Our ESL One Cologne Predictions

The ESL One Cologne Major is on the horizon with the event set to kick off on July 5. So, as we did last time, I am going to round up a few of our in-house Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans and see who they think will have the greatest success.

Before we go into our staff picks, here is a quick reminder of the groups for the Major. 

Group A

• Virtus.pro
• Mousesports
• Team Liquid
• Team EnVyUs

Group B

• SK Gaming (Formerly Luminosity Gaming)
• G2 Esports
• Fnatic
• FaZe Clan

Group C

• Gambit
• Dignitas
• Counter Logic Gaming
• Astralis

Group D

• OpTic Gaming
• Ninjas in Pajamas
• Natus Vincere
• Flipsid3 Tactics

So if you were not aware, you can see there are some pretty stacked groups. Keeping that in mind, only two teams from each group are able to get into the playoff stage. 

First up we have @jamieitis, a member of our hard working social media team. Here is Jamie’s top eight:

1. Fnatic
2. SK Gaming
3. Natus Vincere
4. Ninjas in Pyjamas
5. Liquid
6. Astralis
7. Team EnVyUs
8. Dignitas

Next up, we have @clootch_cs. Cam is one of our CS:GO writers and his picks are as follows:

1. SK Gaming
2. G2 Esports
3. Ninjas in Pyjamas
4. Natus Vincere
5. Liquid
6. Astralis
7. Dignitas
8. EnVyUs

@JBinkk is an editor here at GAMURS and is basically part of the furniture. Although he has focused a lot on Call of Duty in the past, Bink as recently taken a punt at some CS:GO stuff, so here is his top eight:

1. SK Gaming
2. Ninja in Pyjamas
3. Virtus Pro
4. G2 Esports
5. OpTic Gaming
6. Counter Logic Gaming
7. Astralis
8. Team EnVyUs

Our manager, @Wheres_Creeper, also submitted some picks. Michael often helps with the social media coverage of CS:GO events and is a huge help. (I am not being paid extra to say this, I promise.) Anyway, here is Michael’s top eight:

1. Fnatic
2. G2 Esports
3. Virtus pro
4. Natus Vincere
5. Ninjas in Pyjamas
6. Astralis
7. mousesports
8. Dignitas

One of our designers here at GAMURS also submitted his picks. @_Jakemiles picks last time around were pretty wild, so make sure you let him know how you feel about these:

1. SK Gaming
2. OpTic Gaming
3. Ninja in Pyjamas
4. Fnatic
5. Liquid
6. Gambit
7. Astralis
8. EnVyUs

Another member of our social media team threw his name in hat, and this time it was @GAMURS_Tyler. Tyler witnessed the G2 run at ECS and this is reflected in his picks:

1. G2 Esports
2. Fnatic
3. Natus Vincere
4. Virtus pro
5. Mouseports
6. OpTic Gaming
7. Dignitas
8. Astralis

And last but not least, here are my picks (@GAMURS_tnm) for top eight at the Major:

1. SK Gaming
2. G2 Esports
3. Ninjas in Pyjamas
4. Virtus pro
5. OpTic Gaming
6. Liquid
7. Dignitas
8. Astralis

Here our staff picks for the upcoming CS:GO Major. Feel free to send us a tweet to let us know if you disagree with our picks or leave a comment below. For all your updates on CS:GO and more, make sure you are following us on Twitter at @GAMURScom.