Virtus.pro (Ranked 11th on our team rankings)
Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski
Pawe? "byali" Bieli?ski
Filip "NEO" Kubski
Jaros?aw "pashaBiceps" Jarz?bkowski
Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas
Jakub "kuben" Gurczynski (coach)
Team Profile
Virtus.pro is another legendary team that attending ESL One Cologne 2016. All five Virtus.pro members have been together since the very first days of CS:GO. Despite their poor results in 2016, they are still regarded a team to be feared.
Major Experience
Their five players have attended all eight CS: GO majors together and failed just once to make it out of the groups, at their first major, which they attended under the UniversalSoldiers banner. Apart from that very first CS:GO major, the Polish squad has attended seven majors with Virtus.pro organization. Moreover, they won one of those majors, EMS One Katowice 2014.
Between Two Majors
VP attended four offline tournaments after MLG Columbus 2016. VP have failed to achieve what was expected from them at the first two: DreamHack Masters Malmö (5-8th) and CEVO Gfinity Season 9 Finals where they've finished 3-4th despite being favorites to win it. After those two dissappointments they've won StarLadder i-League Invitational to boost their morale and with that secured a spot at the ELEAGUE Group F finals. But their opponents in that final, Team EnVyUs, defeated them and sent VP to the Last Chance Qualifier of the afore-mentioned tournament.
Cologne Expectations
Virtus.pro is not performing like they did previous years but even in their worst days they possess a serious threat. Unfortunately for them, their major group doesn't have any teams that are easy pickings, but we know that their average performance should be enough for them to maintain their legend status.
Team EnVyUs (Ranked 12th on our team rankings)
Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer
Kenny "kennyS" Schrub
Dan "apEX" Madesclaire
Nathan "NBK" Schmitt
Timothée "DEVIL" Démolon
Team Profile
Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer and Nathan "NBK" Schmitt were playing together when they won DreamHack Winter 2014, and these two are still playing together today. Kenny "kennyS" Schrub and Dan "apEX" Madesclaire joined up with Schopenhauer and Schmitt last year as a result of the famous French shuffle. With the addition of these two players, that EnVyUs roster that featured another longtime member Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey reached the grand finals of two consecutive majors and won one of them, DreamHack Cluj-Napoca 2015. Just as that roster was starting to be considered as one of the best in CS:GO history, the downfall started. The togetherness of a major-winning roster ended after some bad results, and Timothée "DEVIL" Démolon was added in place of Fiey.
Major Experience
The core duo of EnVyUs have attended all eight CS:GO majors and won two of them. In addition to them, their two players that came with the French shuffle are one major short of such a record. On the other hand, Démolon has only one in his pocket and it was the worst major ever for the rest of the team. As you'd remember, that major was the first in which title holder was eliminated in the group stage.
Between Two Majors
EnVyUs were not very active during past three months, having attended just three offline events. Their first event was DH Malmö where they finished 3-4th. To reach the semifinals, nV beat FaZe, Tempo Storm and Dignitas. But Na'Vi were the better side when it came to the match for the grand finals.
After Malmö, they attended the major qualifiers and secured a spot at the major with a 3-1 record, and won their ELEAGUE group stage over Virtus.pro. Considering those events were after a devastating group stage exit at a major, I think they did well enough to recover.
Cologne Expectations
I expect EnVyUs to at least match expectations. They are performing better than they did in the early days of Démolon and they have one of the most talented rosters in the world. It'd be right to say their major campaign depends on their mental attitude.
Team Liquid (Ranked 15th on our team rankings)
Spencer "Hiko" Martin
Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
Nick "nitr0" Cannella
Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (stand-in)
Josh "jdm64" Marzano
Luis "peacemaker" Tadeu (coach)
Team Profile
Liquid's players haven't been playing together for long and when we look at their roster, we seea great individual players. As they have shown us more than once, they are capable of beating anyone on an aim duel. Despite this raw talent, they are famous for their chokes on the map or match points. Perhaps they need to practice their mental state, not improving their aim.
Major Experience
No, they don't have much major experience except Spencer "Hiko" Martin who has attended six majors but yes, they did great during the few number of majors that they've attended. Only their latest addition from CLG, Josh "jdm64" Marzano doesn't have a semi-final pin on his account. Apart from him all four remaining Liquid members have reached the semifinals at least once.
Between Two Majors
After MLG Columbus 2016 where Team Liquid surprised us and reached semifinals, their roster changed more times than any other team attending ESL One Cologne 2016. These three months were about to finding the right roster for them and in my opinion, they did so. Unfortunately their new signing Jacob "Pimp" Winneche can't play with Liquid at Cologne but after the major, we will most likely see a Liquid team that will continuously attend majors as legends.
Cologne Expectations
Since they are going to play with Kostyliev instead of Winneche, I'm not expecting much from Liquid. They'll probably have to fight through the qualifiers to attend the next major after ESL One Cologne 2016 due to both strength of their group stage opponents and not being a stable team for a couple of months. I hope they won't get disappointed and keep working to become the team they deserve to be.
mousesports (Ranked 10th on our team rankings)
Niko "NiKo" Kova?
Chris "chrisJ" de Jong
Denis "denis" Howell
Johannes "nex" Maget
Timo "Spiidi" Richter
Aleksandar "kassad" Trifunovi? (coach)
Team Profile
Mousesports have always been one of the best German teams even when they were on their worst form. Now with a gifted player as Niko "NiKo" Kova?, they are more than the best team in a single country. They are a potential top-5 team.
Major Experience
Out of the five player roster, Kova? has attended just two majors. His teammates have attended four or five majors making this team experienced enough to handle the pressure that comes by playing on a major. Moreover, all three of their German players have reached the playoff stage at least once. Luckily, mousesports' remaining two players are one extremely talented, to-be-a-superstar player and one above average AWPer.
Between Two Majors
No doubts that mousesports are in a good form but they have a bad tendency to lose when they are the favorites for a match, as they did at both DreamHack Masters Malmö and ELEAGUE group stage against GODSENT and FlipSid3 Tactics respectively. But when the major was at the stake, they've crushed their opponents to secure a 3-0 record at the ESL One Cologne 2016 Main Qualifiers.
Cologne Expectations
They have two major winners and one of the semifinals of the previous major on their group so they have a hard job to do. Fortunately for them, both two major winners are not in their best and the other team, Liquid's roster wasn't stable for months. ESL One Cologne would be the first major that future superstar Kova? reached the playoff stage.
Photos courtesies of StarLadder, DreamHack, Esports Championship Series, DreamHack respectively.
Frontpage photo courtesy of Helena Kristiansson - ESL.
