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 (CS:GO) 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 (as Luminosity Gaming) 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 ("Legends") 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.
Maps
Cache Cobblestone Dust II Mirage Nuke Overpass Train
Broadcast talent ELEAGUE retained much of the broadcast team that had been featured in ELEAGUE Season 1 and Season 2.
Hosts Sue "Smix" Lee Chris Puckett
Analysts Richard Lewis Jason "moses" O'Toole Duncan "Thorin" Shields
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 (Producer) Steve Daily (Director) Reece Fowler (Gameplay Director)
Broadcasts All streams were broadcast on Twitch in various languages. ELEAGUE TV 99Damage BiDa HuomaoTV Ogaming TV SpilerTV Starladder
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.
Asia Minor Teams
Renegades (Invited) TyLoo (Invited) VG.CyberZen (China) MVP Project (East Asia) BOT (India + Middle East) Athletico (Oceanic) Fire Dragoon E-Sport (SEA) Tean nxl (SEA)
Europe Minor Teams
GODSENT (Invited) HellRaisers (Invited) Heroic (Invited) Space Soldiers (Invited) ENCE eSports (Qualifier #1) Epsilon eSports (Qualifier #1) ALTERNATE aTTaX (Qualifier #2) Team LDLC.com (Qualifier #2)
CIS Minor Teams
ALL-IN (High Seed) RoX (High Seed) Team Spirit (High Seed) Tengri (High Seed) EYESport (Low Seed) Quantum Bellator Fire (Low Seed) VwS Gaming (Low Seed) zARLANS (Low Seed)
Americas Minor Teams
Cloud9 (Invited) Echo Fox (Invited) Immortals (Invited) Team SoloMid (Invited) Selfless Gaming (Qualifier #1) Splyce (Qualifier #1) Muffin Lightning (Qualifier #2) paiN Gaming (Qualifier #2)
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 (Team Dignitas, FaZe Clan, mousesports, Ninjas in Pyjamas) were first seeds Teams that placed 13th–16th at the previous Major (Team EnVyUs, G2 Esports, OpTic Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming) were second seeds Teams that placed first in their regional qualifiers (TyLoo, Vega Squadron, GODSENT, Immortals) were third seeds Teams that were runners-up in their regional qualifiers (Renegades, Team Spirit, Hellraisers, Cloud9) 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 Cologne 2016 Bottom 8
mousesports Ninjas in Pyjamas Team Dignitas FaZe Clan Team EnVyUs G2 Esports OpTic Gaming Counter Logic Gaming Regional Qualifiers
Immortals (Americas Minor #1) Cloud9 (Americas Minor #2) TyLoo (Asia Minor #1) Renegades (Asia Minor #2) Vega Squadron (CIS Minor #1) Team Spirit (CIS Minor #2) GODSENT (Europe Minor #1) HellRaisers (Europe Minor #2)
Place Team Record Differential Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 1–2 GODSENT 3–0 +15 G2 Esports16–11Overpass High matchTeam Dignitas16–11Mirage High matchHellRaisers16–11Train Qualified Qualified FaZe Clan 3–0 +12 Cloud919–17Mirage High matchOpTic Gaming16–11Overpass High matchImmortals16–11Mirage Qualified Qualified 3–5 mousesports 3–1 +27 HellRaisers6–16Train Low matchTeam Spirit16–5Dust II Mid matchTyloo16–3Train High matchImmortals16–3Cache Qualified OpTic Gaming 3–1 +15 TyLoo16–9Overpass High matchFaZe Clan11–16Overpass Mid matchNinjas in Pyjamas16–9Overpass High matchHellraisers16–10Train Qualified Team Dignitas 3–1 +14 Team Spirit16–11Mirage High matchGODSENT11–16Mirage Mid matchCounter Logic Gaming16–9Mirage High matchG2 Esports16–9Nuke Qualified 6–8 Team EnVyUs 3–2 +12 Immortals11–16Cobblestone Low matchG2 Esports12–16Dust II Low matchTeam Spirit16–2Dust II Low matchTyLoo16–9Dust II Vega Squadron16–12Dust II G2 Esports 3–2 +4 GODSENT11–16Overpass Low matchTeam EnVyUs16–12Dust II Mid matchVega Squadron16–6Dust II High matchTeam Dignitas9–16Nuke Immortals19–17Cache HellRaisers 3–2 +3 mousesports16–6Train High matchNinjas in Pyjamas19–17Overpass High matchGODSENT11–16Train High matchOpTic Gaming10–16Train Cloud916–13Overpass 9–11 Cloud9 2–3 +6 FaZe Clan17–19Mirage Low matchTyLoo11–16Mirage Low matchRenegades16–9Mirage Low matchCounter Logic GamingOverpass HellRaisers13–16Overpass Vega Squadron 2–3 −6 Counter Logic Gaming16–14Mirage High matchImmortals8–16Cache Mid matchG2 Esports6–16Dust II Low matchNinjas in Pyjamas16–2Cache Team EnVyUs12–16Dust II Immortals 2–3 −7 Team EnVyUs 16–11Cobblestone High matchVega Squadron16–8Cache High matchFaZe Clan11–16Mirage High matchmousesports3–16Cache G2 Esports17–19Cache Counter Logic Gaming 1–3 −13 Vega Squadron14–16Mirage Low matchRenegades19–16Dust II Mid matchTeam Dignitas9–16Mirage Low matchCloud98–16Overpass Eliminated Ninjas in Pyjamas 1–3 −16 Renegades16–9Dust II High matchHellRaisers17–19Overpass Mid matchOpTic Gaming9–16Overpass Low matchVega Squadron2–16Cache Eliminated TyLoo 1–3 −22 OpTic Gaming9–16Overpass Low matchCloud916–11Mirage Mid matchmousesports3–16Train Low matchTeam EnVyUs9–16Dust II Eliminated 15–16 Renegades 0–3 −17 Ninjas in Pyjamas9–16Dust II Low matchCounter Logic Gaming16–19Dust II Low matchCloud99–16Mirage Eliminated Eliminated Team Spirit 0–3 −30 Team Dignitas11–16Mirage Low matchmousesports5–16Dust II Low matchTeam EnVyUs2–16Dust II Eliminated Eliminated
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.
Legends
SK Gaming Team Liquid Virtus.pro Fnatic Astralis FlipSid3 Tactics Gambit Gaming Natus Vincere Challengers
GODSENT FaZe Clan OpTic Gaming mousesports Team EnVyUs G2 Esports North1 HellRaisers
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 (soccer) 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 (soccer) 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.
World Ranking Place Team Points Move† 1 Astralis 967 2 OpTic Gaming 792 1 3 SK Gaming 773 1 5 Virtus.pro 611 1 6 North 560 1 7 FaZe Clan 519 8 Team EnVyUs 457 3 10 G2 Esports 368 11 Natus Vincere 348 2 12 mousesports 319 14 Gambit Gaming 209 2 16 GODSENT 190 2 17 Team Liquid 175 2 18 FlipSid3 Tactics 166 4 19 HellRaisers 153 2 20 Fnatic 135 1 †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.