With the third day of the main qualifiers for ESL One: Cologne 2016 concluded, we present a brief recap of the matches that took place.

Russia Fluffy Gangsters vs Australia Renegades 4:11, 7:5 (11:16)
Winner: Renegades
Maps: de_Mirage
MVP: Justin "jks" Savage

Fluffy gangsters started out rough on the T side, giving Renegades a 9-1 lead. Then, however, Fluffy Gangsters won a post plant situation 2 vs. 2 with low health making the score 9-2 before calling the game to a pause. After the pause Fluffy Gangsters won two rounds in a row forcing Team Renegades to step up their game. So they did, and by using creative offensive plays made the half score 11-4. Next half the Australians started out ruthless, earning themselves the pistol round, and 15 points before starting to choke. Fluffy Gangsters therefore went on a roll earning themselves 11 points before Renegades managed to close it out 16:11. This loss meant that Fluffy Gangsters are eliminated from the competition.

Brazil Immortals vs Russia Team Empire 12:3, 4:4 (16:7)
Winner: Brazil Immortals
Maps: de_Cobblestone
MVP: Brazil João “felps" Vasconcellos

Immortals have been handed different opponents the first qualifying days in Team EnVyUs and TyLoo. The Brazilian team was expected to be one of the giants in this competition, and in this game they sure proved why. The team dominated Empire throughout the whole T side not giving them any room to breathe. In the second half, Team Empire came slightly back on their own T side gaining themselves 4 rounds before losing 16:7. Team Empire are now eliminated from the competition.

Europe HellRaisers vs Denmark Team Dignitas 11:4, 5:6 (16:10)
Winner: Europe HellRaisers
Maps: de_Nuke
MVP: Martin “STYKO” Styk

Hellraisers vs. Team Dignitas was a game expected to be closer than it was. When Hellraisers managed to steer the veto into playing de_Nuke, Hellraisers made the game all them. Perhaps the team had been practicing the map more than others. As STYKO said after the game “We tried to change our map pool”. Hellraisers dominated the T side with ruthless offensive plays, and the start of the CT side making it to 15 points, however from here Dignitas tried to make a bit of a hero comeback, almost making it happen losing the game only 16:10 instead of 16:4, as it would have been if Hellraisers closed it out on their first try. This game put Dignitas in a position where the team is one loss away from being eliminated from the race.

Ukraine Flipsid3 Tactics vs Canada OpTic Gaming 4:11, 3:5 (7:16)
Winner: Canada OpTic Gaming
Maps: de_Train
MVP: Canada Damian "daps" Steele

Flipsid3 Tactics vs OpTic Gaming on de_Train was a match most analysts expected to be quite the close game, however it became the opposite. OpTic Gaming started out on the T side with extremely quick explosive offensive plays, Flipsid3 Tactics being unable to find any way of countering it. Flipsid3 Tactics allowed OpTic gaming to dominate the T side closing out the half 11:4. We have seen OpTic play this aggressive style before on T sided Train and gained success from it, however most analysts expected an experienced team like Flipsid3 Tactics to be able to counter it. This did not pan out like they thought it would. OpTic's dominance continued into the CT side, making the game not only a slightly weak tactical performance from Flipsid3 Tactics, but an impressive display from OpTic Gaming showing everyone the potential in their team. Flipsid3 Tactics are now one game away from elimination.

China TyLoo vs United States Cloud9 10:5, 3:11 (13:16)
Winner: Cloud9
Maps: de_Cache
MVP: Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham

Tyloo vs Cloud9 was quite an interesting game, TyLoo being pretty difficult to predict, as they rarely have played against any American or European teams. Cache is well known as one of, if not TyLoo's strongest map, and winning the game seemed a lot more difficult now for Cloud9 than it did originally. Just like the map seemed to say, TyLoo started out on the CT side dominating, gaining several rounds by playing aggressively and unpredictably. Despite the aforementioned, Cloud9 found that going all out on sites worked quite well because TyLoo loved to split their team up quite a lot giving Cloud9 some rounds back making the first half 10:5 in favour of TyLoo. The Chinese seemed just as strong on the T side taking the sites aggressively making the score 13:5, however when Cloud9 got a buy round they won it and with a clever double AWP setup, they went on a huge comeback winning the game 16:13.

France Team EnVyUs vs United States Splyce 12:3, 4:1 (16:4)
Winner: France Team EnVyUs
Maps: de_Cobblestone
MVP: France Dan "apEX" Madesclaire

The first half of the game was quite dominant from Team EnVyus despite most rounds getting quite close. EnVyUs would usually get the opening frags before Splyce managed to make it into a clutch situation, however more often than not still losing the clutch situations in the end. Therefore making the first half 12:3 in favour of Team EnVyUs. The second half was more of the first, a strong confident Team EnVyUs pulled of simple strats and won the game on pure firepower and experience 16:4.

France G2 Esports vs Germany Mousesports 1:14, 0:2 (1:16)
Winner: Germany Mousesports
Maps: de_Dust2
MVP: Germany Denis "denis" Howell

G2 Esports vs Mousesports was a game between two giants. Both teams seemed almost invincible in the qualifiers up to that point. Dust2 was the chosen map, Mousesports started out CT and won the first pistol, round building a healthy economy from there. Mousesports ended up taking a 14:1 lead on the CT side, completely dominating G2, going on to win the game 16:1. G2 Esports has always been a team incredibly dependent on individual skill, so when players like ScreaM don't show up and Dennis of mousesports outfrags their whole team, G2 haven't much they can do. Dennis and ChrisJ were in amazing form, and held each of their bombsites (Dennis B, ChrisJ A) almost singlehandedly. This win meant that mousesports will be performing at ESL One: Cologne 2016 in their home country.

Russia Gambit vs Europe FaZe Clan 8:7, 3:9 (16:11)
Winner: Russia Gambit
Maps: de_train
MVP: Norway Håvard "rain" Nygaard

Faze vs Gambit was another game with two teams very much in form. The game was expected to be extremly close and so it was, as both teams played incredibly well. Neither of the teams being able to ever really build a stable economy, making winning several rounds in a row rather difficult. Gambit started out on the T side and went out of the first half with a 8:7 lead after an incredibly close half. The second half was mostly more of the same, however after a while FaZe got the snowball rolling, gaining the upper hand. Through a stable economy and a nice offensive T side FaZe closed the game out 16:11.

ESL One: Cologne 2016 - Main qualifiers day 3 recap