ESL One Katowice 2015 was the fifth CS:GO Major and the second in the Spodek Arena. Fnatic beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in the final to become the first team to win two Majors, less than four months after forfeiting at DreamHack. NiP reached their fifth final in five Majors, and Keyd Stars became the first team from outside Europe and North America to reach a Major's top eight.
The event
ESL ran the tournament with Valve's sponsorship from March 12 to 15, 2015, in Katowice, Poland. The prize pool was $250,000: $100,000 for the winner, $50,000 for the runner-up, $22,000 per semi-finalist, $10,000 per quarter-finalist and $2,000 for the rest.
- Legends: the eight playoff teams from DreamHack Winter 2014. Two played under new names. Team EnVyUs had signed all five LDLC champions, and Team SoloMid took Dignitas' spot by signing four of its players.
- Challengers: eight teams from a LAN qualifier that followed regional qualifiers: 3DMAX, Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, FlipSid3 Tactics, Keyd Stars, LGB eSports, Titan and Vox Eminor.
The format was the same as at every Major so far: four GSL groups of single maps, then a best-of-three single-elimination bracket. The map pool was Cache, Cobblestone, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke and Overpass.
Group stage
- Group A: Fnatic beat Vox Eminor 16-3 and Natus Vincere 16-7 on Cobblestone. Natus Vincere took second.
- Group B: Team EnVyUs won both matches. PENTA Sports lost 3-16 to LGB eSports, then beat them 16-12 in the decider.
- Group C: NiP beat Keyd Stars 16-9 and Counter Logic Gaming 16-7. Keyd then beat HellRaisers 16-12 and CLG 16-8, and HellRaisers lost their Legends status.
- Group D: Virtus.pro beat 3DMAX 16-5 and Cloud9 16-11. Team SoloMid went through with a 16-8 win over Cloud9 on Overpass.
Playoffs
Map scores are from the winner's side.
| Round | Winner | Series | Loser | Maps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter-final | Fnatic | 2-0 | PENTA Sports | Inferno 16-8, Cache 16-7 |
| Quarter-final | Virtus.pro | 2-1 | Keyd Stars | Mirage 16-4, Overpass 17-19, Nuke 16-1 |
| Quarter-final | Team EnVyUs | 2-1 | Natus Vincere | Cache 16-12, Dust II 14-16, Cobblestone 16-3 |
| Quarter-final | Ninjas in Pyjamas | 2-1 | Team SoloMid | Dust II 16-8, Inferno 4-16, Nuke 16-12 |
| Semi-final | Fnatic | 2-0 | Virtus.pro | Cobblestone 19-17, Mirage 16-8 |
| Semi-final | Ninjas in Pyjamas | 2-0 | Team EnVyUs | Cache 16-9, Dust II 16-10 |
| Final | Fnatic | 2-1 | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Dust II 16-14, Cache 10-16, Inferno 16-13 |
The Brazilian Keyd Stars took Overpass from the home team in overtime. HLTV's report credits Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo with picking off Virtus.pro players one by one in CT bathrooms at 17-17, and Lucas "steel" Lopes with three kills in the final round. Virtus.pro then won Nuke 16-1. Fnatic's semi-final against the same Virtus.pro side also needed overtime, on Cobblestone.
The final: Fnatic 2-1 NiP
Dust II was NiP's pick. Fnatic led 10-5 at half-time and held on to win 16-14. NiP levelled on Cache, Fnatic's pick, where Fnatic led 8-7 at the break but won only two more rounds as NiP closed it out 16-10.
Inferno, the randomly drawn decider, was the third map. Fnatic led 11-4 at half-time and reached 15-4, before NiP won nine rounds in a row to make it 13-15. The last round was a two-against-three that Fnatic won, with Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson holding on, according to GosuGamers' report, to seal the map 16-13.
| Player | Name |
|---|---|
| olofmeister | Olof Kajbjer |
| flusha | Robin Rönnquist |
| JW | Jesper Wecksell |
| KRIMZ | Freddy Johansson |
| pronax | Markus Wallstén |
| Devilwalk (coach) | Jonatan Lundberg |
HLTV lists olofmeister as the event's MVP, with the best rating of the tournament at 1.31. The same player had been at the centre of the Overpass boost at DreamHack. For NiP it was a fourth lost final in five Majors.
ESL reported that the tournament's peak concurrent audience across all platforms passed one million viewers.
Stickers: single papers and two holo-foil capsules
Valve repeated the DreamHack model but gave the Challengers a capsule too. The Katowice 2015 Pick'Em Challenge opened on February 26, and team stickers were again the game pieces. In Valve's words, fans could buy "their ESL One Katowice 2015 team sticker", or "a Legends or Challengers capsule containing holographic and foil versions of the teams' stickers". A portion of the proceeds went to the teams.
| Release | Contents |
|---|---|
| Single stickers | Paper stickers of all 16 teams and an ESL One sticker |
| ESL One Katowice 2015 Legends (Holo-Foil) | Holo and foil: Fnatic, HellRaisers, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, PENTA Sports, Team EnVyUs, TSM Kinguin, Virtus.pro, plus an ESL One foil |
| ESL One Katowice 2015 Challengers (Holo-Foil) | Holo and foil: 3DMAX, Cloud9 G2A, Counter Logic Gaming, Flipsid3 Tactics, Keyd Stars, LGB eSports, Titan, Vox Eminor, plus an ESL One foil |
| Souvenirs only | Gold versions of the team stickers and a gold ESL One sticker |
Two sticker names carry the sponsors of the time: TSM Kinguin and Cloud9 G2A. Unlike DreamHack 2014, every team had a holo and a foil this time, so the Brazilian Keyd Stars' first Major appearance can be collected in both.
There is a quirk worth knowing if you search by name. On Steam, three of the paper stickers are listed with a double space before the final bar: Ninjas in Pyjamas, PENTA Sports and Vox Eminor. Any tool that looks items up by exact name needs that double space.
Souvenirs
Viewers could again earn packages by watching on GOTV or on Twitch with a linked Steam account, and there was one package per map. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki, each Souvenir carries gold stickers of the two teams in its match plus a gold ESL One sticker. The Cobblestone package is one of the ten that could contain a Souvenir AWP | Dragon Lore, as our Dragon Lore history explains, and the souvenir packages guide covers how the system changed later.
Collecting Katowice 2015 items today
- Read the full name. Katowice also hosted the 2014 and 2019 Majors, so check that the name ends in "Katowice 2015". Cloud9 G2A appears again at Cologne 2015, but TSM Kinguin only on this set.
- Know the finish. Paper came from the store, holo and foil from the capsules, and gold only on Souvenirs.
- Watch for the double space. Copy the exact Steam name for the NiP, PENTA Sports and Vox Eminor paper stickers.
- Search applied stickers. The sticker filter on Buy finds guns carrying a specific Katowice 2015 sticker, which avoids the spacing problem altogether.
Fnatic won again at the next Major, ESL One Cologne 2015, the first with player autographs. Our Cologne 2015 Major article covers it, and our guide to Major sticker capsules explains how autographs work.
Sources
- ESL One: Katowice 2015 — Liquipedia
- fnatic beat NiP to win Katowice major — HLTV.org
- Virtus.pro over Keyd in thrilling series — HLTV.org
- Top 20 players of 2015: olofmeister (1) — HLTV.org
- ESL One Katowice 2015 — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- ESL One Katowice 2015 Legends (Holo-Foil) — Liquipedia
- Record-breaking numbers: the ESL One Katowice infographic — ESL
- fnatic are your ESL One Katowice 2015 champions — GosuGamers
