How a ‘Counter-Strike’ Tournament Became a Phenomenon in Cologne

Click with a mouse. The number of spectators decreases, and the gaze is gathered on the huge screen suspended above. The rhythmic beep sound spreads to the arena, making everyone's heartbeat more frequent. Other players are wrapped in tactical team control. Without the commentator's bass voice, the main game will be able to hear how the pin falls. As a result of an anger battle in POILED LANE, the last person remains alive, but this is not all: Time is in the finals. Bresuno Hadcok expects, for example, a losing round that will not start. Instead, the microphone switch is turned on, and the digital audio declares that it is a "ant i-terrorist victory." thousand. People solidify with an ecstatic expression and sit down to see the next round.

This is the technology of seeing the profile live, different from others. Most people consider the top epi as the action movies and supercaps. Considering the lon g-term stage control over 25 years, it is not easy to recognize the opposite.

But not all counte r-like games are similar: Cologne in Germany.

Cologne has been the center of the scene since the early 2000s. There is a company called ESL Faceit Group, one of the leaders who formed a counte r-like as a big boom. Since 2015, ESL has been holding an ESL ONE COLOGNE event, known as Intel® Extreme Masters (IEM) Cologne since 2021.

This event is also called "Council-Strike Cathedral".

A trophy of the counter strike 2 at IEM Cologne 2024 this year. Helena Christianson; ESL Faceit Group

The magnificent title of the game tournament, which comes to Cologne with 1, 000 members from all over the world, belongs to both the city itself and the Rankses Arena, which has been held since 2015. Both of them are anthropomorphic the temple as a space where players and fans are united to bow down in front of the altar of counterattack.

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The Grand Final ended on August 18, and Team VITALY won the trophy at the 101st IEM tournament. The first time in Cologne, which was held as a sequel to Tegenaantrike 2, was the beginning of the fresh era of tournaments, and it has already greatly affected the situation.

But how did he appear?

ESL Brings Professional Counter-Strike to the Masses

The original "Tegenaantrike" debuted in 1999, but not a independent game, but an arrangement of Valve's wonderful Half-Life Shooter. At that time, it was unusual, and it quickly became a hit because of its real game tone and focus on fas t-paced and fas t-paced team multiplayer. Counter-strike quickly took in Internet cafes and LAN followers, and gained the momentum as the organized match-type games were growing.

Despite the main organizer of the Counter-Strike game, the tournament was held in Cologne in 2004, but the early tournament in Cologne was canceled in 2000. Professional League of Cyberathlete, one of the first organizers of the EPORTING tournament, held a counter strike in Europe, Brazil and North America several months after the official release. According to accidental agreement, one of the best teams in the early 2000s CPL was German club SK GAMING, and the c o-founder Ralph Griffe Ricchato later became one of the founders of ESL. What is your rival? The North American team 3D was established by Craig Levin, the current executive director of ESL Faceit Group.

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In 2003, Counte r-STRIKE 1. 6 was released, and the game became a standard for 10 years. The following year, ESL was updated and held the first major tournament EUROPEAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2004 in Cologne. The Swedish team won the tournament, engraved the evolved heritage of ESL and counter strike into the city of Cologne.

To participate in this tournament, fans visit the Rankses Arena in Cologne every year. MICHAL CONOL; ESL Faceit Group

For the next few years, ESL continued to expand its presence in Europe, and in 2007 he officially partnered with Intel® and founded the Intel® Extreme Masters, the first global controlled trike tournament. 。 The first IEM World Cup, which was only 150 miles away from Cologne, has established an internationa l-level professional controller trike.

The first IEM in Cologne was held in 2007 under the flag of the Intel® Friday Night Lights. In 2009, the IEM Season IV global challenge gamescom became an important tournament that would enhance the reputation of clubs such as S K-GAMING and FNATIC, and played an important role in the future of IEM. The following year, the tournament returned to Hannover and returned to Cologne for another year.

In 2009, League of Legends came to the fore and attracted a lot of interest from the ecumenical crowd, and in 2012, the correct update of Counter-Strike practically changed the game. The arrival of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive not only revived this Irge, which was already on the verge of fading, but also undoubtedly contributed to the qualification of the correct ESL legacy in Cologne.

ESL One Cologne Births the Cathedral of Counter-Strike

Thanks to the publicity of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, ESL continued to increase the number of IEM seasons, and in 2014, the World Cup was postponed to Katowice, Poland. Katowice will be another pillar in the never-ending ESL situation, but the Cologne situation forced us to start with something new.

In 2014, ESL returned home to conduct the first ESL One Cologne during the gamescom exhibition. The first of three related tournaments to pass once in another, sponsored by the publisher of Counter-Strike by Valve, was in fact the first CS:Go Major to be performed in Cologne. Unlike other major tournaments, Meaggers applied the auxiliary diploma of Pathos and acted in the event in the manner of a giant helmet, as it was officially sanctioned by Valve and measured the span in the stage of the competition. The ESL One Cologne Major also raised the level of drama surrounding the tournament.

Ninjas in Pyjamas - once the best brand of Eport, and in 2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the organization gathered the best Swedish players from Counter-Strike 1. This composition won 87 times in card order in full-time matches, not a losing record at this point, but winning a certain number of matches and not losing free time.

In the first two cages of Ninjas in Pyjamas (abbreviated NIP), however, they were defeated by losing in the Grand Finals in Yyncheping (Sweden) in 2013 and Catovitsa (Poland) in early 2014. More than once opponents, like the game, for example with a classic look, did not want the label attached to him, in fact he does not have a chance to win important tournaments, but as the depth of talent in Counter-Strike began to grow, NIP proved the pressure, so they overcame while it was not very late. However, in the battle against the Swedish rival of Fnatic Ninja, the player who later left the game with an injury returned with a finish, and took the individual first place in this IRGE and unified as the Mejor-champion. With this one piece, they made one of the most iconic images in Eport.

Ninjas in Pyjamas win the Major at ESL One Cologne 2014. Helena Christianson; ESL Faceit Group

The following year, ESL ONE COLOGNE accepted the second major tournament for the third consecutive year, and this time at Lanxess Arena, which can accommodate 18. 500 audiences, which is historically known as a home arena of the Kelner Hey Cologne Hockey Team. It was held. Along with the 2014 Katovice tournament, ESL One Cologne's scale and entertainment at the stadium like Rankses contributed to enhancing the fame of the competition scene. In an interview with ESPORTS INSIDER specialized in 2023, ESL c o-founder Ralph Leikato said that the event in the 2014 event was a turning point.

"In the early days, we regularly went to a concert to Rankses Arena. I thought," Yes, let's do a tournament someday, "and joked. I agree. But was it really planning? Honestly, probably not planned. But it was a good joke. Many of today's perports were decided at that moment. It became concrete.

ESL and IEM Forge a Decade Long Dynasty and Beyond

After the foundation was established in Lanxess Arena, all components were prepared for the next ten years of ESL and Counter-Strike. The annual pilgrimage of the counter strike to the home country was as special as last time.

For the ESL Faceit Group, raising the level of a counter strike player is a goal from the moment the competition scene appears. This includes not only regular games and simple support for economic stability, but also the process of players becoming a star. One of the important components of this goal was to include theater and entertainment in the event. By the beginning of the 2000s reaction, the players sat on the floor of the exhibition venue, sitting on the same table for players and personal computers, and the fans were watching the street performer surrounding them.

In Cologne, the players pass through the crowd, the smoke rises from the stage when the bomb explodes during the match, and the event is concluded with a traditional sport celebration hit song: Trophy's religious torso, paper. Dropping snowstorms, signing sessions in the camera area, impressive instant interview. If you are a lon g-time fan of Tegenant Like, you should already know how important Cologne is by watching this event, but by the end of the event, everyone will do this. I understand.

Thousands of spectators Mikhal Conol; ESL FACEIT GROUP, which fills the ranks arena before holding the IEM COLORNE 2024

Viewing the counter strike tournament has the potential to excite religious events. It's a thousand. People go to such a space like Cologne, play a role in events, and preach 24 rounds among executives. There are heros who can be hurt and idols that can be honored. However, the most important thing is the energy that separates the audience and the stage players, flows through the stadium, creating a dynamism of a specific effect.

In 2018, ESL complements this myth by calling Cologne "Counci l-Strike".

ESL ONE continued to be held at the Cathedral until the return of 2020, when the tournament was forced to close on the Internet due to the large pandemic "COVID-19". The same event caused a cross on the ESL ONE COLOGNE title, and the tournament confrontation was performed under the new title: Intel® EXTREME MASTERS COLORNE. In 2022, social mecca regained its beauty.

It was an endless way for ESL and Counter-Strike, but it was not overlooked by those who had been active from the beginning. In an interview with IM Spielkeller at IEM Cologne 2023, Craig Levin, the representative of the ESL Faceit Group, said how all were adapted.

"This is a magical moment." I remember where we were and how they started-a (and) where we came from the hotel hall of the hotel. It is necessary to remember this moment, as it is like dinner. Only in these factors that we have to think of what we sacrifice, we begin to know the special probability of getting us. The visits are the possibility of raising the religious event, and they play a role in the executives. There is a possible hero and an idol that can be praised, but the most important thing is the energy that separates the players on the stage, creating a dynamism of a specific effect.