The third day of the StarLadder CIS Minor to Cologne 2016 sees Empire advance to the official ESL One Cologne 2016 Qualifier after defeating Fluffy Gangsters 2-1 in the upper bracket final (3-16 on Dust2, 16-6 on Cobblestone, and 16-12 on Train).

Running from April 28 to May 1, the Cologne 2016 StarLadder CIS Minor is offering $50,000 in prize money for the top four finishers and two official spots to the offline ESL One Cologne 2016 Main Qualifier.

Although mainly of interest to fans and viewers in the CIS region, the Minor has shown us both unknown talents doing damage (particularly on the first day) and the elimination of teams such as Arcade.

The third day of the CIS Minor commenced with an upper bracket semifinal match between FLuffy Gangsters and ANOX, the latter being the former Method team.

kUcheR finds another chance to qualify for a CS:GO Major with Empire

Powered by Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov, Fluffy Gangsters snatched Mirage with a score of 16-3; Dmitriy "⁠facecrack⁠" Alekseyev and co. then answered back with a 16-9 on Cobblestone. The third map of the series then went the full mile on Overpass, moving into overtime but it was Fluffy Gangsters who ultimately won 19-15 with 27-year-old Anatoliy "⁠liTTle⁠" Yashin posting a 1.91 rating and 112.7 ADR on Overpass.

StarLadder Minor CIS - Cologne 2016Best of 3 FLuffy GangstersMatchpage 2 1 30th April 2016 ANOX 16Mirage 3 9Cobblestone 16 19Overpass 15

FLuffy Gangsters	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Anatoliy 'liTTle' YashinliTTle	75 - 45	+30	99.1	1.47
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	71 - 51	+20	93.3	1.34
Vladislav 'El Patron' KopitinEl Patron	46 - 46	0	70.7	1.05
Vladimir 'ROBO' NeskeyROBO	43 - 51	-8	68.3	0.98
Roman 'roman' Redihinroman	42 - 49	-7	60.3	0.89

ANOX	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyevfacecrack	57 - 59	-2	84.5	1.02
Alexey 'ub1que' Polivanovub1que	53 - 55	-2	73.6	0.95
Savelii 'jmqa' Braginjmqa	45 - 50	-5	64.5	0.93
Igor 'dERZKIY' RadosavlevichdERZKIY	49 - 57	-8	69.9	0.90
Kirill 'hitMouse' TsarevhitMouse	38 - 56	-18	61.0	0.80

The second upper bracket semifinal also featured an overtime, as Worst Players (the former Team YP core) and Empire dueled on the first map of Mirage and it was the worst players who ironically bested Empire 19-16.

However, Empire buckled down for the long run and took the next two maps to clinch the series, winning Dust2 16-10 and Train 16-11 with 17-year-old Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov putting in a strong performance.

StarLadder Minor CIS - Cologne 2016Best of 3 Worst PlayersMatchpage 1 2 30th April 2016 Empire 19Mirage 16 10Dust2 16 11Train 16

Empire	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sergey 'spaz' Skrypchikspaz	52 - 35	+17	99.3	1.44
Roman 'CyberFocus' DergachCyberFocus	42 - 27	+15	73.7	1.36
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	40 - 34	+6	85.8	1.22
Emil 'kUcheR' AkhundovkUcheR	38 - 33	+5	77.9	1.15
Alexander 'spiker' Ivanovspiker	32 - 30	+2	75.6	1.11

Worst Players	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ilya 'fix' Golovkofix	48 - 42	+6	86.6	1.15
Anton 'tonyblack' Kolesnikovtonyblack	32 - 39	-7	68.0	0.89
Vladyslav 'arch' Svistovarch	30 - 40	-10	63.4	0.82
Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDavCost	27 - 40	-13	57.2	0.82
Dmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDimaoneshot	22 - 44	-22	53.6	0.64

Fluffy Gangsters and Empire therefore advanced to the upper bracket final to fight over a guaranteed spot to the ESL One Cologne 2016 Qualifier and at least $15,000 in prize-money.

The first two maps of the upper bracket final were extremely one-sided, with liTTle & co. easily picking up Dust2 16-3 whereas Emil "⁠kUcheR⁠" Akhundov and his team answered back 16-6 on Cobblestone (the 27-year-old Ukrainian player had a 1.77 rating and 90.3 ADR on that map).

The final map of Train was much more strongly contested, and it was once again the likes of liTTle, chopper, and Vladislav "⁠El Patron⁠" Kopitin for Fluffy Gangsters and kUcheR, electroNic, and Roman "⁠CyberFocus⁠" Dergach for Empire who dueled it out in a back and forth series that finished 16-12 for Empire by the match's end.

StarLadder Minor CIS - Cologne 2016Best of 3 FLuffy GangstersMatchpage 1 2 30th April 2016 Empire 16Dust2 3 6Cobblestone 16 12Train 16

Empire	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Emil 'kUcheR' AkhundovkUcheR	60 - 43	+17	88.4	1.30
Roman 'CyberFocus' DergachCyberFocus	51 - 42	+9	73.2	1.12
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	43 - 52	-9	78.4	1.02
Alexander 'spiker' Ivanovspiker	46 - 47	-1	72.5	0.99
Sergey 'spaz' Skrypchikspaz	37 - 54	-17	66.9	0.80

FLuffy Gangsters	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Anatoliy 'liTTle' YashinliTTle	59 - 45	+14	87.0	1.28
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	55 - 45	+10	85.2	1.25
Vladislav 'El Patron' KopitinEl Patron	57 - 47	+10	92.4	1.22
Roman 'roman' Redihinroman	34 - 49	-15	65.6	0.88
Vladimir 'ROBO' NeskeyROBO	33 - 51	-18	52.9	0.78

As a result of the match, Empire are now in the CIS Minor grand final and have now qualified for the Cologne Qualifier with a guaranteed second place. The teams so far confirmed at the ESL One Cologne 2016 Main Qualifier are:

G2	Gambit	FaZe	MOUZ
Cloud9	Envy	Splyce	FlipSid3
Empire	Null element CIS Minor #2	EU Minor #1	EU Minor #2
NA Minor #1	NA Minor #2	Asia Minor #1	Asia Minor #2

Tomorrow will see three final best-of-three games play out at the CIS Minor, the lower bracket final between ANOX and Worst Players at 13:00 , the consolidation final to determine the second qualified team, and the grand final to fight over the $30,000 first place prize.

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter

Anatoliy 'liTTle' Yashin Age: 27 Team: FLuffy Gangsters Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 111 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 Arcade #154 Dmitriy 'jR' ChervakNikolay 'mir' BityukovPavel 'hutji' LashkovDmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoPavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko FlipSid3 #21 Yegor 'markeloff' MarkelovAndrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyOleksandr 'Shara' HordieyevGeorgi 'WorldEdit' Yaskin Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 19 Team: FLuffy Gangsters Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 69 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 Vladislav 'El Patron' Kopitin Age: 25 Team: FLuffy Gangsters Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 41 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.69 G2 #13 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyEdouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Time is adjusted to your selected timezone FaZe #16 Ricardo 'fox' PachecoFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyPhilip 'aizy' AistrupHåvard 'rain' NygaardJoakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Empire #69 Emil 'kUcheR' AkhundovSergey 'spaz' SkrypchikAlexander 'spiker' IvanovRoman 'CyberFocus' DergachDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov Emil 'kUcheR' Akhundov Age: 27 Team: Empire Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 745 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 Gambit #24 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevDmitry 'hooch' BogdanovMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovIvan 'spaze' Obrezhan MOUZ #9 Chris 'chrisJ' de JongNikola 'NiKo' KovačJohannes 'nex' MagetTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' Howell Envy #7 Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerTimothée 'DEVIL' Démolon Splyce #28 Arya 'arya' HekmatAbraham 'abE' FazliDavid 'DAVEY' StaffordJason 'jasonR' RuchelskiAndrew 'Professor_Chaos' Heintz Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 17 Team: Empire Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 121 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.71 Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyev Age: 22 Team: ANOX Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 234 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.71 Cloud9 #17 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamMike 'shroud' GrzesiekAlec 'Slemmy' WhiteJake 'Stewie2K' Yip Worst Players Anton 'tonyblack' KolesnikovVadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaVladyslav 'arch' SvistovIlya 'fix' Golovko ANOX Kirill 'hitMouse' TsarevAlexey 'ub1que' PolivanovIgor 'dERZKIY' RadosavlevichSavelii 'jmqa' BraginDmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyev Roman 'CyberFocus' Dergach Age: 21 Team: Empire Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 234 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 FLuffy Gangsters #158 Anatoliy 'liTTle' YashinRoman 'roman' RedihinVladimir 'ROBO' NeskeyLeonid 'chopper' VishnyakovVladislav 'El Patron' Kopitin