SK Gaming crowned champions of ESL One Cologne

SK Gaming defeated Team Liquid in the ESL One Cologne grand finals 2:0. It was the quickest ever final at a CS:GO Major. With this win SK is the third team in history to win two Major titles, joining Fnatic and EnVyUs.

This SK roster, under the banner of Luminosity Gaming, was the winner of the previous CS:GO Major in Columbus, Ohio earlier this year. And if heading into the Major in Cologne SK were one of the main favorites to take the trophy, not many expected that Team Liquid would be their opponents in the grand final of the $1 million tournament.

Since Team Liquid’s latest signing —Jacob “pimp” Winneche wasn’t eligible to play at the event – TL brought back their former player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev as a stand-in for the duration of the tournament. Despite roster difficulties Team Liquid had an amazing run at the event: eliminating Mousesports, Na`Vi and Fnatic, they became the first team from North America to reach the grand finals of a CS:GO Major.

But they still couldn’t stand up to SK Gaming. In two fast-paced maps, the Brazilians completely demolished Team Liquid. Thanks to incredible individual performances SK managed to win tough eco-rounds and outplayed TL during gun-rounds.

The ESL One Cologne grand finals erased any doubt that Marcelo "coldzera" David is currently the best player in the world. It was coldzera’s versatility that ultimately helped SK dominate Team Liquid in the finals. He managed to score 44-20 in kills/deaths and received an average HLTV rating of 1.58.

With roster this strong SK Gaming has a good chance to earn a spot in history books by winning 3 consecutive CS:GO Majors. The next Valve-sponsored event is expected to be announced in the near future, so make sure stay tuned to gg.bet!