NA CS at the Majors: ESL One Cologne 2015

With the BLAST.tv Paris Major just over two weeks away, Dust2.us is building up to the last ever CS:GO Major Championship by taking a trip down memory lane at all the history of North American Counter-Strike in the top-tier competition. Yesterday we covered ESL One Katowice 2015, but today we will talk about the second Major of that year, Cologne.

Walking down the same path as 2014's Majors, Cologne followed Katowice for the second CS:GO Major Championship in 2015. Like the previous systems, the Top Eight teams at the Katowice Major were automatically invited to this Cologne Major. Sadly, no North American teams made it to the playoffs at Katowice, meaning the only North American representatives would be the two slots allotted to NA as Challengers. There were no invite shenanigans due to VAC banned players this time around, so all the qualifiers went as expected.

In the season between the two Majors, seismic shifts happened in the North American ecosystem. Both of the North American hopefuls at Katowice made changes prior to the second Major of 2015. CLG parted ways with Peter "ptr" Gurney, replacing him with Josh "jdm64" Marzano in the starting lineup after a period of searching. While CLG only went for a small change in the roster, Cloud9 decided to split with two members, Shahzeeb "ShahZaM" Khan and Kory "SEMPHIS" Friesen. They replaced the two with Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham, fresh out of the banned iBUYPOWER lineup, and Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir in an effort to rejuvenate the team ahead of the Major.

Despite both making changes, Cloud9 and CLG still made it to the Major unscathed, not dropping a single map in the North American qualifier. On the South American side of things, Luminosity signed Keyd Stars, who retained their spot by placing 5-8th at Katowice.

Like before, the Major operated on a GSL format, meaning it could just be two BO1s and you're out. CLG's opening matchup was against a ferocious foe in the name of Ninjas in Pyjamas. The Swedes had finished second at the previous Major and a few more events in between, so they were hungry to prove they could take it all. Cloud9 put up a great fight, but fell in the 29th round to drop to the lower bracket.

Cloud9 also had a tough matchup, their opponents being mousesports, who had acquired the Katowice Top Eight PENTA lineup. However, their first game proved to be smooth sailing as they defeated the Germans 16-10, just in time for their second match of the day, against Virtus Pro. Cloud9 suffered their first loss at Katowice to Virtus Pro, and the Polish bears inflicted that same blow once more in Cologne, knocking down the American upstarts.

CLG's second match came up against eBettle, a young Polish lineup looking to follow in the steps of Virtus Pro. They almost managed to do just that, pushing CLG to 30 rounds before falling at the finish line. After the first two matches, both North American teams sat 1-1 and needed one win to secure playoffs and an appearance at the next Major.

Cloud9's third game was against Team Kinguin. The European superteam would not squander their first Major appearance as they defeated Cloud9 16-13, ending seang@res and company's Major run. At the same time CLG took a fight against NAVI and lost in the 30th round, despite jdm's best efforts as he posted just shy of a 1.6 rating. With both Cloud9 and CLG ending with a 1-2, North America's dreams at Cologne concluded in the group stage.

One must question what the history of Cologne would look like if just a few key rounds went the other way. Of the four games that North American teams lost, three of them went at least 29 rounds. If just a few more rounds were clutched out, perhaps we would see two North American teams in the Top Eight, a yet unseen amount.

Nonetheless, we can only look at history as it was, not as it could have been. Cologne was yet another Major of "what if?"s for North America, as the region concluded the first part of 2015 with zero Top Eight finishes in either Major. With both North American representatives just coming off a new roster, they were both going through teething issues that could have affected their gameplay, and let those crucial few rounds slip by.

After the event, neither team felt the need to make changes, as they lost to only playoff teams and had just shuffled just before the Major. With another chip on their shoulder, North America went to Cluj-Napoca for the final Major of 2015.