Last weekend, the MMC studios in Cologne, Germany were host to some of the best European Counter-Strike teams. These sixteen teams were split up into two groups of eight teams each to decide who amongst them would head to the main event. Each group had it's own favourites, but it wouldn't take long for both players and viewers to find out that it wasn't going to be that simple.

All eyes on Kinguin

As a team made up out of some of the best individual players in the world, all eyes were on Kinguin to prove themselves against the rest of Europe. Could this newly formed team work together and secure their spot in the major? It turned out, that the team didn't have much issue doing so. After taking down both German teams, PENTA Sports and KILLERFISH eSports in convincing fashion (16-9, 16-8 respectively) they faced off against Team Dignitas in the upper bracket finals. The Danish team wasn't able to stop Kinguin in it's tracks and eventually lost 16-8 on Dust2. With this win Kinguin secured themselves a slot at ESL One Cologne 2015.

Flipsid3's run through the lower bracket

Flipsid3 had a really rough start in the European qualifier. The team faced off against KILLERFISH eSport in a very close series and barely lost against them (14-16) This early loss however meant that Flipsid3 had to fight their way through the entire lower bracket to have a shot at a ticket for ESL One Cologne. After defeating PENTA Sports and Team Property, the team managed to defeat the team that knocked them down into the lower bracket, KILLERFISH eSports and headed to the lower bracket finals against Team Dignitas. The fight against Dignitas was one of comebacks and incredibly close rounds. After an incredibly tense 30 rounds, the map went into overtime where Flipside3 managed to eke out ahead 19-16 and secure themselves a spot at the next major.

Team eBettle: A battle of the ages

In Group B, a couple of names were favoured to go through. Those names were Titan, LGB eSports and HellRaisers, but a name that was on no one's list was Team eBettle. The team, previously known as InShock, surprised many as they managed to not only defeat Epiphany Bolt but also HellRaisers in two really close games. The team then faced off against group favourite Titan and showed the world their skill. In a triple overtime game that went back and forth, both sides seemed evenly matched with eBettle barely coming out ahead and grabbing their ticket to the main event!

Titan: Unphased and unbroken

After two straightforward matches against Gamers2 and k1ck eSports, Titan hit a roadblock when going up against Team eBettle. After the nail biting series, Titan found themselves in the lower bracket after just having lost a game that was theirs for the taking. While many teams would be demoralised by such a long and exhausting loss, the French squad collected themselves and looked towards their next opponent, LGB eSports. In a dominating performance, Titan completely destroyed LGB eSports only granting them a total of 2 rounds in the entire map ensuring that the fourth and final European spot for ESL One Cologne 2015 went their way.