ESL Pro League finals viewer's guide

The ESL Pro League Season 3 finals are just around the corner, so it is time to bring you our trademark viewer's guide with the full schedule, the talent crew and the prize distribution.

The top four sides from both the European and the North American divisions of the ESL Pro League are ready to lock horns at the season finals, with a total of $512,000 on offer at the event.

The group stage matches will be played inside ESL's studio in Leicester, while the playoff games will be held at Indigo at the O2, an entertainment venue located next to the O2 Arena, in London.

Astralis face OpTic in the first match in Leicester 

In the group stage, featuring a double-elimination format, the Upper Bracket matches will be played in a best-of-one format, while the elimination matches and the decider matches will be best-of-three.

Group A	Group B
Luminosity	Ninjas in Pyjamas
Astralis	Cloud9
OpTic	fnatic
G2	Liquid

Below you can find the complete tournament schedule:

Wednesday, May 11th
14:00	OpTic	vs. Astralis	BO1
15:10	Luminosity	vs. G2	BO1
16:20	fnatic	vs. Cloud9	BO1
17:30	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. Liquid	BO1
18:40	Group A winners' match		BO1
19:50	Group B winners' match		BO1
21:00	Group A elimination match		BO3
Thursday, May 12th
14:00	Group B elimination match		BO3
17:15	Group A decider		BO3
20:30	Group B decider		BO3
Saturday, May 14th
16:00	Semi-final #1 (B1 vs. A2)		BO3
19:40	Semi-final #2 (A1 vs. B2)		BO3
Sunday, May 15th
16:00	Showmatch
18:00	Grand final		BO5

The talent panel for the event is led by O.J. Borg and Alex "Machine" Richardson, the two hosts, with the likes of Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett and Anders Blume breaking down the action for viewers and Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović sitting at the analyst desk. The full list looks as follows:

O.J. Borg - Host

 Alex "Machine" Richardson - Desk Host

Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - Analyst

Anders Blume - Caster
 Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat - Caster
 Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett - Caster
 Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer - Caster
Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Caster
 Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Caster
 John "Blu" Mullen - Caster

 Heather "⁠sapphiRe⁠" Garozzo - Observer
Alex Rush - Observer 

The $512,000 allocated to the season finals will be distributed between the competing teams as follows:

1. $200,000 
2. $90,000
3-4. $44,000
5-6. $36,000
7-8. $31,000 

Don't forget to check out our preview for the event, written by Michal "stich" Malachowski, who takes a look at all eight competing teams.

Janko 'YNk' Paunović Age: 23 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 96 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.71 Heather 'sapphiRe' Garozzo Age: 31 Team: Karma Rating 1.0: 0.86 Maps played: 13 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.69 Jason 'moses' O'Toole Age: 29 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 13 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 OpTic #24 William 'RUSH' WierzbaOscar 'mixwell' CañellasPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzKeith 'NAF' MarkovicDamian 'daps' Steele Henry 'HenryG' Greer Age: 27 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.68 Maps played: 1 KPR: 0.48 DPR: 0.78 Luminosity #1 Lincoln 'fnx' LauGabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo fnatic #3 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerDennis 'dennis' EdmanRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Cloud9 #15 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamMike 'shroud' GrzesiekAlec 'Slemmy' WhiteJake 'Stewie2K' Yip Astralis #4 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenRené 'cajunb' BorgAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenNicolai 'device' Reedtz Ninjas in Pyjamas #5 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmAdam 'friberg' FribergJacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi G2 #19 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyEdouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Liquid #9 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinEric 'adreN' HoagNick 'nitr0' CannellaJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiKenneth 'koosta' Suen