ESL Cologne 2016 CSGO Grand Finals Today!
In 14 hours, the last teams standing are going to butt heads in the ESL Cologne 2016 grand finals! If you have any motivation to watch top-level CSGO play, this is the time to jump in and watch. Of the 16 teams that originally came to fight for the 1 million dollar grand prize, it’s Team Liquid and SK Gaming who have survived the brackets and move into the illustrious Round 30.
Team Liquid has had an amazing run this tournament. Despite getting off to a rocky start (though not without a resounding victory over EnVyUs), including losing pretty handily to Vertus.Pro. But then they surprised everyone by defeating the tournament favorites NV in a very close 2-1 overtime match. Liquid then took on fnatic, one of the most unpredictable and dominating teams in the entire game, still winning in another nail-biter 2-0 that took everyone completely by surprise. Their success story is catching the community by storm, not least of which because fnatic was pretty confident going in that they’d stomp the underdog. SK Gaming has had a more traditional road to the playoffs, winning all their games and remains the favorites for the entire tournament due to some amazing plays on all sides
SK Gaming has had a more traditional road to the playoffs, winning all their games and remaining the favorites for the entire tournament due to some amazing plays on all sides. In particular, SK seems to really study up on the team they’re about to face, in their last match against Virtus.Pro it felt like they were reading the smoke grenades before they even went off. Coldzera deserves particular mention as an absolutely devastating topfragger and someone to watch out for in the Grand Finals today. As the returning world champions, SK have repeatedly proven they’re one of the best teams in all of Counter-Strike.
Even if you’re not into CSGO, you might want to tune in for the Souvenir cases. Anyone watching either in-game or on Twitch will be eligible to win rare collectible weapons that can sell for lots of money. The one I got isn’t worth much but it’s still cool to get a memento of an amazing tournament. Also the ones that drop during the Grand Final will be extremely valuable, so now is definitely the time to stop by!