ESL One Katowice 2015

The fifth CS:GO Major, where Fnatic became the first two-time champion.

ESL One Katowice 2015 was the fifth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship, played from March 12 to 15, 2015, at the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, with a US$250,000 prize pool. Fnatic beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in an all-Swedish final to become the first team to win a second Major.

Quick Facts

Sport: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location: Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
Start date: March 12, 2015
End date: March 15, 2015
Administrator: Valve; ESL
Venue: Spodek Arena
Teams: 16 teams
Purse: US$250,000

Facts from the source article.

Background

The defending champions were Team EnVyUs, whose players had won the previous Major as Team LDLC.com. The eight Legends from DreamHack Winter 2014 were invited directly and eight Challengers came through an offline qualifier of two eight-team double-elimination groups. The groups used the GSL format, named after the Global StarCraft II League, with best-of-one matches, and the top two from each group advanced to a best-of-three single-elimination bracket; the seven-map pool was unchanged from DreamHack Winter 2014.

Keyd Stars became the first South American team to play at a Major and to reach the playoffs, earning Legends status alongside returning Legends Fnatic, EnVyUs, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, PENTA Sports and Team SoloMid, while HellRaisers lost their status after group losses to Counter Logic Gaming and Keyd Stars. Fnatic went through PENTA Sports and Virtus.pro and NiP through Team SoloMid and EnVyUs to set up a final between two teams that had each been considered the world's best, with Fnatic leading the head-to-head 16-15.

Fnatic remained the only two-time Major winner until MIBR, who had attended Katowice 2015 as Keyd Stars, won MLG Columbus 2016 and ESL One Cologne 2016. The broadcast featured hosts Sean Charles and Machine, analysts cadiaN and Hiko, and commentators including Anders Blume.