With the fourth day of the main qualifiers for ESL One: Cologne 2016 concluded, we present a brief recap of the matches that took place.
TyLoo vs. 
Splyce 12:3, 4:11 (16:14)
Winner: TyLoo
Map: de_Mirage
MVP: Hui “DD” Wu
Counter-Strike community’s dream of having a Chinese team at the major continued as TyLoo beat their opponents, Splyce, in a very intense match. This match up of two teams with 1-2 records was expected to be dominated by TyLoo and the Chinese team responded to the expectations with a rock solid first half. Splyce decided to wake up at halftime and started the second half strong thanks to Abraham “abE” Fazli’s quad kill, which secured them the pistol round. Despite a strong second half, they fell short of TyLoo and lost the map 16:14 because of a regrettable first half in which they managed to grab a mere three rounds.
Team Dignitas vs. 
Renegades 6:9, 10:3 (16:12)
Winner: Team Dignitas
Map: de_Dust2
MVP: Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke
Matches of teams that had 1-2 records continued with the clash between Dignitas and Renegades. Until the last rounds of the first half, the Danish side seemed to be weaker team as Renegades maintained their lead fairly easily. It was the 11th round when Dignitas, especially René “cajunb” Borg and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, decided to fight harder. Thanks to superb performances from the Danish duo, their team earned a spot at the ESL One: Cologne 2016 major.
Flipsid3 Tactics vs. 
Immortals 11:4, 5:8 (16:12)
Winner: Flipsid3 Tactics
Map: de_Train
MVP: Yegor “markeloff” Markelov
Immortals’ hopes to participate in a major with their fellow countrymen Luminosity Gaming ended as they were sent home by Flipsid3. On this very last elimination match between teams with 1-2 records, poor execution on the T side let the Brazilians down. They were unable to breach Flipsid3’s defences and their solid CT side just wasn’t enough to turn the tide. Immortals surely disappointed their fans with a 1-3 record but on the other hand Flipsid3 quietly secured a spot at a major, again.
HellRaisers vs. 
OpTic 10:5, 4:11 (14:16)
Winner: OpTic
Map: de_Cache
MVP: Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz
Unlike the general opinion of Cache being balanced or even a bit T sided, CT sides of both teams were monstrous on this match of two teams with 2-1 records. As the team that started the match on CT side, HellRaisers successfully defended the bombsites round after round and secured a convincing 10-3 lead. But then everything changed. Of course it was OpTic’s CT side that helped them win the match but their dominance over HellRaisers started on 14th round. Their victories on the last two rounds of the first half were crucial because they won just one round more on their CT side than HR did.
Team EnVyUs vs. Cloud9 8:7, 8:5 (16:12)
Winner: Team EnVyUs
Map: de_Cobblestone
MVP: Jake “Stewie2K” Yip
Today’s second qualification match was between two major regulars, EnVyUs and Cloud9. Both teams performed well and both teams deserved a spot at the major but this match offered only one. When teams perform as close as this, usually the top performers from both teams determine which one would qualify but on this occasion it was the opposite. If this was a 4v4 match it would last quite long because all the players except bottom fraggers of their teams, Timothée “DEVIL” Démolon and Mike “shroud” Grzesiek , seemed to be evenly matched. Eventually DEVIL out-performed shroud and EnVyUs, the Boys in Blue, earned themselves a spot at ESL One: Cologne 2016.
Gambit Gaming vs. G2 Esports 9:6, 7:4 (16:10)
Winner: Gambit Gaming
Map: de_Train
MVP: 
Rustem “mou” Telepov
Many guessed that G2 would qualify by winning three in a row, many were proven wrong when Mousesports crushed G2 16-1 on day three. Many thought G2’s defeat was a misfortune and they would qualify by winning against Gambit but many were proven wrong, again. Gambit surprised almost everyone and won the match with better performances on both halves. Thanks to both Richard “shox” Papillion’s mediocre and Rustem “mou” Telepov’s amazing performances ESL One: Cologne 2016 is going to feature Gambit Gaming.
Team Dignitas vs. TyLoo 12:3, 4:0 (16:3)
Winner: Team Dignitas
Map: de_Cobblestone
MVP: 
Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel
We began the decider matches of the ESL One: Cologne 2016 Main Qualifiers with a clash between Dignitas and TyLoo. This was the best chance a Chinese team ever had to qualify for a major. Unfortunately for TyLoo, Dignitas played unbelievably amazing Counter-Strike. The Danish team started the match on the T side and captured the bombsites like it was nothing, on almost every round. When the 15th round was over and we went to the halftime, the score was 12-3 in favour of the terrorists, Team Dignitas. Their CT side might be as perfect as the former one but four rounds were enough so there wasn’t enough time to compare, as Dignitas won four rounds in a row into the second half to close out the match and secured their spot at the major.
HellRaisers vs. Flipsid3 Tactics 6:9, 3:7 (9:16)
Winner: Flipsid3 Tactics
Map: de_Overpass
MVP: 
Jan “wayLander” Rahkonen
We didn’t see Overpass being played many times during the qualifiers. In fact, the second decider match between HellRaisers and Flipsid3 was the first and the last time it has been played and when this very first Overpass began, it suddenly turned to wayLander territory. The Finnish player grabbed an impressive 27 kills over 25 rounds and made Flipsid3’s major dreams come true. To be honest, HellRaisers would share the same fate as TyLoo, a crushing defeat, but their Slovak player Patrik “Zero” Žúdel made Flipsid3 earn all of their rounds.
Cloud9 vs. G2 Esports 8:7, 0:9 (8:16)
Winner: G2 Esports
Map: de_Cache
MVP: Richard “shox” Papillion
It might be Cloud9’s curse to be drawn against EnVyUs and G2 Esports on the last day of the qualifiers but you need to be amongst the best in order to qualify for the major. Being one of the best teams in North America, they’ve seemed good enough to qualify after the first half which they’ve managed to finish just one round ahead of G2. But the second half was a complete disaster without a single round victory. This was a result of both their lack of T side quality on Cache and of course shox’s incredible individual talent. The Frenchman not only led his team to the major with his 34 kills, he also prevented a major regular team from qualifying for the next one, ESL One: Cologne 2016.
Front page image courtesy of ESL
