ESL One Cologne 2016

There were seven maps to choose from. Between Columbus 2016 and Cologne 2016, Inferno was taken out of the active map pool and Nuke was reintroduced after the CSGO development team revamped the map.[10] Before each best-of-one match in the group stage, teams alternated banning maps until five maps had been banned. One of the two remaining maps was randomly selected, and the team that that did not get a third ban then selected which side it wanted to start on. In all best-of-three series, each team first banned a map, leaving a five-map pool. Each team then chose a map, with the opposing team selecting which side they wanted to start on for their opponent's map choice. The two map picks were the first two maps in the best-of-three. If the series were to require a third map, the map was randomly selected from the three remaining maps.

The final four bracket from each qualifier are shown below; two from each move on to the main qualifying event. All games are offline.

The winner and runner-up of Intel Extreme Masters Season X Taipei were invited to the qualifier. In addition, two teams from the Korean qualifier, two teams from the Chinese qualifier, one team from the Southeast Asia qualifier, and one team from the Oceania qualifier will be in the minor.

The Europe Minor was held by DreamHack in Tours, France. Two qualifiers were held and four teams from each qualifier moved on to the minor.

In the CIS Minor, four teams were invited and four more teams from the closed qualifier arrived to the minor in Moscow.

The Americas Minor had four teams invited, three teams from the North American qualifier, and one team from the South American qualifier.

Like the previous majors, there will be a major qualifier and regional qualifiers. The bottom eight teams from MLG Columbus 2016 received automatic bids to the main qualifier. Two teams each from the Asia, North America, Europe, and CIS Minors will be able to compete in the major qualifier.

Unlike previous qualifiers, this main qualifier will be a sixteen team swiss tournament, where after the Day 1 games, teams will play other teams with the same win–loss record. Every round will consist of one game. In addition, teams will not play the same team twice. Any team with three wins would qualify for the major, and any team with three losses would be eliminated.

First round seeding was determined by the following:

• Teams that placed 9th at the previous major (mousesports, FaZe Clan, Gambit Gaming, G2 Esports) were first seeds
• Teams that placed 13th place at the previous major (FlipSid3 Tactics, Splyce, Team EnVyUs, Cloud9) were second seeds
• Teams that placed first in their regional qualifiers (OpTic Gaming, TyLoo, FLuffy Gangsters, Team Dignitas) were third seeds
• Teams that were runners-up in their regional qualifiers (Immortals, Renegades, Team Empire, HellRaisers) were fourth seeds

In the second round, the winners in the first round will face each other in the "high" matches; the losers will face each other in the "low" matches.

In the third round, the winners of the high matches from round two will face each other. The winners of these two matches will qualify for the major. The losers of the high round and the winners of the low round will face each other in the "mid" matches. The losers from the previous low matches will face each other in round three's low matches. The losers of these low matches are eliminated. Twelve teams remain in the Qualifier.

In the fourth round, the losers of the high matches and the winners of the low matches will face each other in round four's high matches. The winners of the high matches qualify for the major. The losers of the mid matches and the winners of the low matches will face each other in the low matches of round four. The losers of these matches are eliminated from the Qualifier. Six teams remain.

In the last round, the remaining teams will face off. The winners of these matches will qualify for the major and the losing teams will be eliminated.

All streams were broadcast on Twitch in various languages.

The HLTV.org July 4, 2016, ranking, the final one released before ESL One Cologne 2016, is displayed below.[12]

HLTV.org Pre-Major Ranking

World Ranking
Place	Team	Points	Move†
1	SK Gaming	964
2	G2 Esports	734
3	Fnatic	627	1
4	Ninjas in Pyjamas	596	1
5	Natus Vincere	596	2
6	Team EnVyUs	340	3
7	Virtus.pro	320
8	Astralis	320	2
11	Team Liquid	230	1
13	mousesports	209
14	Team Dignitas	190	1
16	OpTic Gaming	188	1
17	FaZe Clan	161	1
20	Gambit Gaming	101
23	FlipSid3 Tactics	84	2
26	Counter Logic Gaming	65	4

^†Change since June 27, 2016, ranking

Also known as the "Group of Death," Group D featured four world class teams in one group, including the top three teams in the world. The matchup of the number 1, number 2, and number 3 teams all in the same group received criticism when a team of a lesser caliber such as Gambit could make it to the playoffs and a top three team would not. CS:GO analyst Duncan "Thorin" Shields called it the hardest group of all time.[14]

Casters: moses & Pansy

Casters: James Bardolph & ddk

Casters: Sadokist & HenryG

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

Casters: Sadokist & HenryG

Casters: James Bardolph & ddk

Casters: Anders Blume, Semmler, & moses

The HLTV.org July 11, 2016 rankings of teams in the major is displayed below. The ranking was the first one released after the ESL One Cologne 2016.[15]

HLTV.org Post-Major Ranking

World Ranking
Place	Team	Points	Move†
1	SK Gaming	1000
2	Fnatic	615	1
3	G2 Esports	530	1
4	Natus Vincere	509	1
5	Team Liquid	467	6
6	Ninjas in Pyjamas	422	2
7	Virtus.pro	403
8	Astralis	310
9	Team EnVyUs	256	3
11	Gambit Gaming	188	9
12	FlipSid3 Tactics	184	11
15	mousesports	179	2
16	FaZe Clan	175	1
18	Team Dignitas	168	4
19	OpTic Gaming	149	3
24	Counter Logic Gaming	64	2

^†Change since July 4, 2016, ranking