As Counter-Strike is set to return to the LANXESS Arena for the third year in a row, we bring you a detailed preview of the upcoming premier event, ESL One Cologne 2017, including information on the format and the teams.

Cologne will host another big CS:GO event this year, with ESL One Cologne set to kick-off this Tuesday. Despite not being a Major for the first time since 2014, the tournament will feature all of the world's best teams except Astralis and a $250,000 prize pool, which should be enough to ensure that ESL One Cologne gets put in consideration for one of the most competitive events of the year.

A total of 16 teams will compete at the event, with the BO1 Swiss format group stage being held in ESL's Cologne studios, while the playoffs will be BO3 and played in front of the sold out LANXESS Arena crowd.

The following teams will be competing in Germany this week:

The competition, even to just get out of groups, will be fierce. SK and FaZe are the two elite teams that should surely make it deep, G2 as well, but the rest of the top 10—for example Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, Cloud9—are hard to gauge.

Teams such as Liquid and mousesports have been on the rise and could sneak into the top 8, while even the biggest underdogs of the tournament: TYLOO, Space Soldiers and, considering their recent form, OpTic, could easily pick up a few wins and complicate things in the group stage.

Ratings used are from the past three months on LAN



Offline placings in the past three months 1st ECS Season 3 Finals ECS Season 3 Finals 1st DreamHack Open Summer 2017 DreamHack Open Summer 2017 3-4th ESL Pro League S5 Finals ESL Pro League S5 Finals 1st IEM Sydney 2017 IEM Sydney 2017 IEM Sydney 2017 IEM Sydney 2017 1st cs_summit Spring 2017 cs_summit Spring 2017 9-11th SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals

The Brazillians' struggles are over. Since their group stage exit at the SL i-League StarSeries S3 finals, SK are going strength for strength, picking up four titles from five tournaments, coming into ESL One Cologne hot.

It all started with a confident win at cs_summit Spring 2017, where we first saw felps really being integrated into the roster, a process we wrote about in the past. After that win, SK went on to win their first big tournament since ESL One Cologne 2016, IEM Sydney 2017. It wasn't just a big title, but also a notch on the belt for FalleN and co., who took down an in-form FaZe to lift the trophy Down Under.

The Brazilians are looking to make it three in a row in Cologne

A defeat to G2 at the ESL Pro League S5 Finals was a speed bump on SK's road to the title of the best team in the world, but a confident win at DreamHack Open Summer coupled with a victory at the ECS S3 Finals—where they took down all other elite teams—got them back to the top.

coldzera and co. picked up the first two titles of their long European campaign, but they are yet to face the toughest tasks: first at ESL One Cologne and then at the Major the following week. The Brazilians will surely be aiming for the title once again, but whether they admit it or not, a lower placing here won't hurt them a lot. They have risen back to the top, proving that they are a team to be feared, and will be able to rely on that go get an edge in the mental game at the Major. Whether they finish first or lose to the likes of a G2 or a FaZe in the quarters, the image of SK going into the Major won't change a lot.

Offline placings in the past three months 2nd ECS Season 3 Finals ECS Season 3 Finals 2nd IEM Sydney 2017 IEM Sydney 2017 1st SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals

Only a few rounds separated FaZe from a win at the ECS Season 3 Finals, and in that case, we would be having them as the favorites going into the final stretch of the first half of 2017. As it played out, though, two grand final defeats to SK left karrigan's side lurking in the shadows, looking for their opportunity to strike and get one back on the Brazilians.

That opportunity could come soon, at ESL One Cologne, even though there is no guarantee that the two teams will meet at the 16-team event. Taking it step by step, FaZe will have to go through the BO1 Swiss system first, a group stage format that they didn't always have the easiest time with. At StarSeries S3, FaZe was on the brink of an elimination in the group stage due to losses to North and HellRaisers, but managed to pull back and win the event in the end. With the opposition being even tougher in Cologne, FaZe must avoid BO1 slip-ups that could end their tournament early.

FaZe will be looking to get more out of allu

In the BO3 phase, the European mixture should be favored against anyone except SK. G2 might have a decent shot as well, but only if they show up in better form than in London, where FaZe was able to outskill them all over the map.

In recent times, the team's main star NiKo has been backed up by rain more and more, but the problematic player for the side can sometimes be allu, who is known to go missing for halfs or whole maps from time to time. If they are able to get more consistency out of the Finn, FaZe could be lifting a trophy this Sunday.

Offline placings in the past three months 1-2nd PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier 5-6th ECS Season 3 Finals ECS Season 3 Finals 1st ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals 1st DreamHack Open Tours 2017 DreamHack Open Tours 2017 3-4th DreamHack Open Austin 2017 DreamHack Open Austin 2017 5-8th SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals

SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals

A team currently on the brink of the elite is G2. It took quite a bit of time to get the "French Superteam" working, though. Their first title came at DreamHack Open Tours, three months after the team was put together, a weirdly long period for a French team, considering they usually lift trophies before the "honeymoon period" finishes.

A consecutive title and victories over SK and North at the ESL Pro League Finals put G2 back on everyone's radar, but the fact that Frenchmen weren't able to put a dent in either FaZe's or SK's armor at the ECS Season 3 Finals slowed down the G2 hype train a bit.

G2 will try to follow up a strong Major Qualifier in Cologne

shox and co. just finished qualifying for the Major with a somewhat deceiving 3-0 record, as they dropped a lot of rounds to FlipSid3, Cloud9 and Immortals, but will be hoping to continue with good results in Germany. Not playing Mirage and a weak Train could prove to be costly in BO3's against the likes of SK and FaZe, but their impeccable results on other maps should result in a good placing overall for the French team.

Offline placings in the past three months 2nd ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals 6-7th IEM Sydney 2017 IEM Sydney 2017 5-8th SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals

North has been among the top 6 teams of the world for quite some time now, but they can't really be but into the category of an elite team. The Danes placed second at the ESL Pro League S5 Finals where they had favorable draws both in the groups and the playoffs and didn't put up too much of a fight in the final versus G2. If you want to find their last impressive placing before that, you must go back to October of 2016, where the then dignitas team won EPICENTER: Moscow.

ESL One Cologne is where MSL's squad needs to show improvements before the Major. The Danes had a lot of free time—playing only three events in the last three months—to fix the issues that plagued them in 2017. The most glaring one is Magisk's drop in form; the combination of him and k0nfig used to be what won North big games, with cajunb chiming from time to time, but the balance in the team seems to be off-put ever since aizy joined.

North hasn't been able to find the right balance with aizy

There is also the factor of Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså being a free agent that looms in the background of this team. The former Heroic player has not yet announced anything regarding his next home, but it sure does look like North are a few bad tournaments away from a player change—and valde is the best Danish player they could get. That sort of presence could motivate a misfiring player, as we saw happen with Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth back in 2015, but could also be an additional burden, pulling down someone that is already struggling.

Offline placings in the past three months 3-5th PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier 3-4th ECS Season 3 Finals ECS Season 3 Finals 7-8th DreamHack Open Summer DreamHack Open Summer 1st Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow 11-12th ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals 5-6th DreamHack Open Austin 2017 DreamHack Open Austin 2017 4th cs_summit Spring 2017 cs_summit Spring 2017

Cloud9 have been one of the more active teams in the past couple of months, attending seven events in a short span of time. Even though they didn't finish most of them with impressive placings, there are a couple of them that stand out. They won the Americas Minor, defeating both CLG and Immortals in BO3's, ending a bad streak against the Brazilians, and went on to beat Astralis and fnatic in BO1's at the ECS Season 3 Finals to make it out of the groups of a big event for the first time since the ESL Pro League S4 Finals.

Last weekend's Major Qualifier also finished well for the North American team, as n0thing and co. dropped only one map, to the absolute favorites, G2, and secured a spot at the Major with a 3-1 record. Stewie2K, the team's in-game leader and star player did attribute some of the success to the team's coach valens, who should be with the team in Cologne as well.

Stewie2K gave props to valens' coaching

Considering that Cloud9 are a team that usually doesn't change a lot, relying mostly on the explosive combo of Stewie2K and autimatic, valens' influence could be the thing that gives them just a bit extra in the upcoming tournaments. shroud has also shown some improvements after DreamHack Open Summer, finishing with ratings above 1.00 at both ECS S3 and the Major Main Qualifier. Keeping that up would be very beneficial for his team, but the Canadian's track record implies a dip in form is likely to happen.

Cloud9 kick off the tournament against a new-look NiP. A win against the Swedes isn't that unlikely and a win at the start might be just what the North American team needs to have a good showing in Cologne. In the end it will all come down to how the team's key players feel on the day and what kind of matchups they get in the Swiss system.

Offline placings in the past three months 7-8th ECS Season 3 Finals ECS Season 3 Finals 2nd DreamHack Open Summer DreamHack Open Summer 7-8th ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals 5-8th SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals SL i-League Starseries S3 Finals

Despite a lot of Counter-Strike fans wanting to see this fnatic team back in contention for titles, if not to witness their bully-like game style again, then at least to enjoy the personalities of flusha, dennis or KRIMZ, who are known to produce memorable moments when on top of their game, it doesn't look like we will see the Orange-Black lifting trophies anytime soon.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the team is bad as the Swedes can obviously play good Counter-Strike, shown by their second place finish at DreamHack Open Summer, but they are struggling to figure out their own map pool for some time now, and as weird as it sounds for a team that has olofmeister—they have no star player.

olofmeister is not the player he was in 2015, and fnatic need to get used to that

The world's best player of 2015, olofmeister, has never been able to make a full comeback to the level he had back in the fnatic era. He still plays in a similar way though, going aggressive and picking up high-impact kills, but the consistency and the volume of frags he used to bring is no longer there. In the past, we saw every fnatic player have a period in which he would become the main man for the Swedish side, with the rest of the team then playing around him. It's hard to see any consistency now, and that could be the main issue for fnatic at the moment.

At ESL One Cologne, fnatic slot into the dark horse category, capable of doing damage but unlikely to go too deep, unless we see some big changes in form.

Offline placings in the past three months 2nd Adrenaline Cyber League 2017 Adrenaline Cyber League 2017 9-10th ESL Pro League S5 Finals ESL Pro League S5 Finals 5-6th DreamHack Open Tours 2017 DreamHack Open Tours 2017 3-4th SL i-League StarSeries S3 SL i-League StarSeries S3

Another big-name roster with little to show for their efforts is Natus Vincere. The addition of s1mple brought the legendary organization just a single title, the one from ESL One New York, and a lot of disappointing results—a 5-6th at DreamHack Open Tours and a 9-10th at the ESL Pro League S5 finals being the two most recent ones.

Natus Vincere's coach change, replacing Sergey "⁠starix⁠" Ischuk with Andi, reinvigorated the team in the short term, as they got to top four at SL i-League StarSeries S3, but didn't do much for the team overall. If nothing major changes at the two upcoming tournaments, it's safe to say that the decision to release a legendary member of the organization, who was there from the inception of Natus Vincere, wasn't the best idea.

Na`Vi are in a bad spot at the moment

A second place finish at the last event they played, the Adrenaline Cyber League where they defeated FlipSid3 and played close to Virtus.pro in the final, is not something we can draw too much out of going into Cologne, leaving Edward and co. with a lot to prove going into the last two events before the break. If the CIS team doesn't start turning up, some sort of a change is inevitable.

Offline placings in the past three months 9-11th PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier 5-6th ECS S3 Finals ECS S3 Finals 3-4th ESL Pro League S5 Finals ESL Pro League S5 Finals 7-8th DreamHack Open Austin 2017 DreamHack Open Austin 2017 5-6th cs_summit Spring 2017 cs_summit Spring 2017

Liquid will be traveling to Cologne after a heartbreak in Bucharest, where an overtime loss to FlipSid3 left the North Americans without a spot at the Major. Even though it was surely hard for someone like EliGE to deal with not attending PGL Krakow after having good performances at Majors in the past, this should have him and his team more focused on Cologne.

Under the leadership of stanislaw and coaching of zews, Liquid has been showing improvements, getting to top four at the ESL Pro League S5 Finals and playing well at the ECS S3 Finals, despite not making it out of the groups in the end.

Twistzz has been a great addition to Liquid

Twistzz's addition played a big part in their success as well, as the youngster slotted in the system while adding to the team's firepower. Now, it is getting a stable output from jdm64 that is the team's biggest concern. The AWPer had some good games, but as stanislaw stated in our interview at ECS, jdm64 has been sacrificing too much for too long, which will take some time to undo.

However, with an added incentive to finish the first half of the year on a high, a set roster and a balanced map pool, Liquid will be one of the more exciting prospects in Germany this week.

Offline placings in the past three months 1st Adrenaline Cyber League 2017 Adrenaline Cyber League 2017 2nd ELEAGUE Clash for Cash ELEAGUE Clash for Cash 12-14th SL i-League StarSeries S3 Finals SL i-League StarSeries S3 Finals

Another team on the "big struggling name" list is Virtus.pro, who have been pretty much abysmal since their win at DreamHack Masters Las Vegas. Two group stage exits, in Katowice and Kiev, followed by a period of LAN inactivity due to unforgivably poor online performances lead to the Poles being totally absent from LAN events.

They did play the ELEAGUE Clash for Cash, but the show match between them and Astralis was in no way as exciting as it could be, had Virtus.pro not completely dropped the ball in recent months.

If Snax is back on track, anything is possible for Virtus.pro

Even though the veteran trio of NEO, pashaBiceps and TaZ are not playing that well, it is the bad form of the young duo that is actually causing the Poles' issues. Snax is currently sitting on a 1.11 rating, but that was inflated by a 1.30 rating at the Adrenaline Cyber League. The 23-year-old's impact plays usually keep the Poles in tough matches, and the lack of that has been felt as Virtus.pro have been blown out again and again. It's a similar story with byali, whose LAN rating is currently just a bit better than that of the 31-year-old TaZ.

Who knows what kind of a Virtus.pro we will see in Cologne. If we can take anything away from the Adrenaline Cyber League showing, Snax is coming back into form. That could be enough to kick-start the whole team, and if they pick up a strong win against Immortals in the opener, they could finally make a deep playoffs run once again.

Offline placings in the past three months 5-6th cs_summit Spring 2017 (4/5 of the current lineup) cs_summit Spring 2017 (4/5 of the current lineup) 9-11th SL i-League StarSeries S3 Finals (4/5 of the current lineup)

SL i-League StarSeries S3 Finals (4/5 of the current lineup)

With them being one of the biggest names not attending the Major, NiP will be the team that a lot of fans will be excited to see in Cologne. Debuting with REZ, whose 1.39 LAN rating is somewhat inflated by his performance at CPH Games 2017, the Ninjas are certainly a hot prospect.

It is near impossible to gauge how well they will actually do, but a positive sign is that the team has chosen to accommodate REZ fully, and not just plug him into positions Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg used to play, something the team was guilty of in the past. Alongside that, THREAT announced that they would be changing their map pool as well, leaving NiP as a giant question mark coming into ESL One Cologne.

REZ will debut for NiP in Cologne

With this being their last big event before the player break, NiP will surely want to make a good first impression. If that will happen or not depends on a lot of factors, one of them surely being how GeT_RiGhT plays at the event. The legendary player has been going through a long and deep slump which has been hindering his team quite a bit, leaving f0rest and co. looking towards him to get back to his old ways soon.

Offline placings in the past three months 7-8th DreamHack Open Tours 2017 DreamHack Open Tours 2017 3-4th DreamHack Open Austin 2017 DreamHack Open Austin 2017

Heroic have earned their spot at the event through the European qualifier, but haven't been in the most impressive form recently. Actually, this is probably their lowest point since the team first broke out in the second part of 2016, most recently failing to make an impression at DreamHack Open Tours and not being able to qualify for the EU Minor.

That seemingly lead to valde, Heroic's star player, departing from the team, and es3tag coming in—continuing the trend of a player change in Heroic almost every three months.

Heroic are not in the best shape coming into the event

es3tag's LAN debut for Heroic and the Danes good play in BO1's make them a team to keep an eye out for, at least in the group stages. But getting a good result won't be easy, especially when taking in account that they will be facing FaZe in the first round.

Offline placings in the past three months 1st GeForce Cup 2017 GeForce Cup 2017 1st 4Gamers CS:GO Masters (4/5 of the current lineup) 4Gamers CS:GO Masters (4/5 of the current lineup)

Space Soldiers have recently attended two lower-tier events, 4Gamers CS:GO Masters in Portugal, that featured no notable teams, and the GeForce Cup, where the likes of PENTA and Outlaws were competing. The Turks won both events, bumping their stats quite a bit along the way, and be looking towards Cologne to pick up their first wins over truly great teams.

XANTARES will face off against the elite on LAN

Space Soldiers are a team with a lot on the line in Cologne, as a good showing here could advance them in the rankings quite a bit and open them doors for future events, something the team complained about in the past.

It will, without a doubt, be exciting to see XANTARES take on elite opposition on LAN, starting with their opener against SK, but he is not the only one to keep an eye out for. paz has been a stable performer for some time now, and Calyx is an exciting prospect as well. The team's biggest question mark is the AWPing situation, as Çağatay "⁠DESPE⁠" Sedef, who usually took care of sniping, was put on the bench in favor of ngiN after an unsuccessful EU Minor qualification.

Making it out of the groups looks like a near-impossible task for Space Soldiers, but even just a single win and a couple of well-fought losses could mean a lot for them going forward.

Offline placings in the past three months 12-14th PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier PGL Major Krakow 2017 Main Qualifier 2nd Asia Minor - PGL Major Krakow 2017 Asia Minor - PGL Major Krakow 2017 1st CS:GO Super League 2017 - Spring Finals CS:GO Super League 2017 - Spring Finals 15-16th SL i-League StarSeries S3 Finals (4/5 of the current lineup) SL i-League StarSeries S3 Finals (4/5 of the current lineup)

The Chinese side is surely the biggest underdog of the tournament, as their erratic style of CS has once again hit a brick wall in Europe and left them with a 12-14th placing at the Main Qualifier for the Major. The addition of BnTeT, as exciting as it looks on paper, only made the team worse in that regard, as the communication between the Indonesian and the rest of TYLOO has been far from perfect.

TyLoo need a lot more composure to compete with Europeans

To try to fix some of the issues and get TYLOO to play a more western style of Counter-Strike, the organization brought in peacemaker. The Brazilian had a lot of impact in the coach-IGL era of CS:GO, but struggled to find his role in teams after that. However, with a team that desperately needs more structure and a different approach to the game, peacemaker could be a good fit, if he is able to get over the language barrier that will surely limit what he is able to get to the players during 30-second breaks.

Due to limited time between the events that don't allow for much to change, TYLOO are likely to leave Cologne with nothing more than additional experience of playing an international LAN. Hopefully, with the help of peacemaker, this time they can finally integrate that experience and improve as a team.