win.gg
Win.gg News Team Liquid CSGO wins ESL One Cologne 2019

Team Liquid CSGO wins ESL One Cologne 2019

Nina Forneloza
Nina Forneloza Published 07/07/2019
Google Preferred Source

Team Liquid has won ESL One Cologne 2019 and secured the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 prize of $1 million.

The North American squad took out Team Vitality 3-1 in the grand finals of the event. That victory combined with first-place finishes at Intel Extreme Masters XIV Sydney, DreamHack Masters Dallas, and ESL Pro League Season 9 locked up the Intel Grand Slam.

Team Liquid were dominant on Overpass, winning 16-6. Vitality had chances to make the game competitive but any time they sought to string together rounds, Team Liquid would snuff it out. Even when Liquid was forced into eco rounds, they would still find the shots and maintain the momentum to ensure Vitality had no real chance of taking the map.

The second map in the series, contested on Dust 2, was a far better performance from the French side. The first half saw Vitality do a great job of breaching Liquid’s strong defensive play on the CT side while the second half was a back and forth, fast-paced brawl as teams traded rounds. Liquid advanced to map point but Vitality forced overtime thanks to a huge performance from Nathan “NBK” Schmitt. Vitality settled in from there and tied the series off a massive clutch from Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut.

Vitality opened Inferno with a clear game plan in mind, hitting the B bombsite repeatedly. Unfortunately, Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip and Keith “NAF” Markovic were immovable objects and kept pushing Vitality back. Despite winning both pistol rounds and getting boosted further by a couple of massive clutches from ZywOo, Vitality was working from far behind for the entire game. They rallied to some degree to drag out the game, but hopes of forcing overtime were snuffed out by Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken who brought Liquid to match point with a 16-10 win.

Liquid perhaps showed some overconfidence at the start of the fourth map, Mirage.

Vitality were not ready to just hand over the tournament and the Grand Slam. Liquid won the first 3 rounds and then lost 7 in a row. This seemed to frustrate Liquid, who started to miss shots and lose duels that they were winning on the previous maps. Liquid made good use of the tactical timeouts to reassess and came back to end the first half 8-7.

Team Liquid came out strong on the T side giving up only a single round. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski produced a heroic clutch to advance Liquid to Championship point which the team converted.

In 2018 Liquid were a tragic story of the perennial bridesmaid to Astralis but in 2019 the team is almost unanimously regarded as the world’s best.

Since the IEM Katowice Major, the squad has broken off four live tournament wins and reached the grand finals of three more. The team looks almost unstoppable these days and could be poised to post a historic calendar year.

Nina Forneloza Nina Forneloza
About Nina Forneloza

Nina Forneloza is a huge fan of gaming, but her favorite genres of games above all other are gacha games, first-person shooting games, and role-playing games. When she isn’t looking for a lucky pull in the latest gacha, you’re likely to find her in a competitive Valorant lobby or playing the latest big single-player RPG. Either way, you can be assured that she’ll be into it and ready to write about the experience.

View full profile
Read Also
IEM Cologne Major 2026 CS2 Stage 3 Pick’Em Predictions Counter-Strike
IEM Cologne Major 2026 CS2 Stage 3 Pick’Em Predictions Owen Harsono It’s that time of the year again, as the next Counter-Strike 2 Major is right around the corner. The IEM Cologne 2026 Major is set to start on June 2, meaning you still have some time to lock in your Pick’Em predictions. The Pick’Em Challenge is one of the most exciting parts of the CS2 Majors, as it allows you to test your knowledge and predict which teams make it ...
Team Spirit concede just 10 rounds in Stage 2 of the IEM Cologne Major Counter-Strike
Team Spirit concede just 10 rounds in Stage 2 of the IEM Cologne Major Owen Harsono It was pretty weird seeing Team Spirit having to start the IEM Cologne Major from Stage 2, but they quickly proved why that was a mistake. With donk shooting on all fronts, the Eastern Europeans speed ran the competition to book their spot in Stage 3. With how they’ve been playing, it’s hard not to wonder whether they can actually win the entire thing. These boys can sometimes be known ...
BIG pull off 0-12 comeback to stay alive – IEM Cologne Major Stage 1 recap Counter-Strike
BIG pull off 0-12 comeback to stay alive – IEM Cologne Major Stage 1 recap Owen Harsono We’ve just witnessed arguably the worst choke in Counter-Strike Major history, and we’re only on the first stage of the IEM Cologne Major. If you didn’t tune into the Stage 1 matches, here’s what you need to know heading into Stage 2. Many fans tend to underestimate Stage 1 teams for fair reasons, but some survivors in this tournament look extremely promising. Two Eastern European teams, BetBoom Team and B8, ...
Who will win the IEM Cologne Major 2026? Counter-Strike
Who will win the IEM Cologne Major 2026? Owen Harsono If you’re looking to play it safe and back one team at the Counter-Strike 2 IEM Cologne 2026 Major, traders prediction markets platforms have a clear frontrunner – it’s Team Vitality. But if it’s not meant to be, there are a few other candidates that could lift the trophy. Here’s what traders on Polymarket and Kalshi think. If you haven’t been watching CS2 this year and are only jumping on ...
The 10 best CS2 players who have never won a Major Counter-Strike
The 10 best CS2 players who have never won a Major Owen Harsono In Counter-Strike, winning a Major immediately puts you into legend status. It’s an achievement that proves you won the game’s biggest trophy. However, there have been some really good players that could never get their hands on the biggest trophy that Counter-Strike esports has to offer. Here is WIN.gg's list of best CS2 players who have never won a Major. ScreaM is one of Counter-Strike's most famous players for one ...
IEM Cologne Major 2026: All the teams, favorites, and outright betting odds Counter-Strike
IEM Cologne Major 2026: All the teams, favorites, and outright betting odds Owen Harsono Mark your calendars, as the IEM Cologne Major kicks off on June 2, 2026. We’re going to see the best teams in the world compete, but which ones are actually favored to take the title? This will be the first time in 10 years that IEM Cologne will return as a Counter-Strike Major, so the stakes this year are much higher than they’ve been in a decade. In this guide, ...
All IEM Cologne winners and rosters in Counter-Strike history Esports Betting
All IEM Cologne winners and rosters in Counter-Strike history Owen Harsono IEM Cologne is one of Counter-Strike’s biggest events, happening every single year. Some seasons, the event is labeled as one of Valve’s two Counter-Strike Majors of the year, but if not, still stands as one of the big events every player chases to win. With the IEM Cologne 2026 Major right around the corner, let’s take a trip down memory lane and check out every single winner of the tournament, ...