ESL One Cologne live blog: Day 2

Day 2 of ESL One Cologne has come to an end with all the quarter finalists known. Day 3 will kick off at 09.00 CEST with a best of 3 series between the squad from Sweden, Fnatic and the Ukrainian team, Natus Vincere.

Quarter Finals schedule for Day 3:

09.00 CEST- Fnatic vs Natus Vincere - BO3

11.45 CEST- Epsilon vs Team Dignitas - BO3

14.45 CEST- Team LDLC vs Virtus.pro - BO3

17.30 CEST- Cloud9 vs Ninjas in Pyjamas - BO3

Group D

Winner's Match: Team Dignitas vs Cloud9 - map: de_mirage

Dignitas started by winning a pistol round on CT side, but Cloud9 returned by winning an eco round and making it 1-5 for them. However Dignitas made a huge streak finishing first half with 10-5. The second pistol round went into the Danish team favor after a true thriller, and Dignitas had 14-10 at one point and were with one leg in the Playoffs. However, Cloud9 proved once again that they are the true kings of comebacks at this event. The North American squad won six consecutive rounds to make it 16-14 for them in the end.

Consolidation Match: Titan vs Team Dignitas - map: de_nuke

The last match of Day 2 have seen Titan and Team Dignitas clashing for the last spot in the playoffs. Dignitas started at CT side on de_nuke and literally crushed Titan by winning 10 consecutive rounds. At the score of 10-0 device had 0 deaths, while both kennyS and NBK had 0 kills. But, the French team managed to win 11th round of this map to make it 10-1, which at the end turned to be their only round in this match. The Danish team won the second pistol round and easily finished this match with the 16-1 as a final score.

Group C

Winner's Match: Virtus.pro vs Fnatic - map: de_overpass

Virtus.pro started on the CT side of the de_overpass with Taz clutching the pistol round leading to a 3-0 lead. Fnatic attempt to turn it around winning the next two rounds but they got quickly shut down by an eco win from Virtus.pro which in the end brought 10:5 score line in the Polish squad favor. Moving into the second half Fnatic have finally put their players to work securing 5 consecutive rounds bringing it back to an even 10:10. Both teams were back and forth from here on out taking the game to overtime where Fnatic would go on to push Virtus.pro into the elimination match against iBP.

Consolidation Match: Virtus.pro vs iBUYPOWER - map: de_cache

Virtus.pro kicked off on CT side which is much favored side of de_cache. They won the pistol round and six rounds after making it 7-0. iBUYPOWER managed to win their first round and break this streak, however the first half was heavily dominated by the Polish team with the score of 13-2. The match was ended with the knife kill on swag, making it 16-2.

Group B

Winner's Match: Team LDLC vs Natus Vincere - map: de_inferno

Na'Vi had a perfect start by winning a pistol round, however LDLC striked back in an eco round and had 4-2 at one point as CT. Then the Ukranian team snowballed to 7-2 and the moment when most of the people would think that the Frenches didnt had any answer left they managed to comeback to 8-7 at the first half. The second half was mostly seeing pauses due some technical issues, however Team LDLC executed it perfectly at T side and the final score was 16-12.

Consolidation Match: Copenhagen Wolves vs Natus Vincere - map: de_dust2

The match started with the Wolves taking pistol round, however Na'Vi went for a force buy instead of an eco and won next two rounds. Wolves decided to follow with a force buy and they won the round too, making it 2-2. The Ukranian team then just exploded making it 10-2 which in the end of first half was 10-5. The second half was totally opposite to the first one, where the Danish team took seven consecutive rounds to make it 12-10 into their favor. They also had a match point at 15-14 score and 2vs2 on A bomb site, but Na'Vi held their ground and made it to the overtime. The first half of overtime went to Na'Vi with the score of 2-1 where they were on CT side. Wolves nicely opened overtime by taking the first round, but the Ukranian team striked back with the two straight rounds. In the second half of overtime Copenhagen Wolves managed to win only one round which in the end wasn't enough and they got eliminated.

Group A

Winner's Match: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Epsilon - map: de_cobblestone

The Winner's match of group A was played at de_cobblestone, one of the newly added maps to the pool. NiP was first at CT, a more favored side on this map, however Epsilon won a pistol and two rounds after making it 0-3. Fourth round saw Fifflaren against fxy0 battling with awp's, where the Swedish player came on top. But Kioshima was just on the fire throughout this whole match. After the first half he had 22 kills and the first person after him had 13. Epsilon took first half with 9-6 and the second half was only the perfect execution at CT side for them.

Consolidation Match: HellRaisers vs Ninjas in Pyjamas - map: de_overpass

The deciding match of Group A was played between NiP and HellRaisers. They clashed on de_overpass where NiP started on CT side. HR won the first three entry rounds, after which NiP made a nice comeback to win the first half with 10-5. The Swedes were hoping to win their first pistol round at this tournament and the moment it looked like they gonna lose it again, friberg just stepped up and made some perfect shots with pistol. HR tried to make a comeback but in the end it fall to the only 11 rounds for them.

Group A schedule for Day 2:

09.30 CEST- Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Epsilon - BO1 - Winner's Match

10.45 CEST- HellRaisers vs Ninjas in Pyjamas - BO1 - Consolidation Match

Group B schedule for Day 2:

12.15 CEST- Team LDLC vs Natus Vincere - BO1 - Winner's Match

13.45 CEST- CPH Wolves vs Natus Vincere - BO1 - Consolidation Match

Group C schedule for Day 2:

14.45 CEST- Virtus.pro vs fnatic - BO1 - Winner's Match

17.30 CEST- iBUYPOWER vs Virtus.pro - BO1 - Consolidation Match

Group D schedule for Day 2:

18.30 CEST- Team Dignitas vs Cloud9 - BO1 - Winner's Match

19.45 CEST- Titan vs Team Dignitas - BO1 - Consolidation Match

Headline image by Helena Kristiansson and ESL.

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