ESL One Cologne viewer's guide

ESL One Cologne is nearly upon us, only two days are left before 16 teams gather in the fourth largest city in Germany, namely at the MMC studios for both group stages before eight move on to the 20,000-seater Lanxess arena for the playoffs.

The format is quite different from what we were used to at previous majors, as this time winners from the initial group phase advance directly to the playoffs, while the remaining three from each group will duke it out in the second phase for the other four spots.

The groups are as follows:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
NiP	EnVyUs	fnatic	Virtus.pro
TSM	Luminosity	Null element Natus Vincere	mousesports
Renegades	Kinguin	Titan	Cloud9
CLG	FlipSid3	eBettle	Immunity

Both group stages are all played in a best-of-one format, with the playoffs in a best-of-three. Below you can find the full schedule for the major:

Thursday, August 20
14:00	NiP	vs.	CLG	A1
14:00	EnVyUs	vs.	FlipSid3 Tactics	B1
15:25	Renegades	vs.	Team SoloMid	A2
15:25	Team Kinguin	vs.	Luminosity	B2
16:50	Winner A1	vs.	Winner A2
16:50	Winner B1	vs.	Winner B2
18:15	fnatic	vs.	Team eBettle	C1
18:15	Virtus.pro	vs.	Immunity	D1
19:40	Titan	vs.	Null element Natus Vincere	C2
19:40	Cloud9	vs.	mousesports	D2
21:05	Winner C1	vs.	Winner C2
21:05	Winner D1	vs.	Winner D2
Friday, August 21
12:00	Group E elimination
13:25	Group E decider
14:50	Group F elimination
16:15	Group F decider
17:40	Group G elimination
19:05	Group G decider
20:30	Group H elimination
21:55	Group H decider
Saturday, August 22
11:00	Quarter-final #1
14:05	Quarter-final #2
17:10	Quarter-final #3
20:15	Quarter-final #4
Sunday, August 23
12:00	Semi-final #1
15:20	Semi-final #2
19:00	Grand final

What stays the same is the prizepool, $250,000 will be spread among the participants in such manner:

1. $100,000
2. $50,000
3-4. $22,000
5-8. $10,000
9-16. $2,000

Don't forget that we've released all four previews for Group A, Group B, Group C, and Group D, as well as a "Facts and numbers" article, breaking down statistics and much more just in time for the major.

In light of the Pick'Em headshot percentage competition, we have put together simple guidelines for you to have an easier time to decide who to bet on in our "Pick'Em HS% - Who to choose?" article.

We're still in the middle of conducting pre-interviews, so far we have interviewed eight teams, as shown in the list:

Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer: "We have a chance to win"

Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill: "LEGIJA is a great fit"

Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson: "Goal is always to win"

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo: "cold brought many changes"

James "⁠James⁠" Quinn: "Underdog status favors us"

Piotr "⁠peet⁠" Ćwikliński "We don't feel any pressure"

Pujan "⁠FNS⁠" Mehta: "Having the same core helps us"

Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács "Facing Titan will be hard"

The whole event will be streamed by ESL TV with most of the organization's usual crew and several guests, who will serve as color casters or analysts at the desk. The full breakdown looks as follows:

• O. J. Borg - Stage Host
• William "Chobra" Cho - Desk Host 
• Soe Gschwind-Penski - Esports in Cinemas
• Sean Charles - Reporting

• Joe Miller - Caster
•  Leigh "Deman" Smith - Caster
•  Anders Blume - Caster
• Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat
•  Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Caster
•  Alex "Machine" Richardson - Caster
•  Jason Kaplan - Caster

• Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson - Commentator
• Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer - Commentator 
• Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Commentator 
• Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller - Commentator 

•  Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - (observer)
•  Simon "pAn" Schumacher - (observer)

HLTV.org will be present in Cologne with a five-man crew to bring you a full coverage from the major, including statistics, galleries, interviews, post-match articles, live tweets and more.

Before the event starts, feel free to get in the major mood with our teaser, or go into our hype video contest to see what the community came up with: