MLG Major Championship: Columbus

MLG Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship: Columbus, also referred to as MLG Columbus 2016[1] was the eighth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Major Championship held by Major League Gaming (MLG) throughout March 29 to April 3, 2016, in the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States.[2] It was the first CS:GO Major in North America as well as the first run by Major League Gaming, who previously ran an exhibition CS:GO tournament at X Games Aspen 2015.[3] It was also the very first CS:GO major in which ESL or DreamHack was not the organizer. It was announced on February 23, 2016, that MLG Columbus 2016 would be the first Counter-Strike tournament with a $1,000,000 prize pool.[4]

MLG Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship: Columbus
2016
The MLG Major 2016 logo
Tournament information
SportCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
LocationColumbus, Ohio, US
DatesMarch 29, 2016–April 3, 2016
AdministratorValve
Major League Gaming
Venue(s)Nationwide Arena
PurseUS$1,000,000
Final positions
ChampionsLuminosity Gaming (1st title)
1st runners-upNatus Vincere
2nd runners-upAstralis
Team Liquid
Tournament statistics
Matches played27
MVPMarcelo "coldzera" David

The playoffs had eight teams. Astralis, Fnatic, Luminosity Gaming, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Virtus.pro were returning Legends. Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid were new Legends as FaZe Clan and Team EnVyUs had their Legends status taken away after failing to make the top eight. In the grand finals, Luminosity Gaming, which defeated Virtus.pro and Team Liquid, faced off against Natus Vincere, which defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis. Luminosity Gaming won 2–0 as the underdog for its first major title and fifty percent of the $1,000,000 prize pool; in addition, it became the first non-European team to win a major title.[5]

Format

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The top eight finishers at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 ("Legends") received direct invitations to Columbus. In addition, eight other teams ("Challengers") emerged from the MLG Columbus 2016 Main Qualifier.[6]

Teams were split up into four groups, and all group matches were best-of-ones with the exception of the final decider match, deciding the last playoff spot. The highest seed would play the lowest seed in each group and the second and third seeds would play against each other. The winner of those two matches would play each other to determine which team moved on to the playoff stage, while the losers of the first round of matches also played. The loser of the lower match was then eliminated from the tournament. With one team advanced and one eliminated, the two remaining teams would play a best-of-three elimination match for the second playoff spot. This format is known as the GSL format, named for the Global StarCraft II League.[7]

The playoffs bracket consisted of eight teams, two from each group. All of these matches were best-of-three, single elimination. Teams advanced in the bracket until a winner was decided.

Map pool

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The seven-map pool did not change from Cluj-Napoca 2015. 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.

Maps
  • Cache
  • Cobblestone
  • Dust II
  • Inferno
  • Mirage
  • Overpass
  • Train

Main Qualifier

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Regional qualifiers

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There were four regional qualifiers and two last chance qualifiers. The top four teams from each qualifier are shown.

The top team from the Americas, Europe, and CIS qualifiers advanced to the main qualifier and the second to fourth place teams played in their respective Last Chance Qualifiers. The top two Asian teams, which played and Intel Extreme Masters Season X Taipei, advanced to the main qualifier. One team from the Americas Last Chance and two teams from the Europe Last Chance will move on to the main qualifier. There was no Last Chance Qualifier for the Asia region.

The main regional qualifiers were played on LAN while the last chance qualifiers were played online.

Americas Minor

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Two teams were invited while another six qualified in the North American qualifier. However, compLexity Gaming could not get a full roster in time, so the team was forced to drop out and the event ran with seven teams. The winner of the Americas Minor would earn a spot in the major qualifier while the three teams that made the bracket stage earned spots in the Americas Last Chance qualifier.

Americas Minor; Columbus, Ohio
Teams
Semifinals Finals
      
Enemy 2
Winterfox 0
Enemy 2
Splyce 0
OpTic Gaming 1
Splyce 2

Asia Minor

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The Asia qualifier took place at Intel Extreme Masters Season X – Taipei in Taiwan. Two teams were invited and six other teams qualified from their respective regions. TyLoo was disqualified from the event just hours before the tournament was about to start as one of its players, Quanqing "qz" Wu, was found to have been banned for cheating three years prior, which induces an automatic and permanent ban from all Valve-sponsored events. Two teams would earn spots in the major qualifier.

IEM Season X Taipei; Taipei, Taiwan
Teams
  • CyberZen (Invited)
  • Renegades (Invited)
  • Chiefs eSports Club (Oceania)
  • Eat You Alive (Taiwan)
  • MVP Karnal (Southeast Asia)
  • Risky Gaming (India+West Asia)
  • The MongolZ (East Asia)
  • TyLoo (China)
Semifinals Finals
      
CyberZen 0
Renegades 2
Renegades 0
The MongolZ 2
The MongolZ 2
Chiefs eSports Club 1

CIS Minor

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The CIS qualifier had three teams invited, four teams from a closed qualifier, and one team from a Last Chance qualifier. One team would earn a spot in the major qualifier while the other three teams that made the bracket stage would earn spots in the CIS and Europe Last Chance qualifier.

CIS Minor; Minsk, Belarus
Teams
  • Arcade eSports (Invited)
  • Method (Invited)
  • Rebels (Invited)
  • Binary Dragons (Closed Qualifier)
  • eXplosive (Closed Qualifier)
  • Gambit Gaming (Closed Qualifier)
  • FLuffy Gangsters (Closed Qualifier)
  • Team Quest (Last Chance)
Semifinals Finals
      
Arcade eSports 1
Rebels 2
Rebels 0
Gambit Gaming 2
Gambit Gaming 2
Method 1

Europe Minor

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The European qualifier eight teams. Four qualifiers to the European qualifier were held and two teams from each qualified for a chance at the major. One team would earn a spot in the major qualifier while the other three teams that made the bracket stage would earn spots in the CIS and Europe Last Chance qualifier.

Europe Minor; Bucharest, Romania
Teams
  • Cringe Gods (Qualifier #1)
  • Team LDLC.com White (Qualifier #1)
  • E-Frag.net Esports Club (Qualifier #2)
  • PENTA Sports (Qualifier #2)
  • DenDD (Qualifier #3)
  • Lemondogs (Qualifier #3)
  • HellRaisers (Qualifier #4)
  • PixelFire Gaming (Qualifier #4)
Semifinals Finals
      
HellRaisers 2
PENTA Sports 1
HellRaisers 2
E-Frag.net Esports Club 1
E-Frag.net Esports Club 2
PixelFire Gaming 1

Americas Last Chance Qualifier

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In this Last Chance Qualifier, four teams were invited and the three runners-up from the American qualifier were invited. Only one team would earn a spot in the major qualifier.

Americas Last Chance
Teams
Semifinals Finals
      
Splyce 0
Games Academy 2
Games Academy 2
Winterfox 1
OpTic Gaming 1
Winterfox 2

Europe and CIS Last Chance Qualifier

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Five teams were invited to the Europe and CIS Last Chance Qualifier and the three runners-up from both the Europe and CIS qualifiers were invited. Two teams would earn spots in the major qualifier.

Europe & CIS Last Chance
Teams
  • ENCE eSports (Invited)
  • Lounge Gaming (Invited)
  • SK Gaming (Invited)
  • Team Ancient (Invited)
  • Team YP (Invited)
  • E-Frag.net Esports Club (Europe #2)
  • PENTA Sports (Europe #3–4)
  • PixelFire Gaming (Europe 3–4)
  • Team Empire (CIS #2)
  • Arcade eSports (CIS #3–4)
  • Method (CIS 3–4)
Semifinals Finals
      
Team YP 2
Team Ancient 0
Team YP Q
SK Gaming Q
SK Gaming 2
ENCE eSports 0

Major qualifier

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Like the previous majors, there will be a major qualifier and regional qualifiers. The bottom eight teams from DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 received automatic bids to the main qualifier. The other eight teams came from various qualifiers.

Teams were divided into four groups and the top two from each group made it to the major.

DH Cluj-Napoca 2015 Bottom 8
Regional Qualifiers
  1. ^ The contracts for Enemy's players expired, and the players then become known as Selfless Gaming.
  2. ^ The MongolZ had initially qualified as the first seed from the Intel Extreme Masters Season X Taipei tournament, but could not attend as its players' visas were declined. CyberZen from China replaced the MongolZ but its players could not get visas in time for the tournament. Chiefs eSports Club from Australia was next in line but it was unable to put together a five-man roster in time. The organizers then decided on the Americas Minor runners-up Splyce to take the spot.
  3. ^ The Games Academy roster was acquired by Tempo Storm.

Qualifier results

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Group A

Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 G2 Esports 2 0 32 27 +5 6
2 FlipSid3 Tactics 2 1 62 39 +23 6
3 Tempo Storm 1 2 39 52 −13 3
4 Selfless Gaming 0 2 17 32 −15 0
Group A Results
FlipSid3 Tactics 16 13 Selfless Gaming
G2 Esports 16 13 Tempo Storm
Selfless Gaming 4 16 Tempo Storm
FlipSid3 Tactics 14 16 G2 Esports
FlipSid3 Tactics 2 0 Tempo Storm

Group B

Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 mousesports 2 0 35 16 +19 6
2 Team Liquid 2 1 75 58 +17 6
3 HellRaisers 1 2 71 78 −7 3
4 Team YP 0 2 3 32 −29 0
Group B Results
Team Liquid 20 22 HellRaisers
mousesports 16 1 Team YP
Team Liquid 16 2 Team YP
mousesports 19 15 HellRaisers
HellRaisers 1 2 Team Liquid

Group C

Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Splyce 2 0 32 21 +11 6
2 Counter Logic Gaming 2 1 65 71 −6 6
3 Vexed Gaming 1 2 65 61 +4 3
4 SK Gaming 0 2 23 32 −9 0
Group C Results
Vexed Gaming 16 10 SK Gaming
Counter Logic Gaming 14 16 Splyce
Counter Logic Gaming 16 13 SK Gaming
Vexed Gaming 7 16 Splyce
Vexed Gaming 1 2 Counter Logic Gaming

Group D

Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Gambit Gaming 2 0 32 20 +12 6
2 Cloud9 2 1 60 59 +1 6
3 Renegades 1 2 57 60 −3 3
4 Team Dignitas 0 2 22 32 −10 0
Group D Results
Team Dignitas 9 16 Renegades
Cloud9 9 16 Gambit Gaming
Cloud9 16 13 Team Dignitas
Gambit Gaming 16 11 Renegades
Renegades 0 2 Cloud9

Broadcast talent

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Stage Hosts[8]

Desk Host

  • Scott "SirScoots" Smith

Interviewer

  • Chris Puckett

Analysts

  • Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson
  • Richard Lewis
  • Jason "moses" O'Toole
  • Janko "YNk" Paunović
  • Duncan "Thorin" Shields

Commentators

  • James Bardolph
  • Anders Blume
  • Henry "HenryG" Greer
  • Daniel "ddk" Kapadia
  • Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat
  • Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett
  • Björn "THREAT" Pers (Guest Commentator for Team Liquid vs Luminosity Gaming)

Observers

  • Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo
  • Kevin "kVIN_S" Swift

Broadcasts

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All streams were broadcast on Twitch in various languages.

  • MLG
  • 99Damage
  • Alien-h Casting
  • BRMA TV
  • CNONE
  • GEC TV
  • GPlayTV
  • HitpointCZ
  • Hungarian Esport TV
  • IzakOOO
  • OGamingTV
  • Starladder
  • striimIT
  • TGPL

Teams

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Legends
Qualifiers
  1. ^ The roster of G2 was bought out by FaZe Clan for US$700,000, making the roster the most expensive in CSGO history.[9]
  2. ^ The roster of Team SoloMid left the organization and temporarily played without a sponsor under then banner Team Questionmark. The players then came together and created the first player-founded organization, Astralis.[10]
  3. ^ After losing its roster to FaZe, G2 acquired the roster of Titan after Titan ceased operations.[11]

Pre-Major ranking

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The HLTV.org March 28, 2016 ranking, the final one released before MLG Columbus 2016, is displayed below.[12]

HLTV.org Pre-Major Ranking
World Ranking
Place Team Points Move
1 Fnatic 1000  
2 Natus Vincere 667  
3 Astralis 640  
4 Luminosity Gaming 517  
5 Team EnVyUs 339  
6 Virtus.pro 259  
8 G2 Esports 207  
9 Ninjas in Pyjamas 196   1
10 mousesports 183   1
11 FaZe Clan 154  
12 Cloud9 139   1
14 Counter Logic Gaming 124  
16 FlipSid3 Tactics 93   1
18 Team Liquid 86   2
22 Gambit Gaming 59   1
27 Splyce 45   1

Change since March 21, 2016 ranking

Group stage

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The four groups were announced through MLG's social media accounts on March 10–11, 2016. Each group was seeded to contain a team who placed 1st–4th at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, a team who placed 5–8th at DreamHack Open Cluj–Napoca 2015, a team who went undefeated in the offline qualifiers, and a team who won one of the final decider matches in the offline qualifiers.[13]

Group A

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Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Luminosity Gaming 2 0 32 18 +14 2
2 Ninjas in Pyjamas 2 1 68 83 +5 2
3 mousesports 1 2 74 88 −14 1
4 FlipSid3 Tactics 0 2 45 50 −5 0
Group A matches
Ninjas in Pyjamas 1 0 FlipSid3 Tactics
Luminosity Gaming 1 0 mousesports
mousesports 1 0 FlipSid3 Tactics
Ninjas in Pyjamas 0 1 Luminosity Gaming
Ninjas in Pyjamas 2 1 mousesports
Group A Scores
Group A scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Ninjas in Pyjamas 19 Cache 17 FlipSid3 Tactics
Luminosity Gaming 16 Mirage 13 mousesports
mousesports 31 Cobblestone 28 FlipSid3 Tactics
Ninjas in Pyjamas 5 Mirage 16 Luminosity Gaming
Ninjas in Pyjamas 16 Cobblestone 5 mousesports
Ninjas in Pyjamas 12 Cache 16 mousesports
Ninjas in Pyjamas 16 Overpass 9 mousesports

Group B

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Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Team Liquid 2 0 38 30 +8 2
2 Fnatic 2 1 67 43 +24 2
3 FaZe Clan 1 2 43 51 −8 1
4 Splyce 0 2 8 32 −24 0
Group B matches
FaZe Clan 0 1 Team Liquid
Fnatic 1 0 Splyce
FaZe Clan 1 0 Splyce
Fnatic 0 1 Team Liquid
Fnatic 2 0 FaZe Clan
Group B Scores
Group B scores
Team Score Map Score Team
FaZe Clan 11 Cache 16 Team Liquid
Fnatic 16 Train 5 Splyce
FaZe Clan 16 Inferno 5 Splyce
Fnatic 19 Dust II 22 Team Liquid
Fnatic 16 Mirage 10 FaZe Clan
Fnatic 16 Cobblestone 6 FaZe Clan
Fnatic Cache FaZe Clan

Group C

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Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Astralis 2 0 32 19 +13 2
2 Counter Logic Gaming 2 1 70 61 +9 2
3 Gambit Gaming 1 2 63 74 −11 1
4 Team EnVyUs 0 2 21 32 −11 0
Group C matches
Team EnVyUs 0 1 Counter Logic Gaming
Astralis 1 0 Gambit Gaming
Team EnVyUs 0 1 Gambit Gaming
Astralis 1 0 Counter Logic Gaming
Counter Logic Gaming 2 1 Gambit Gaming
Group C Scores
Group C scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Team EnVyUs 8 Cobblestone 16 Counter Logic Gaming
Astralis 16 Train 10 Gambit Gaming
Team EnVyUs 13 Cache 16 Gambit Gaming
Astralis 16 Overpass 9 Counter Logic Gaming
Counter Logic Gaming 13 Cache 16 Gambit Gaming
Counter Logic Gaming 16 Cobblestone 11 Gambit Gaming
Counter Logic Gaming 16 Mirage 10 Gambit Gaming

Group D

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Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Natus Vincere 2 0 32 13 +19 2
2 Virtus.pro 2 1 61 49 +12 2
3 G2 Esports 1 2 49 60 −11 1
4 Cloud9 0 2 12 32 −20 0
Group D matches
Natus Vincere 1 0 Cloud9
Virtus.pro 1 0 G2 Esports
G2 Esports 1 0 Cloud9
Natus Vincere 1 0 Virtus.pro
Virtus.pro 2 1 G2 Esports
Group D Scores
Group D scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Natus Vincere 16 Train 9 Cloud9
Virtus.pro 16 Train 1 G2 Esports
G2 Esports 16 Dust II 3 Cloud9
Natus Vincere 16 Cobblestone 4 Virtus.pro
Virtus.pro 16 Train 9 G2 Esports
Virtus.pro 9 Inferno 16 G2 Esports
Virtus.pro 16 Cobblestone 7 G2 Esports

Playoffs

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The playoffs bracket was announced on March 30, 2016. Each quarterfinals match was seeded to contain one top seed and one second seed from the group stage.[14]

Bracket

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Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
D1 Natus Vincere 2
A2 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0
D1 Natus Vincere 2
C1 Astralis 0
C1 Astralis 2
B2 Fnatic 0
D1 Natus Vincere 0
A1 Luminosity Gaming 2
B1 Team Liquid 2
C2 Counter Logic G. 0
B1 Team Liquid 0
A1 Luminosity Gaming 2
A1 Luminosity Gaming 2
D2 Virtus.pro 1

Quarterfinals

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Natus Vincere vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas

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Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

Natus Vincere vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Natus Vincere 16 Inferno 9 Ninjas in Pyjamas
Natus Vincere 16 Mirage 10 Ninjas in Pyjamas
Natus Vincere Overpass Ninjas in Pyjamas

Astralis vs Fnatic

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Casters: James Bardolph & ddk

Astralis vs. Fnatic Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Astralis 16 Overpass 10 Fnatic
Astralis 16 Cache 5 Fnatic
Astralis Mirage Fnatic

Team Liquid vs Counter Logic Gaming

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Casters: Sadokist & HenryG

Team Liquid vs. Counter Logic Gaming Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Team Liquid 16 Cache 13 Counter Logic Gaming
Team Liquid 16 Mirage 6 Counter Logic Gaming
Team Liquid Train Counter Logic Gaming

Luminosity Gaming vs Virtus.pro

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Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

Luminosity Gaming vs. Virtus.pro Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Luminosity Gaming 17 Cache 19 Virtus.pro
Luminosity Gaming 16 Cobblestone 10 Virtus.pro
Luminosity Gaming 16 Overpass 11 Virtus.pro

Semifinals

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Natus Vincere vs. Astralis

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Casters: Sadokist & HenryG

Natus Vincere vs. Astralis Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Natus Vincere 16 Inferno 14 Astralis
Natus Vincere 16 Dust II 5 Astralis
Natus Vincere Mirage Astralis

Team Liquid vs Luminosity Gaming

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Casters: James Bardolph, ddk, & THREAT

Team Liquid vs. Luminosity Gaming Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Team Liquid 15 Mirage 19 Luminosity Gaming
Team Liquid 16 Cache 19 Luminosity Gaming
Team Liquid Cobblestone Luminosity Gaming

Finals

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Nationwide Arena during the final between Luminosity and Natus Vincere

Casters: Anders Blume, Semmler, & moses

coldzera was named the MVP of MLG Columbus 2016.[15]

Luminosity Gaming became the first team outside of Europe to win a Major title. Fnatic from Sweden still led all teams with three Majors at the time.

Natus Vincere vs. Luminosity Gaming Scores
Team Score Map Score Team
Natus Vincere 17 Mirage 19 Luminosity Gaming
Natus Vincere 2 Overpass 16 Luminosity Gaming
Natus Vincere Train Luminosity Gaming

Final standings

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The $1,000,000 prize pool was divided up as follows.

Place Team Prize Money Seed Roster Coach
1st Luminosity Gaming US$500,000 ESL One Cologne 2016 FalleN, fer, coldzera, fnx, TACO zews
2nd Natus Vincere US$150,000 Zeus, Edward, seized, flamie, GuardiaN starix
3rd–4th Astralis US$70,000 karrigan, dev1ce, cajunb, dupreeh, Xyp9x zonic
Team Liquid Hiko, nitr0, EliGE, adreN, s1mple GBJame^s
5–8th Ninjas in Pyjamas US$35,000 GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, friberg, Xizt, THREAT THREAT
Fnatic olofmeister, JW, KRiMZ, flusha, dennis vuggo
Counter Logic Gaming tarik, hazed, reltuC, jdm64, FugLy pita
Virtus.Pro NEO, TaZ, pashaBiceps, Snax, byali kuben
9–12th mousesports US$8,750 ESL One Cologne 2016 Offline Qualifier nex, Spiidi, denis, NiKo, chrisj Kapio
FaZe Clan fox, rain, jkaem, aizy, kioShiMa RobbaN
Gambit Gaming Dosia, hooch, AdreN, mou, wayLander beAst
G2 Esports RpK, shox, SmithZz, ScreaM, Ex6TenZ NiaK
13–16th FlipSid3 Tactics US$8,750 B1ad3, markeloff, bondik, Shara, WorldEdit
Splyce arya, abE, Professor_Chaos, DAVEY, jasonR Grt
Team EnVyUs Happy, NBK, kennyS, apEX, DEVIL Maniac
Cloud9 n0thing, Skadoodle, fREAKAZOiD, Stewie2k, shroud

Post-Major Ranking

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The HLTV.org April 5, 2016 rankings of teams in the major is displayed below. The ranking was the first one released after MLG Columbus 2016.[16]

HLTV.org Post-Major Ranking
World Ranking
Place Team Points Move
1 Fnatic 958  
2 Luminosity Gaming 869   2
3 Natus Vincere 827   1
4 Astralis 719   1
5 Virtus.pro 307   1
6 Team EnVyUs 280   1
7 Ninjas in Pyjamas 235   2
8 G2 Esports 200  
9 Team Liquid 194   9
10 mousesports 192  
12 Counter Logic Gaming 179   2
13 Cloud9 130   1
15 FaZe Clan 107   4
16 FlipSid3 Tactics 94   2
18 Gambit Gaming 85   4
28 Splyce 41   1

Change since March 28, 2016 ranking

References

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  1. ^ "MLG Columbus 2016". Counter-Strike Blog. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  2. ^ "Le prochain Major de CS:GO aux États-Unis". vossey.com (in French). 23 November 2015.
  3. ^ Walker, Alex (November 23, 2015). "Major League Gaming Is Getting On Board The Counter-Strike Train Too". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on November 24, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  4. ^ "Major Growth". Counter-Strike Blog. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  5. ^ Lund-Hansen, Rasmus (April 3, 2016). "Luminosity Gaming are the MLG Columbus Major champions". GAMEREACTOR. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  6. ^ Švejda, Milan. "Cloud9 grab last major spot". HLTV. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  7. ^ Švejda, Milan. "Searching for the perfect format". HLTV.org. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  8. ^ "MLG CS:GO Columbus Brings in Top Talent and Casters". Major League Gaming. March 16, 2016. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016.
  9. ^ "With $700,000 price tag, FaZe becomes the most expensive CS:GO team in history". Dot eSports. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  10. ^ "Team Questionmark becomes Astralis". Astralis.gg. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  11. ^ "G2 Esports signs former Titan roster". The Score eSports. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-02-18. Retrieved 2017-02-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ Apicella, Adam. "Group Stage Seeding". Twitter. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  14. ^ Malachowski, Michal. "MLG Columbus playoff matches drawn". HLTV. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Luminosity Wins MLG Columbus CS:GO Major". eSporks. April 3, 2016. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  16. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-07-19. Retrieved 2017-02-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)