ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe are two of the four divisional regions of the event. Making the transition to online, it still remains as one of the top events of the CS:GO year of 2020. Organized by ESL, read on to learn How To Watch!
Running from the 18th August to the 29th and 30th August, the S-Tier events looks to crown champions for NA and EU. The first-person tactical shooter may have had a rough swap to the online format on the whole, but the community has gotten used to it.
Accordingly, the top 8 teams in North America and 16 in Europe have qualified through the multitude of avenues available. Some have made it through the Road to Cologne events while others through ESL World Ranking. Indeed, the following 8 NA teams are fighting for the majority of $135,000 very soon:
- Team Liquid
- 100 Thieves
- Evil Geniuses
- FURIA Esports
- Cloud9
- Gen.G Esports
- Triumph
- Chaos Esports Club
Meanwhile in Europe, 16 teams are fighting for $325,000:
- Astralis
- Fnatic
- Natus Vincere
- G2 Esports
- mousesports
- FaZe Clan
- Team Vitality
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- BIG
- Complexity Gaming
- OG
- Heroic
- MAD Lions
- mibr
- Team Heretics
- Sprout
For ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online, all teams will be put through their paces thanks to the challenging format. Many look at this event to round off these past few weeks of competition.
Format
In terms of format, it’s strictly unsurprising for the most part. The online event will be split into the usual Group Stage and Playoffs style.
Group Stage
For the group stage, the 8 teams have been sorted into two groups of 4 teams each, or 8 in the case of Europe. Following a double-elimination/GSL format, with BO3 games, only the top half will move forward to the next stage.
Playoffs
Unlike the usual double elimination format, a brutal single-elimination bracket is present. The four remaining teams from groups will be seeding according to placement. Here, more BO3 matches will determine the Grand Finalists. In the grand final, with $135,000 and $325,000 on the line, a BO7 will be played out. For Europe, a double-elimination bracket is being followed as there are more teams.
The Tier S event is not playing around.
Schedule for ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe
Here’s exactly how the schedule will look like. Games will be present every day of the event with two per day at most. Here are the first two days of groups for North America.
August 18th
- FURIA Esports vs Chaos Esports (22:00)
- 100 Thieves vs Gen.G Esports (22:00)
August 19th
- Evil Geniuses vs Triumph (22:00)
- Cloud9 vs Team Liquid (22:00)
For the entire schedule, visit https://www.esl-one.com/csgo/cologne/tournament/north-america/#?matchday=1.
For Europe, the schedule is almost identical, just with more matches. Here is a look at the first two days of groups also:
August 18th
- BIG vs Sprout (15:00)
- OG vs Ninjas in Pyjamas (15:00)
- Team Vitality vs Team Heretics (18:30)
- Fnatic vs Astralis (18:30)
August 19th
- Natus Vincere vs mousesports (15:00)
- Complexity vs MAD Lions (15:00)
- FaZe Clan vs Heroic (18:30)
- mibr vs G2 Esports (18:30)
Watch the ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online - North America ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online - Europe
Predictions for ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe
As always, when it comes to predictions, we take a look at the most recent event to see what could happen next. In this case, the last event was cs_summit 6 Online: North America which ended last month.
Since then, not much competition has really been present as the mid-year break took place. At that event, all the teams were present – here’s how they stacked up:
- 1st – Evil Geniuses
- 2nd – Gen.G Esports
- 3rd – Team Liquid
- 4th – 100 Thieves
- 5th – Cloud9
- 6th – FURIA Esports
- 7-8th – Chaos
- 9th – Triumph
Some might say that this is an accurate prediction of what is to come this weekend. However, things look different according to the world rankings. Also to note, that now, teams have had more time to get used to the online environment and will perform better.
Personally, my pick would definitely go to Evil Geniuses. By also placing 1st at the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Americas Finals, they are the undisputed favourites to win the entire event. Behind them, I’d say that Gen.G makes it to the grand final to give them a good fight.
Meanwhile, for Europe, I’d have my eyes set on Astralis’ new roster. Can they match up against the current top dogs in BIG and Team Vitality? At this pace, this event will be the perfect way to find out how Europe stacks up right now.
Streams
For both regions, the following links are available on YouTube and Twitch:
