Kiev has long been a city that’s hosted premier esports events, and between April 4 to 9, the Ukrainian capital will see 16 of the world’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams compete in the National Palace of Arts.
What is it?
SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 is a $300,000 CS:GO tournament featuring some of the strongest CS:GO teams in the world. While third-party events in CS:GO occur frequently throughout the year, this is one of the biggest to take place in eastern Europe.
What’s the format?
The group stage will be played in a swiss format. Primarily used in cardgames, the swiss format sees teams play against opponents sharing a similar win/loss record in each round. Five rounds in total will be played, meaning teams must win at least three matches in order to advance. All the initial match-ups have been seeded, so that the eight invited teams will be facing up against the eight qualified squads in the opening round of matches.
Following the group stage, the eight remaining teams will be competing in a best of three, single-elimination playoff bracket.
What’s the schedule?
The group stage of the SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 LAN finals will be taking place between April 4 to 7, and will be starting at 3:30 AM CT every morning. Each day of the group stage is scheduled for 10 hours per day, meaning the broadcasts will be concluding at 13:30 CT.
From April 7, the playoffs will be starting two hours earlier than the group stage, meaning the first game of each day will be taking place on 1:30 AM CT. The playoffs will be taking place until April 9.
The very first match scheduled to take place will see North take on Immortals.
How can I watch?
All games of the StarSeries Season 3 LAN finals will be broadcasted by Starladder on Twitch. The event will also feature some of the game’s most established on-air talent, with commentators Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett, Anders Blume in attendance, and experts such as Yanko “YNk” Paunović, and Duncan “Thorin” Shields breaking down the action.
Which teams are taking part?
Featuring a stacked list of competitors, a total of 16 teams will be competing at the StarSeries Season 3 finals. Some of the most notable names being Astralis, Virtus Pro, FaZe Clan, and SK Gaming.
Highest seeds:
- Astralis
- Na`Vi
- Virtus Pro
- SK Gaming
Second seeds:
- North
- Gambit
- FaZe Clan
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
Third seeds:
- Fnatic
- G2 Esports
- HellRaisers
- Immortals
Fourth seeds:
- Counter Logic Gaming
- MVP Project
- 5Power Club
- TyLoo
