watching, the Ninjas clutched out the map, finally breaking their curse. GeT_RiGht and his men won a Major and were on top of the world once again.
