ESL ESEA Finals viewer's guide

1-7-2015 09:27

With the $250,000 ESL ESEA Pro League Finals closing in, kicking off in 27 hours, we've compiled a viewer's guide for you to have everything there is to know about the event, all in one place.

ESL ESEA Pro League Finals features an uncommon tournament system. Three out of four advance from the GSL group stage, with the first advancing directly to the semi-finals, while second and third will battle each other in the quarter-finals.

Both semi-finals and quarter-finals will be played in a best-of-three, the top two sides will then meet on a best-of-five in the grand final.

Top four teams from both North America and Europe's online phases will meet in Cologne from July 2nd-5th, in the following two groups ordered according to their seeding:

Group A	Group B
Cloud9	fnatic
Virtus.pro	Keyd Stars
Luminosity	TSM
EnVyUs	CLG

Keep in mind that ESL are meaning to start the matches as soon as possible after previous ones end with each day starting as follows:

Thursday, July 2nd
11:45	Show start
	Luminosity	vs. Virtus.pro	A1	BO1
	Cloud9	vs. EnVyUs	A2	BO1
	fnatic	vs. CLG	B1	BO1
	Keyd Stars	vs. TSM	B2	BO1
	A1 winner	vs. A2 winner		BO1
	A1 loser	vs. A2 loser		BO1
	B1 winner	vs. B2 winner		BO1
	B1 loser	vs. B2 loser		BO1
Friday, July 3rd
14:45	Show start
	Showmatch
	Quarter-final #1			BO3
	Quarter-final #2			BO3
Saturday, July 4th
14:45	Show start
	Showmatch
	Semi-final #1			BO3
	Semi-final #2			BO3
Sunday, July 5th
16:15	Show start
	Showmatch
	Grand final			BO5

Below you can find the talent panel for the ESL ESEA Pro League offline finals:

Alex "Machine" Richardson - Host

Jonatan "⁠Devilwalk⁠" Lundberg - Analyst
Joona "⁠natu⁠" Leppänen - Analyst
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Analyst

Auguste "Semmler" Massonat - Caster
Anders Blume - Caster
Jason Kaplan - Caster
Leigh "Deman" Smith - Caster
Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Caster

Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - Observer
Simon "pAn" Schumacher - Observer

A total of $250,000 will be given out at the end of this weekend, with another $250,000 already spread between the teams from the online phase, in the following distribution:

1. $100,000
2. $60,000
3-4. $25,000
5-6. $12,500
7-8. $7,500

HLTV.org's Tomi "⁠lurppis⁠" Kovanen has prepared a preview for ESL ESEA Pro League Finals with his thoughts on all the teams taking part, take a look here to read through it.

A four-man HLTV.org team will be on site to bring you a full coverage from ESL's studios in Cologne, Germany, including galleries, statistics, interviews, live tweets and more.

2015-07-01 09:27

ez4fnatic

2015-07-01 09:28

1 reply

2015-07-01 13:03

tyvm

ez 4 uk

2 replies

i lel'd :D

2015-07-01 13:32

ez for HUNDEN

2015-07-01 20:03

Goodie

2015-07-01 09:29

who're the 4 on site?

2015-07-01 09:30

englando?

2015-07-01 14:59

Tgwri1s, MAKKU, daboo & yours truly

2015-07-01 15:15

where nip at

Lost 2 times to hellraisers and didnt qualify -.-

2015-07-01 15:18

NiP, where you been lately? Tier 2 atm.

2015-07-02 00:19

I believe we can see c9 on July 4th :P

2015-07-01 09:32

expected.

2015-07-01 09:36

no chance for NA again lol

2015-07-01 09:39

will they stream 2 games at once or will they have 1 after the other on the main stream?

2015-07-01 09:40

3 ez 5 shox

What on earth are these show-matches and why do they have them.

17 replies

So that the NA players get to play on day 2 and 3 also...

2015-07-01 09:42

Complaining about extra LAN games between, most likely, EU and NA?? Why?

2015-07-01 09:46

14 replies

Because I like to watch competitive games, that have something on the line. Not a mix of 10 players fucking about for 45 minutes buying auto shotties and negevs (this will happen). As Ekoli above said, it just seems to be there so NA players get to play more days, or as filler to a very spread out schedule. Won't be interesting to watch however you look at it, if actual competitive games are what interest you.

2015-07-01 10:13

13 replies

It's like all-star games, pointless but made for the fans :P

2015-07-01 10:16

you do realize no matter what a na team will make it through to playoffs since 3 teams out of each group, 2 na teams are in 1 right *FailFish*

2015-07-01 12:15

11 replies

"Playoffs" aka, bo3 group stage elim game. And no NA teams will be left in the tournament on sat/sun, yet they will still have "showmatch" games that they will participate in. *FailFish*

2015-07-01 12:22

10 replies

Someone is super salty about the scene in uk imo. You can't say no na teams will make it through since they haven't even played each other before with the new lineups... with the exception of cloud9, but they have proved they can score very well, with 12 rounds on virus pro and 13 rounds and a win on envyus

2015-07-01 14:04

9 replies

I can say that, because I'm not a moron. No NA team will make it into the semi's, guarenteed. You can believe your pipe dreams all you like, but that's all they are, pipe dreams. And excuse-me, what on earth does this discussion have to do with the UK scene lmao? Patriotic morons like yourself who think because I come from a certain country, I must have a hidden agenda linked to it, really do make me chuckle.

2015-07-01 14:10

8 replies

You're smashing on a scene much better than the one in uk, does sound biased to me. And it's not logical to say no na team will play more than 2 games, because they haven't even competed against EU after the new lineups.

2015-07-01 14:19

4 replies

Again, what the fuck does the UK have to do with anything here. Jesus Christ you're stupid. Where does the UK come into this debate at all? I would also highly advise you to google search what the word logic actually means.

2015-07-01 14:26

3 replies

It's not logical to predict or garauntee the outcome of something which hasn't been done before. That's where a thesis or a theory comes into play, but no garauntee. And I'm talking about the uk scene because you are smashing the na scene, although the uk scene is non existent.

2015-07-01 17:11

Where does the UK scene come into this argument though. I'm really confused about this. What link does the UK scene have to do with ESL ESEA pro league? Are you going senile? Based on previous results of the NA teams vs EU teams, and the fact that the EU teams are so far ahead in ability, it is fair to assume the NA teams will get aboslutely trounced. If you actually think you can't make a judgement before something has happened you're a fucking imbecile.

2015-07-01 17:24

Lol, just agree to disagree. Because now you have just resorted to name calling and uncalled for insults. Have a nice day :D

2015-07-01 17:51

excellent guarantee

2015-07-03 19:34

I am glad to see it to be fair, but nobody could have predicted this. This lan is fucked. I'll swallow my pride however, because c9 have been fucking brilliant. Their playstyle is really intriguing. I'm not convinced by CLG at all however, I think poor tournament format of auto-semi's from topping the group, and an arrogant Fnatic (they fucked around making stupid plays with questionable buys for 2/3's of the game and didn't take it seriously) has massively helped CLG get a good placing here.

2015-07-03 19:45

props to you tbh

2015-07-03 19:55

pug games for fun !

2015-07-01 09:50

hey maybe c9 will get out of groups for once...ah who am i kidding

2015-07-01 09:41

soorryyy sleepyy

2015-07-01 09:49

No thorin my friend

sooorrü

its my prediction: vp should win their match, envyus ez, fnatic ez too, and i think keydstars can win with tsm, so i will bet on keydstars

2015-07-01 09:47

Probably worst prediction i've ever seen. Vp's performance recent few days was... horrible. But they might've been saving strats for this tournament. I'd say 50-50 in terms of VP vs Envy just because of VP's performance in qualifiers, Envy also seems to be out of a complete slump, though i'm not sure if they're back 100%. I'd count VP and Envy lucky because the Top 1 and 2 teams of the world atm, Fnatic and TSM are both in Group B, which would mean one of them would definitely be eliminated. Also Keyd beating TSM? You must be smoking something amazing. I'd say the current Keyd=LG or slight advantage Keyd>LG. TSM aren't just a T1 team right now, they're currently top 1-2 team in the world atm. It's probably also around 50-50 for Fnatic vs TSM. Either way one of the top 1-2 teams in the world will be out from Group B, if i'm looking at the brackets right of course and the chances of VP/Envy going against either of them in the grand finals is really high.

2015-07-01 13:43

Or at least in the semi-finals, yeah. Guess I didn't think about the system that much.

2015-07-01 13:54

we will see

2015-07-01 17:50

Gl cloud9 !

2015-07-01 09:52

SIGH C9 V ENVY EVERY LAN

2015-07-01 09:59

group stage bo1?

2015-07-01 10:11

1.Fnatic 2.VP 3-4. TSM ENVY

No, VP fanboy 1 Fnatic 2 TSM 3 ENVY 4 VP

2015-07-01 10:40

no Fnatic fanboy 1. Keyd Stars 2. C9 3. CLG 4. Luminosity

2015-07-01 10:48

2015-07-03 14:59

How come the times aren't in our preferred settings?

2015-07-01 10:15

Will be sticker competition available for this tournament?

2015-07-01 10:19

Nope, because it is not a Major event.

2015-07-01 10:53

god the esl casters are the worst aside from anders and semmler. too bad they cant do everything. need to pick up black ddk and white james.

2015-07-01 10:27

What are those showmatches

2015-07-01 10:29

EU All Stars vs NA All Stars. Last ESEA S18 LAN in Dallas, they had this showmatch too. EU All Stars was olofmeister, JW, kennyS, NEO and Niko if I'm not mistaken. It's just a Bo1 treat for the fans :D

2015-07-01 10:36

Damn, I wish I could watch the showmatches... *edit* Oh wait! 2 showmatches on the weekend /hype

2015-07-01 10:44

RiP NA

Quarter-finals have 2 matches. Sense! Get some! I blame NA for ruining perfectly logical tournament phase-names worldwide. Like calling a Final - Finals... Semi-finals - Round of 4, etc. No! I refuse! :D :D

2015-07-01 10:34

RIP NA

2015-07-01 10:39

Fnatic gonna take dis

2015-07-01 10:55

fnatic and tsm in the same group, fuck that

2015-07-01 11:07

What's wrong? If played according to plan and if TSM / fnatic #1 and #2, they won't meet until the finals which is great!

2015-07-01 11:33

yeah but the other na teams wont have a chance i feel

2015-07-01 11:52

2015-07-01 19:54

let's go

2015-07-01 11:29

how ridiculous those NA teams taking spots in stead of EU teams. All the NA (except for Keyd) won't be able to take off even 1 map vs EU teams. shame

2015-07-01 11:30

well c9 took a map of nV at Gfinity. So there is definitely potential to take a map or two, but thats pretty much it. Im glad that ESL Cologne decided to give the region with most talent more spots then this ridiculous split.

2015-07-01 11:51

Why would you want to see eu vs eu all the time? We seethat literally every single day. Why not na vs eu? EU had not played as many na teams as this after the shuffle, with the new lineups na can actually upset one or two teams here.

2015-07-01 14:09

I like Keyd, but I don't understand why people put them above C9. It's hardly clear they're better.

2015-07-02 00:52

With 3 teams going through from the groups NA will finally make it to the playoffs lol

2015-07-01 11:58

VAMOS KEYD !

2015-07-01 12:02

Can't wait to see TSM vs Fnatic

Why not on CSGOL And HLTV?

Considering it's a day from now, give it some time

2015-07-01 12:16

Can someone explain this, so let's say TSM and Fnatic will win. For the winners match if TSM loses, does that mean they're fully eliminated?

According to your example, it should go like this: Semifinals of Group: fnatic > CLG Keyd Stars < TSM Winner final of Group: fnatic > TSM Loser semifinal of Group: Keyd Stars > CLG Loser final of Group: TSM > Keyd Stars So, fnatic and TSM through the groups with #1 and #2 positions resp. P.S. You better just google "GSL group stage format"

2015-07-01 13:09

Yeah but I don't see the "group looser final" in the schedule. Having that 2nd and 3d qualify for next stage, have they gotten rid of the last game or? And how will they decide which team is 2nd and 3d when both teams will be 1-1 (probably round difference?), the difference being that one team went from 1-0 to 1-1 and the other from 0-1 to 1-1. My brain hurts :D

2015-07-01 13:39

Bo1 again? Fuck organisations will never learn.

2015-07-01 12:37

Yeah Bo1 groups are pretty bad. Makes me sad every time. The CPL format is kinda ok but this ain't even that it seems....

2015-07-01 13:41

NA not winning a map haha

2015-07-01 12:51

Pansy ruining another event with her clueless casting. Let's hope for pov streams.

2015-07-01 13:13

hahaha, when is she gonna get fired seriously

2015-07-02 11:19

When are they gonna start and when can i bet i'm freaking confused

2015-07-01 13:15

learn to read 3rd worlder

2015-07-01 13:24

such salty much wow go suck krimz dicks fanboy

sorry man i tought it was tursday today btw i'm from sweden..

2015-07-01 13:34

People say GFINITY is worst event,when i saw this caster lineup just "cri everi time", Where is white&black DDK + Thoorin + Scoots n stuff? Why these garbages? How can actualy some one like them... Okey no offense for semmler because he has hosted allot of events online/lan but yeah.

2015-07-01 14:08

bo1 groups so they have some for some shitty showmatches nice job esl ruining the format of esea lan

2015-07-01 14:11

no timezone adjustment? what is this madness?

2015-07-01 14:43

Fnatic and envy 1 place

2015-07-01 15:44

Man I'm stoked it starts at 2:45 am pacific! On a Thursday! Glad they were keeping their North american viewers in mind too. Big Fuc@#$% KAPPA

2015-07-01 16:32

ESL logic: we have 4 days but lets do bo1 group stage

2015-07-01 16:45

gl keyd

2015-07-01 17:09

rip keyd rip clg [*]

2015-07-01 17:36

Does everybody see only two quarter-final matches? Where are two more?

2015-07-01 18:10

Easy for keyd, all in first match because of odds, Kappa. But actually i think Keyd has a slight chance of surprising TSM.. they're stronger on lan just like VP... but let's see. About the other games the only other NA team that has a slight chance is Cloud 9 i guess.

2015-07-01 18:16

1fnatic 2keyd

2015-07-01 18:30

1. EnvyUs 2. Fnatic 3. TSM 4. Luminosity

2015-07-01 19:07

cloud9 AGAIN in the same group with NV and VP lol

2015-07-01 19:59

tosspot plz :(

2015-07-01 20:02

if Luminosity beats VP, then C9 loses to NV and has to play VP again....RIP and B01 so stupid what a waste

2015-07-01 20:27

I'm going to be asleep for over half of this. timezones can suck my fucking balls.

2015-07-01 23:11

VP got this guys i mean prize is big so Virtus.Plow inc

2015-07-01 23:33

vp will take it easyyyy

2015-07-02 00:26

Cloud9 in the same bloody group every LAN.

2015-07-02 00:54

I don't understand the format. Only 8 teams, group stage AND quarter-finals? how is that supposed to work?

2015-07-02 02:25

Did you even bother reading the text before posting? "ESL ESEA Pro League Finals features an uncommon tournament system. Three out of four advance from the GSL group stage, with the first advancing directly to the semi-finals, while second and third will battle each other in the quarter-finals."

2015-07-02 03:40