The two first teams have been eliminated from the ESL One Cologne 2016 Major Qualifier. FLG and Empire were taken out by Renegades and Immortals, respectively, the former fell 11 – 16 on Mirage while the latter lost 7 – 16 on Cobblestone.

Renegades were against the ropes coming into this match, as the Australian team have been going through some trouble, particularly noticeable with the on-the-fly leadership changes going on. That didn’t stop them from winning the first round on Mirage, though, as Yaman "⁠yam⁠" Ergenekon came in big with three USP headshots to keep the FLuffy Gangsters at bay.

Despite dropping a round to a force buy, Renegades were quickly able to establish a hefty lead, not allowing Anatoliy "⁠liTTle⁠" Yashin to make plays with the AWP on mid in the early game—something that has proved crucial to FLuffy Gangsters’s success earlier in the tournament.

Renegades started to look very solid on defense as they kept racking up rounds, with yam keeping mid dominance over liTTle and FLuffy Gangsters looking scant of ideas. An ace by Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov put the second round on the board for the Russian team, who then followed it up with a third after a timeout, putting Renegades in a dire financial situation.

With 9 – 4 on the board Renegades got back on track in big part thanks to a four kill round by Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward, and the Australians were then able to close the half out 11 – 4, setting themselves up for a clear shot at winning the match and keeping their tournament hopes alive.

azr’s solid play in the early game eased Renegades into the match

Renegades won the terrorist pistol round and the following anti-eco, but FLuffy Gangsters forced up on the third round of the half successfully upsetting Renegades. The team from down under, however, regained composure immediately and shut FLuffy Gangsters down by winning the two following rounds, including a 1 vs. 1 stand-off between Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and Vladislav "⁠El Patron⁠" Kopitin which the former resolved by smoking the Russian player off and killing him as a smoke dissipated between stairs and jungle.

With FLuffy Gangsters sitting on the edge of the precipice, 15 – 5, a final attempt at putting up a wall came from the CIS side, who were able to stop Renegades’s pushes four rounds in a row before the Aussies decided to take their technical timeout. FLuffy Gangsters were able to make a game of it for two more rounds before Renegades closed the map out eliminating the CIS team.

ESL One Cologne 2016 Main QualifierBest of 1 RenegadesMatchpage 16 11 11th June 2016 FLuffy Gangsters 16Mirage 11

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	23 - 9	+14	85.7	1.45
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	23 - 17	+6	78.0	1.25
Yaman 'yam' Ergenekonyam	19 - 19	0	77.0	1.11
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	19 - 19	0	79.7	1.07
Chad 'SPUNJ' BurchillSPUNJ	18 - 21	-3	90.7	1.04

FLuffy Gangsters	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	20 - 19	+1	80.4	1.11
Vladimir 'ROBO' NeskeyROBO	19 - 20	-1	82.4	1.09
Roman 'roman' Redihinroman	16 - 19	-3	71.9	0.99
Anatoliy 'liTTle' YashinliTTle	17 - 22	-5	72.3	0.89
Vladislav 'El Patron' KopitinEl Patron	13 - 22	-9	62.9	0.67

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Major Qualifier thus far was the fact that Immortals were about to face an elimination match on their third map in Katowice. The Brazilians started out strong on Cobblestone, winning the terrorist pistol round and going on an all-out stomp fest, giving up only three deaths in the first six rounds of play.

The CIS team put up slightly more opposition on the seventh round, but nowhere near enough to stop the steamroller that were Immortals at this point, with every player hitting their shots.

It was finally nine rounds in when Empire were able to set-up a solid enough defense to stop the Brazilian team who had up to then been plowing through the ranks of the CIS team every round. Empire were finally able to string a couple rounds together at the end of the half, but a massive gap was already in favor of Immortals who went 12 – 3 into the half.

felps ran circles around Empire all map long

Immortals picked up the second pistol round, forcing Empire into a force buy which the CIS side lost. After a bit of resistance by the terrorist side, the Empire finally fell, 7 – 16, to the Immortals, and thus ending the dreams of attending the Major of the teams qualified through the CIS Minor.

Immortals	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ricardo 'boltz' Prassboltz	23 - 13	+10	123.7	1.73
João 'felps' Vasconcellosfelps	22 - 12	+10	106.8	1.70
Henrique 'HEN1' TelesHEN1	17 - 10	+7	66.9	1.25
Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesSHOOWTiME	15 - 11	+4	58.7	1.24
Lucas 'LUCAS1' TelesLUCAS1	15 - 13	+2	69.5	1.10

Empire	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	18 - 19	-1	87.2	1.02
Sergey 'spaz' Skrypchikspaz	13 - 18	-5	66.5	0.85
Roman 'CyberFocus' DergachCyberFocus	14 - 18	-4	64.4	0.80
Alexander 'spiker' Ivanovspiker	6 - 17	-11	40.7	0.54
Emil 'kUcheR' AkhundovkUcheR	8 - 20	-12	50.7	0.50