ESL One Katowice 2015

The year's first major is close. Teams, organizations and fans across the globe are reaching the peak of their anticipation, but we are just getting started.

Like the previous year, this year's first Valve-sponsored $250,000 tournament will be hosted by ESL at the Spodek arena in Katowice, Poland. Last year, the home team of Virtus.pro triumphed over Ninjas in Pyjamas to take the trophy and the honor of being the best in the world, and the Polish team will no doubt be the crowd favorites once again.

The overall favorites heading into Katowice, however, are sure to be Fnatic and Team EnVyUs, with the former no doubt the most feared team at the moment. The Ninjas, after making a late roster change in bringing in Aleksi "allu" Jalli in place of Mikail "Maikelele" Bill, will undoubtedly bring their best effort in hopes of reaching their fifth straight major finals appearance as well as a second major victory.

Thus far, there has been no team able to secure a second major championship, but Katowice is gearing up to be the perfect stage to bear witness to the scene's first dual-title wielder. Fnatic, nV, VP and NiP are the four teams to beat, and also the four teams that have won a major to date. The teams with the biggest potential to pull off upsets are perhaps Team SoloMid and Titan, but both teams will require an A+ effort from all members to succeed. Nevertheless, the tournament is primed for excitement, and as some may so jovially put it, the hype is real.

The map pool is the standard Valve map pool, featuring a revamped Overpass and Cobblestone. Both maps are sure to be vetoed more often than not, but should Cobblestone be played, the new changes may grab the attention of spectators with potentially interesting games.

The group stage will be conducted under a double-elimination best of one, popularly known as the GSL format. The first team to notch two wins will proceed to the bracket stage as the higher seed, while the two teams with 1-1 records after their first two matches will face off in a decider match with the winner advancing as the lower seed. The two teams who lose twice during the group stage are naturally eliminated. The bracket stage will be played as a best of three, including the finals.

In the group stage, both teams will veto two maps each and the map will be randomly chosen between the remaining three. The higher seeded team will get to decide who vetoes first and will also get to have side choice.

In the bracket stage, both teams will veto one map each then select one map each. Once again, the higher seeded team will decide who vetoes first. Teams will have side choice on their opponent's map. The last map will be randomly chosen amongst the three remaining maps, and side choice for the last map will be decided with a coin flip.

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Text: Souma
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