ELEAGUE Major 2017


ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017, also known as ELEAGUE Major 2017 or Atlanta 2017, was the tenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship. It was organized by ELEAGUE and held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States from January 22 to 29, 2017. It featured sixteen professional teams from around the world. Eight teams directly qualified based on their top eight placement in the last major, ESL One Cologne 2016, while another eight teams qualified through the ELEAGUE Offline Major Qualifier. ELEAGUE Major was the third consecutive Major with a prize pool of $1,000,000.
The playoff stage consisted of eight teams. Astralis, Fnatic, Gambit Gaming, Natus Vincere, SK Gaming, and Virtus.pro were returning Legends. FaZe Clan and North were new Legends, replacing FlipSid3 Tactics and Team Liquid, who failed to make it past the group stage. The grand finals pitted Astralis, in its first ever final after nine playoff appearances, and Virtus.pro, which was in its second finals and looking for its second major title. Astralis had defeated Natus Vincere and Fnatic in the playoff stage, while Virtus.pro had beaten North and defending champions SK Gaming. In the third map of the best-of-three final, Astralis edged out Virtus.pro in the final round of regulation for its first major title.

Background

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment and Valve. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. In professional CS:GO, the Valve-sponsored Majors are the most prestigious tournaments.
Entering the 2017 ELEAGUE Major, the two-time defending champion was SK Gaming, which won both MLG Columbus 2016 and ESL One Cologne 2016. SK was also the first non-European team to win a Major. At the time, Fnatic was the most decorated team, with three Majors, and SK Gaming was in second, with two.

Format

The top eight teams from the ESL One Cologne 2016 were automatically invited to ESL One Cologne 2016. The remaining eight spots were filled by teams that advanced from the ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier. The ELEAGUE Main Qualifier was a 16-team tournament consisting of the bottom eight teams from Cologne 2016, as well as eight teams promoted from four regional qualifiers. The top eight teams at the Main Qualifier then advanced to the Major as the "Challengers".
Unlike previous Majors, which used the GSL-format for group stages, this Major was the first to use the Swiss-system for group stages. The top eight teams at the end of the group stage advanced to the playoff stage. All playoff matches were best-of-three, single elimination.

Map pool

The seven-map pool did not change from Cologne 2016. 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. The teams then each banned one more map, leaving one map remaining for the best-of-three decider if necessary.

Broadcast talent

ELEAGUE retained much of the broadcast team that had been featured in ELEAGUE Season 1 and Season 2.
Hosts
Analysts
Commentators
  • James Bardolph
  • Anders Blume
  • Henry "HenryG" Greer
  • Daniel "ddk" Kapadia
  • Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat
  • Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett
Observers
  • Kevin "kVIN_S" Swift
  • David DJ "Prius" Kuntz
  • Benjamin "CoffeeMcSwagger" Budka
Others
  • Jason "Alchemist" Baker
  • Steve Daily
  • Reece Fowler

Broadcasts

All streams were broadcast on Twitch in various languages.

Major qualifier

Like the previous Majors, there was a single Main Qualifier after four Minors, or regional qualifiers. The bottom eight teams from ESL One Cologne 2016 received automatic bids to the Main Qualifier. Two teams each from the Asia, North America, Europe, and CIS Minors also competed in the Main Qualifier.

Regional qualifiers

The final four teams from each qualifier are shown below: two from each moved on to the Main Qualifier.

Main Qualifier

The Main Qualifier was a sixteen-team Swiss-system tournament in which, after the first round, teams only played other teams with the same win–loss record. Each match was best-of-one, and no team played another team twice. All teams played until they had either won or lost three games: any team with three wins advanced to the Major, and any team with three losses was eliminated.
First round seeding was determined by the following:
  • Teams that placed 9th–12th at the previous Major were first seeds
  • Teams that placed 13th–16th at the previous Major were second seeds
  • Teams that placed first in their regional qualifiers were third seeds
  • Teams that were runners-up in their regional qualifiers were fourth seeds
GODSENT and FaZe Clan were the first teams to advance to the Major. The next three teams to move on were mousesports, OpTic Gaming, and Team Dignitas. In the fifth round of matches, the final teams to move on were Team EnVyUs, G2 Esports, and HellRaisers.

Teams

PlaceTeamRecordDifferentialRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5
1–2GODSENT3–0+15G2 Esports

Overpass		High match
Team Dignitas

Mirage		High match
HellRaisers
'
Train		QualifiedQualified
1–2FaZe Clan3–0+12Cloud9

Mirage		High match
OpTic Gaming

Overpass		High match
Immortals

Mirage		QualifiedQualified
3–5mousesports3–1+27HellRaisers

Train		Low match
Team Spirit
'
Dust II		Mid match
Tyloo
'
Train		High match
Immortals

Cache		Qualified
3–5OpTic Gaming3–1+15TyLoo

Overpass		High match
FaZe Clan

Overpass		Mid match
Ninjas in Pyjamas

Overpass		High match
Hellraisers
'
Train		Qualified
3–5Team Dignitas3–1+14Team Spirit

Mirage		High match
GODSENT

Mirage		Mid match
Counter Logic Gaming

Mirage		High match
G2 Esports

Nuke		Qualified
6–8Team EnVyUs3–2+12Immortals

Cobblestone		Low match
G2 Esports

Dust II		Low match
Team Spirit

Dust II		Low match
TyLoo

Dust II		Vega Squadron

Dust II
6–8G2 Esports3–2+4GODSENT

Overpass		Low match
Team EnVyUs

Dust II		Mid match
Vega Squadron

Dust II		High match
Team Dignitas

Nuke		Immortals

Cache
6–8HellRaisers3–2+3mousesports

Train		High match
Ninjas in Pyjamas

Overpass		High match
GODSENT
'
Train		High match
OpTic Gaming
'
Train		Cloud9

Overpass
9–11Cloud92–3+6FaZe Clan

Mirage		Low match
TyLoo

Mirage		Low match
Renegades
'
Mirage		Low match
Counter Logic Gaming

Overpass		HellRaisers

Overpass
9–11Vega Squadron2–3−6Counter Logic Gaming

Mirage		High match
Immortals

Cache		Mid match
G2 Esports

Dust II		Low match
Ninjas in Pyjamas

Cache		Team EnVyUs

Dust II
9–11Immortals2–3−7Team EnVyUs

Cobblestone		High match
Vega Squadron

Cache		High match
FaZe Clan

Mirage		High match
mousesports

Cache		G2 Esports

Cache
Counter Logic Gaming1–3−13Vega Squadron

Mirage		Low match
Renegades
'
Dust II		Mid match
Team Dignitas

Mirage		Low match
Cloud9

Overpass		Eliminated
Ninjas in Pyjamas1–3−16Renegades
16–9
Dust II		High match
HellRaisers
17–19
Overpass		Mid match
OpTic Gaming
9–16
Overpass		Low match
Vega Squadron
2–16
Cache		Eliminated
TyLoo1–3−22OpTic Gaming

Overpass		Low match
Cloud9

Mirage		Mid match
mousesports
'
Train		Low match
Team EnVyUs

Dust II		Eliminated
15–16Renegades0–3−17Ninjas in Pyjamas

Dust II		Low match
Counter Logic Gaming
'
Dust II		Low match
Cloud9

Mirage		EliminatedEliminated
15–16Team Spirit0–3−30Team Dignitas

Mirage		Low match
mousesports

Dust II		Low match
Team EnVyUs

Dust II		EliminatedEliminated

Teams competing

The top eight teams from ESL One Cologne 2016, the Legends, were joined by the eight teams to advance from the main qualifier, the Challengers.
1 The five players and coach of Team Dignitas mutually part ways with the team shortly after the Major Qualifier. The roster is then signed by the Danish football club F.C. Copenhagen and Nordisk Film was named North.
Perhaps the biggest change was Team Dignitas and the Philadelphia 76ers and their players and coach mutually parting ways and the organizations announced plans to build a North American roster; in addition, it plans to invest into positions such as a sports psychologist and a nutritionist. The coach, Casper "ruggah" Due, said, despite "competitive offers," the roster decided to leave the team. Roughly a day later, the team is reported to sign with the Danish football club F.C. Copenhagen and the Denmark-based Nordisk Film and officially signed on January 3, 2016. The team will be called North.
GODSENT acquired Robin "flusha" Rönnquist, Jesper "JW" Wecksell, and Freddy "KRiMZ" Johansson from Fnatic, who acquired Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson and Simon "twist" Eliasson, so GODSENT acquired the Legends spot from Fnatic. However, KRiMZ rejoined Fnatic while Lekr0 rejoined GODSENT, giving the Legends spot back to Fnatic.

Pre-major ranking

The HLTV.org January 16, 2017 ranking, the final one released before the ELEAGUE Major, is displayed below.
†Change since January 9, 2017 ranking

Group stage

The group stage was a sixteen-team Swiss-system format in which, after the first round, teams only played other teams with the same win–loss record. Each match was best-of-one, and no team played another team twice. All teams played until they had either won or lost three games: any team with three wins advanced to the playoff stage, and any team with three losses was eliminated.
First round seeding was determined by the following:
  • Teams that placed top four at the previous Major were first seeds
  • Teams that placed 5th–8th place at the previous Major were second seeds
  • Teams that placed first in the main qualifier and the top two teams that placed third based on their seeds going into the major qualifier were third seeds
  • The remaining teams were fourth seeds
In the first round, first seeds played a randomly drawn fourth seed, and second seeds played a randomly drawn third seed. After this round, teams were randomly drawn against other teams with the same record. The eight teams to win three games were granted "Legend" status and an automatic invitation to the next Major.
This was the first Major in which GODSENT players Robin "flusha" Rönnquist and Jesper "JW" Wecksell did not advance to the playoffs, after losing to North in the fifth round and placing 9th. They had maintained Legend status with Fnatic prior to transferring to GODSENT.
PlaceTeamRecordDifferentialRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5
1–2Natus Vincere3–0+36mousesports
'
Cobblestone		High match
Team EnVyUs
'
Cobblestone		High match
SK Gaming
'
Dust II		PlayoffsPlayoffs
1–2Virtus.pro3–0+11OpTic Gaming
'
Cobblestone		High match
G2 Esports
'
Nuke		High match
Gambit Gaming
'
Train		PlayoffsPlayoffs
3–5Gambit Gaming3–1+11North
'
Cobblestone		High match
GODSENT
'
Overpass		High match
Virtus.pro
'
Train		High match
FaZe Clan
'
Overpass		Playoffs
3–5Fnatic3–1+7G2 Esports
'
Cache		Low match
North
'
Cobblestone		Mid match
mousesports
'
Dust II		High match
Team EnVyUs
'
Cobblestone		Playoffs
3–5SK Gaming3–10HellRaisers
'
Mirage		High match
FaZe Clan
'
Mirage		High match
Natus Vincere
'
Dust II		High match
Astralis
'
Dust II		Playoffs
6–8Astralis3–2+15GODSENT
'
Train		Low match
OpTic Gaming
'
Train		Mid match
G2 Esports
'
Train		High match
SK Gaming
'
Dust II		Team Liquid
'
Mirage
6–8FaZe Clan3–2+12FlipSid3 Tactics
'
Nuke		High match
SK Gaming
'
Mirage		Mid match
Team Liquid
'
Nuke		High match
Gambit Gaming
'
Overpass		Team EnVyUs
'
Nuke
6–8North3–2+2Gambit Gaming
'
Cobblestone		Low match
Fnatic
'
Cobblestone		Low match
HellRaisers
'
Mirage		Low match
G2 Esports
'
Overpass		GODSENT
'
Overpass
9–11Team EnVyUs2–3−3Team Liquid
'
Cache		High match
Natus Vincere
'
Cobblestone		Mid match
GODSENT
'
Cache		High match
Fnatic
'
Cobblestone		FaZe Clan
'
Nuke
9–11GODSENT2–3−4Astralis
'
Train		High match
Gambit Gaming
'
Overpass		Mid match
Team EnVyUs
'
Cache		Low match
OpTic Gaming
'
Cache		North
'
Overpass
9–11Team Liquid2–3−7Team EnVyUs
'
Cache		Low match
FlipSid3 Tactics
'
Overpass		Mid match
FaZe Clan
'
Nuke		Low match
mousesports
'
Nuke		Astralis
'
Mirage
G2 Esports1–3−11Fnatic
'
Cache		High match
Virtus.pro
'
Nuke		Mid match
Astralis
'
Train		Low match
North
'
Overpass		Eliminated
OpTic Gaming1–3−12Virtus.pro
'
Cobblestone		Low match
Astralis
'
Train		Low match
FlipSid3 Tactics
'
Train		Low match
GODSENT
'
Cache		Eliminated
mousesports1–3−22Natus Vincere
'
Cobblestone		Low match
HellRaisers
'
Cache		Mid match
Fnatic
'
Dust II		Low match
Team Liquid
'
Nuke		Eliminated
FlipSid3 Tactics0–3−12FaZe Clan
'
Nuke		Low match
Team Liquid
'
Overpass		Low match
OpTic Gaming
'
Train		EliminatedEliminated
HellRaisers0–3−22SK Gaming
'
Mirage		Low match
mousesports
'
Cache		Low match
North
'
Mirage		EliminatedEliminated

Playoffs

Bracket

Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro were the top seeds after the group stage, and would face a random opponent from the pool of Astralis, FaZe Clan, and North. Natus Vincere was paired with Astralis and Virtus.pro drew North. From the pool of Gambit Gaming, Fnatic, and SK Gaming, Gambit and Fnatic were randomly drawn to face each other. The remaining two teams, SK Gaming and FaZe Clan, were then paired to finalize the bracket.

Quarterfinals

Natus Vincere vs. Astralis

Casters: James Bardolph & ddk
The first game of the playoffs in the Fox Theatre pitted Natus Vincere and Astralis against each other.

Gambit Gaming vs Fnatic

''Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler''

Virtus.pro vs North

Casters: Sadokist & HenryG
Virtus.pro was the other team along with Na'Vi to go a perfect 3–0 in the group stage, defeating OpTic Gaming, G2 Esports, and Gambit Gaming.

SK Gaming vs FaZe Clan

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler
SK Gaming was considered the world's best team of 2016 after winning the two majors of the year, MLG Columbus 2016 and ESL One Cologne 2016, and could be the first team ever to win three major titles in a row.

Semifinals

Astralis vs Fnatic

''Casters: Sadokist & HenryG''

Virtus.pro vs SK Gaming

Casters: James Bardolph & ddk
The two-time defending champions in SK Gaming will faced off against Virtus.pro for the third Major in a row, with SK squeaking past Virtus.pro in both of those prior series.

Finals

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler
After five quarterfinal and four semifinal eliminations, the roster of Astralis finally made the a grand finals at a Major. Virtus.pro, however, had been to and won a Major final at EMS One Katowice 2014, defeating the Ninjas in Pyjamas two games to zero. Since then, Virtus.pro had not been back to a grand finals.
The first map was Nuke, a map Virtus.pro was considered very strong on. Astralis would tie the game at 12 rounds apiece, but Virtus.pro won the next four rounds, taking the first map 16–12. Snax and lead the way for the Polish team with 24 kills while Kjaerbye lead Astralis with 22 kills and gla1ve and dev1ce had 20 kills.
The second map was Overpass. Virtus.pro took the lead for the first time since round one at 14–13 and were two rounds away from taking the Major. However, Astralis won the last three rounds, taking Overpass 16–14. Xyp9x was the most impactful with 28 kills. dev1ce had the least kills of either team with only 13 kills.
The final map, Train, was historically known as one of Virtus.pro's strongest. After a strong Virtus.pro start, Astralis made a late comeback, tying the score at 14 and taking their first lead at 15–14. After winning the final round of regulation, Astralis was crowned the champion of the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major. Kjaerbye had 29 kills in the final map, and was named the Major MVP; he became the youngest player to earn the title.

Final standings

The final standings are shown below. The in-game leaders of each team are shown first.
PlacePrize moneyTeamInvitation to following MajorRosterCoach
1stAstralisPGL Major 2017, dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, Kjaerbye
2ndVirtus.proPGL Major 2017NEO, TaZ,, Snax, kuben
3rd 4thFnaticPGL Major 2017,, KRiMZ,, twist,Jumpy
3rd 4thSK GamingPGL Major 2017FalleN,,, TACO,
5th 8thNatus VincerePGL Major 2017,, Edward,, GuardiaN
5th 8thGambit GamingPGL Major 2017Zeus, AdreN, mou, HObbit, Dosia
5th 8thNorthPGL Major 2017MSL,,, Magisk, RUBINO
5th 8thFaZe ClanPGL Major 2017karrigan, rain, aizy, allu, kioShiMaRobbaN
9th 11thGODSENTPGL Major 2017 Offline Qualifier, flusha, JW, Lekr0, pronax,
9th 11thTeam EnVyUsPGL Major 2017 Offline QualifierHappy, kennyS,, SIXER, NBK-
9th 11thTeam LiquidPGL Major 2017 Offline Qualifier, Hiko, ELiGE,, Pimp
12th 14thG2 EsportsPGL Major 2017 Offline Qualifier, SmithZz,, Rpk, ScreaMNiaK
12th 14thmousesportsPGL Major 2017 Offline QualifierNiKo, Spiidi,,,
12th 14thOpTic GamingPGL Major 2017 Offline Qualifier, NAF, RUSH,, –
15th 16thHellRaisersPGL Major 2017 Offline QualifierANGE1,, Zero, STYKO, DeadFoxJohnta
15th 16thFlipSid3 TacticsPGL Major 2017 Offline QualifierBlad3,, WorldEdit,, –

Post-Major Ranking

The HLTV.org January 30, 2017 rankings of teams in the major is displayed below. The ranking was the first one released after the ELEAGUE Major.
†Change since January 23, 2017 ranking

Clash for Cash

ELEAGUE announced a televised rematch, dubbed the "Clash for Cash", between the two finalists on June 16, 2017. It featured a 250,000 prize pool for the winner. Despite losing the first map in the best-of-three, Astralis dominated the last two maps and took the match.