5 Things We Learned from ESL One Cologne 2015

What a week it has been for CS:GO fans, the biggest major in the game's history coupled with a stellar lineup of teams. That is the kind of thing that can lighten up a sad gamer's day and boy did it deliver! There was just so much on the line and so much going on that fans were showering on hype. But even then there were somethings that made a more significant point than others.

NA still has a long way to go when it comes to majors

For Cloud9 things started out relatively well with them winning over MouseSports who many considered to be the tactically superior team. But from there onwards everything came crashing down as they got dominated by Virtus Pro and then ended up losing a close series to Kinguin, this to many was an upset given Cloud9's impressive performance before. As for CLG, they had a good start but whenever it came to closing out the game everything crumbled, it was almost a Deja Vu of IEM Gamescom as they lost to NIP 16-13 and NAVI 16-14.
 
The end of NIP Magic

Not so long ago, NIP were by far the most dominant team in CS:GO history. Making it to the finals of all majors they have attended before and holding the almost impossible 87-0 record. But times have changed and now everyone know what to expect out of the Swedish legends. So naturally this was the major when their streak of reaching the grand finals had to come to an end, the first bar of magic was eaten up by TSM who demolished NIP on de_inferno and then their longtime rivals Virtus Pro landed the final blow by taking them out in a BO3 series.

Never count out Virtus Pro

Virtus Pro haven't been a top 3 team in most official rankings for a long time,  however everyone was still weary of the Polish giants because of their ability to suddenly kick it up a notch and run over people. Which is exactly what happened at Cologne as they reached their 'Virtus Plow' form to break NIP's streak and then give FNATIC their toughest match of the entire tournament. Long story short, never count Virtus Pro Out!

The new EnvyUS is the most skilled lineup in CS:GO

It was soon obvious that the individual skill level of this team was so high that it can ignore many aspects of basic Counter Strike and still make things work.  Looking at their matches against NAVI and TSM who have a lot of experience working together, it was surprising how easily they were just using raw firepower to push through. Even FNATIC had an extremely hard time dealing with the overwhelming firepower at first on Dust2, which is a rare sight. Simply put EnvyUS is the most skilled team in CS:GO today and once they finally learn to manage their skill better within the team, it is going to be scary.

FNATIC is the greatest CS:GO team of all time

With NIP slumping and their streak broken, FNATIC have pulled away far too ahead for anyone to touch them right now.  They have an impressive balance of synergy and individual skill, every time a player is having an off game someone else will steps up to the task and pull their weight. This was evident as OlofMeister, the best CS:GO player in the world right now was having a bad day against EnvyUS at first during the grand finals. Fortunately Krimz and Flusha stepped up big time and managed stabilize the chaotic situation, eventually winning the whole thing. As a result FNATIC is now a 3 time major winner, 2 of which came after the arrival of Krimz and OlofM. Making this lineup by far the greatest team in CS:GO history.

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