The first day of ESL One Cologne has concluded, and the first two playoff teams have been confirmed.
Astralis and G2 Esports have punched their tickets to the playoffs of ESL’s $300,000 event by topping Group A after the first day of action. At the same time, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Gambit Esports were taken down in one-sided games vs. ENCE Esports and Natus Vincere, respectively.
Related: BIG upset Team Liquid in ESL One Cologne opener
Astralis took on Cloud9 in the first winners’ match of the day, following their crushing best-of-one victory against ENCE. Outside of C9’s CT side on Mirage, Astralis absolutely destroyed the North Americans in two straight maps. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz had the highest impact out of all of the Danes, averaging 22 kills per map and accruing a nice 102.3 average damage per round stat in both maps.
The second winners’ match, G2 vs. Mousesports, was much more contested, with both teams going the distance in three maps. Kenny “kennyS” Schrub led the charge in frags on Dust II, and his A long defenses were crucial in G2’s win in map one. Map two Mirage, however, went in favor of Mouz, especially because of Chris “chrisJ” de Jong and Miikka “suNny” Kemppi’s top-notch performances. Inferno, the match decider, was close up until G2 reached their CT side after halftime. KennyS closed out the series with an average 25 kills per map, finishing with the highest HLTV 2.0 rating at 1.46.
As for today’s elimination matches, both were landslide victories. Finnish powerhouse ENCE upset NiP overwhelmingly on Inferno and Train, while Na’Vi demolished CIS-region rival Gambit easily on Overpass and Train. Unsurprisingly, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev topped the server at 26 kills per map and a nutty 1.82 rating.
Group A
Initial Matches
Astralis vs. ENCE Esports
- Astralis won Nuke 16-5
Cloud9 vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
- C9 won Inferno 16-3
Mousesports vs. Gambit Esports
- Mouz won Dust II
G2 Esports vs. Natus Vincere
- G2 won Inferno 16-14
Winners’ Matches
Astralis vs. Cloud9 (2-0)
- Astralis won Mirage
- Astralis won Overpass
Mousesports vs. G2 Esports
- G2 won Dust II 16-14
- Mouz won Mirage 16-10
- G2 won Inferno 16-9
Elimination Matches
ENCE Esports vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
- ENCE won Inferno 16-6
- ENCE won Train 16-2
Natus Vincere vs. Gambit Esports
- Na’Vi won Overpass 16-6
- Na’Vi won Train 16-5
Group B
Initial Matches
FaZe Clan vs. BOOT-dS
- FaZe won Dust II 16-9
MIBR vs. Renegades
- MIBR won Cache 16-13
Fnatic vs. North
- Fnatic won Inferno 16-14
BIG vs. Team Liquid
- BIG won Dust II 16-7
Competition at ESL One Cologne will continue tomorrow at 5am CT with two Group B elimination matches, featuring Renegades vs. BOOT-dS and Liquid vs. North. Astralis and G2 will be facing each other for a spot in the semifinals.
