ESL One Cologne 2014- NIP’s redemption and glory

ESL One Cologne 2014, the 3rd Major Championship of Counter Strike: Global Offensive remains a sweet memory for NIP and Indian CS fans too.

Why is that so? ESL One Cologne 2014 was finally the year NIP manged to win a CS:GO major at the third of asking and Wolves an Indian team qualified for the first time in CS:Go’s most prestigious tournament.

ESL One Cologne 2014 was held Cologne Exhibition Centre in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from August 14th to August 17th, 2014. The major was the third in line sponsored by Valve with eight team single elimination playoff bracket.

LGB esports disbanded their roster which lead ESL, the organizers to award a spot to an Indian team in the competition. The main story of the major however was whether NIP could break their hoodoo of winning a CS:Go major. NIP started the competition again as one of the favorites with the team looking to finally convert a final appearance into a win.

Virtus.Pro, Fnatic and Team LDLC.com were among the other favorites to take home the $100,000 prize and be crowned as champions. The format of remained the same as the previous major with 16 teams divided into 4 groups. The top two teams qualified for the playoffs while the bottom two were eliminated.

7 legends who had qualified for the playoffs in the previous major received direct invites while the rest qualified through online qualifiers.

Teams:-

Legends:

• Virtus.Pro
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Fnatic
• Cloud9
• HellRaisers
• Team Dignitas
• Team LDLC.com

Challengers:

• Natus Vincere
• Team Wolf
• Copenhagen Wolves
• dAt Team
• London Conspiracy
• Team iBUYPOWER
• Titan
• Vox Eminor
• Epsilon eSports

Maps:-

The map pool had increased to seven, two more from the previous major. New maps such as Cache, Overpass and Cobblestone were added in the active map pool while Train was removed. Cobblestone was released just a month before the major and was still included in the map pool for the major. The inclusion did cause controversy and many demanded its removal but the decision was upheld by Valve.

The inclusion of Cobblestone was a secret weapon in NiP’s journey to victory. With teams having little time to practice the new map and decide their new map pool, NIP took advantage of the uncertainty and mastered the map as early as possible. Many teams were not up to the mark on Cobblestone and faltered during the most crucial stages.

NiP however made Cobblestone as their go to map which made their opponents nervy. NiP remained undefeated on Cobblestone at ESL One Cologne 2-14 with a 3-0 W-L record through out the competition. Though it is not a huge record, NIP knew they had to make the small things count to win the trophy which they desired so much.

Main event of ESL One Cologne 2014:-

NIP were pitted in Group A alongside Epsilon Esports, Hellraisers and Team Wolf. They faced a slight bump in the group as they completed the group stages with a 2-1 record after losing the match up against Epsilon. The Swedish team eventually came through the group stages and qualify for the playoffs.

Fnatic, Virtus.Pro and LDLC all qualified for the playoffs too to set up an interesting playoff stage of the competition.

NIP were up against Cloud9 in their quarterfinal match. Cloud9 had looked good in the tournament so far and were ready to blow a major upset in the competition. They took the first map 16:8 on Nuke to go into an early lead and put NIP on the back foot. Nip then responded with a closed 16:14 victory on Dust II and also triumphed in the final map on Cobblestone with the same scoreline.

NIP survived a scare but scraped through the semis of ESL One Cologne 2014. They were up against French team, LDLC who had knocked out Virtus.Pro from the competition in the previous round.

NIP started slowly as LDLC pounced to take a 1:0 lead winning 16:10 on Inferno. Losing the first map woke NIP up as they dismantled the French on Nuke winning 16:6 and completing a reverse sweep with a 16:14 victory on Cobblestone.

Fnatic emerged victorious in the other semi-final as they defeated Team Dignitas 2-0 to set up an all Swedish Grand Final, yet again.

The Grand Final promised to be a battle for the ages as both the teams looked to make history. Fnatic were hoping to become the first team to win 2 major championships while NIP were looking to avenge the defeat at DreamHack Winter 2013.

And the Grand Final delivered in the best way possible. NIP started with a victory on Cobblestone winning 16:11 but Fnatic replied with swiftly with a 16:8 victory on Cache. Inferno was left as the decider and as expected it was a back and forth affair all the way. But as history would have it, “friberg”, the king of banana showed up as he had all through the competition to destroy Fnatic. NIP’s retakes and some crucial clutches paved a way for a 16:13 victory to complete a sensational victory for the Ninjas.

ESL One Cologne 2014 till date remains afresh in memory for many CS:Go fans for the sheer willpower NIP showed throughout the competition. The Ninjas were put on the back foot multiple time but they always came back to win. The sheer audacity of their comebacks showcased the mind of champions on the team which eventually lead them to a major championship.

NIP also successfully avenged their loss at DreamHack Winter 2013 making the victory even more sweeter. The victory made the NIP players into living legends of the game and confirmed their status as one of the best teams to ever touch the game.

Adam “friberg” Friberg took home the MVP award for his consistent showing throughout the comeptition. “f0rest” and “GeT_RiGhT” also put in good performances helping the team to get over the line. NiP also took $100,000 out of the $250,000 prize pool while Fnatic had to settle for $50,000 to their name.

Watch the aftermovie here:-

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