ECS Season 3 Finals viewer's guide

21-6-2017 16:34

The ECS Season 3 Finals are upon us, here are some details about the groups, schedule, talent, and prize distribution ahead of the big weekend in London.

The ECS Season 3 Finals will be returning to London, where the Season 1 Finals took place before going to Anaheim, California, for Season 2. The action will take place on June 23-25 at the SSE Arena in Wembley, and eight teams—four from North America and four from Europe—will be fighting for their share of a $660,000 prize pool.

The SSE Arena in London will once again host the ECS Finals

The group stage will feature two groups of four playing a GSL format double-elimination bracket with best-of-threes in the lower bracket and will be followed by a best-of-three single-elimination playoff with the final four teams.

The groups, which have been drawn according to the regular season standings, are:

Group A	Group B
FaZe	Cloud9
G2	Liquid
SK	Astralis
OpTic	fnatic

With the groups set, here is the full schedule for the event:

Friday, June 23
13:15	FaZe	vs. OpTic	BO1
14:30	G2	vs. SK	BO1
15:45	Group A Winners' Match		BO1
17:00	Cloud9	vs. fnatic	BO1
18:15	Liquid	vs. Astralis	BO1
19:30	Group B Winners' Match		BO1

Saturday, June 24
12:15	Group A Elimination Match		BO3
15:15	Group B Elimination Match		BO3
18:15	Group A Decider Match		BO3
21:15	Group B Decider Match		BO3

Sunday, June 25
13:00	Semi-final #1		BO3
16:30	Semi-final #2		BO3
19:30	FPL Show match
21:00	Grand Final

An impressive crew of 11 will be in charge of bringing the action live, while two observers will be controlling the cameras in-game. The ECS Season 3 Finals will be hosted by Alex "Machine" Richardson and Rachel "Seltzer" Quirico, on the desk and stage respectively, and will have a slew of talent casting and analysing matches. Here is the list:

Rachel "Seltzer" Quirico - Stage Host
Alex "Machine" Richardson - Desk Host

Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen - Interviewer

Duncan "Thorin" Shields - Analyst
Janko "YNk" Paunović - Analyst
Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen - Analyst
Sam "DaZeD" Marine - Analyst

Anders Blume - Commentator
Henry "HenryG" Greer - Commentator
James "JZFB" Bardolph - Commentator
Daniel "ddk" Kapadia - Commentator

Jamie "keita" Hall - Observer
Connor "Sliggy" Blomfield - Observer

As far as the $660,000 prize pool, here is how it will be divvied up:

1. $250,000
2. $120,000
3-4. $65,000
5-6. $45,000
7-8. $35,000

Don't forget to check out the ECS Season 3 Finals event page, where we will update all of the information regarding the tournament as it happens, including news, statistics, results, and more.

Go SK Did Semmler retire ? Haven't see him in awhile

2017-06-21 16:39

13 replies

ez 4 SK

2017-06-21 16:36

1 reply

not really

2017-06-21 16:37

His brother's wedding was recent i think, so thats why he hasnt been with Anders

2017-06-21 16:43

6 replies

KappaPride

2017-06-21 17:17

Good to know

2017-06-21 17:18

Would have been better if he'd just quit.

2017-06-21 17:23

2 replies

+69 omg this

2017-06-21 18:01

+111

2017-06-21 20:02

It's been months though.. Just because he is marrying his brother, doesn't mean he has to be gone for that long.. Maybe that whole game-show kept him buisy.

2017-06-21 19:56

he got mad that sadokist is better than him and was getting to cast finals. little bitch semmler is, glad he's gone from the scene

2017-06-21 19:23

i swear this is a meme now

2017-06-21 19:26

He was also working on some gaming reality show called Gamerz (i know) for awhile so that might be part of it

2017-06-21 19:48

I hope so

2017-06-22 02:26

Yeee

2017-06-21 16:35

ez for g2

2017-06-21 16:57

LMAO group A Its unfair SK G2 or FaZe to rekt in groups

14 replies

Yes, fucked up system, look at the EPL aswell, group b(?) was very tough aswell

This is not unfair lol, 2 NA teams per group, just the luck of the draw

2017-06-21 16:42

3 replies

That luck of the draw is unfair

2017-06-21 16:49

This is the most fair system tho. This happens in every sport or esport. Would you prefer draws based on the rankings ? This would be even more fucked imo

2017-06-21 16:50

its not luck of draw.they were placed based on the standing in ecs league.

2017-06-21 17:38

Not really unfair, and the groups weren't randomly drawn either... This is how it works, Group draws depend on the final placing of teams after all their online matches, as it follows below Group A EU online rank 1 - FaZe (14-4) NA online rank 2 - SK (13-5*) EU online rank 3 - G2 (12-6*) NA online rank 4 - OpTic (11-7) Group B NA online rank 1 - Cloud 9 (13-5*) EU online rank 2 - Astralis (12-6*) NA online rank 3 - Liquid (12-6) EU online rank 4 - fnatic (11-7) (*) if tied, rank/placing is decided by round difference As for opening group matches, it follows this classic format Group A EU online rank 1 - FaZe v OpTic - NA online rank 4 EU online rank 3 - G2 v SK - NA online rank 2 Group B NA online rank 1 - C9 v fnatic - EU online rank 4 NA online rank 3 - TL v Astralis - EU online rank 2

2017-06-21 17:37

8 replies

^ couldn't explain better

2017-06-21 17:53

Yeah, it is fair. I dislike the round difference tie-breaker though... I would take head-to-head matches into account :( (not sure if that would change anything, too lazy to check :D )

2017-06-21 18:02

Both Astralis vs G2 and SK vs Cloud9 are 1-1 so :P

2017-06-21 18:18

thanks takacaranomuro

2017-06-21 18:14

^ couldn't explain better [2]

2017-06-21 18:19

perfect!

2017-06-22 04:01

tyty

2017-06-22 08:57

ty bro

2017-06-22 09:04

GoG2

EZ G2

Group of hell for optic. Rip

2017-06-21 16:38

Go SK

Faze will stun every team

Probably not

2017-06-21 16:46

This will decide #1 in my eyes.. finally all the big boys.

group A look a little bit unfair for me, any one can get out

2017-06-21 16:48

Shiiit group A is hell.

1st event in a while im excited for

Me 2

2017-06-21 17:28

Astralis could play with their monitors asleep and they'd still make it out of groups

2017-06-21 16:40

+1 Ahahaah

2017-06-21 17:09

Astralis is saving strats since 1869 ! Maybe they got something or some LUCK ! LUL.

2017-06-22 06:10

EZ FOR MOUSESPORTS

2017-06-21 16:41

im thinking winner of this is top 1

Liquid top 1 then we both know it. ;)

Ez :D

2017-06-21 18:09

I think FaZe wouldn't deserve #1 if they win (Not hating FaZe is my favorite team )

2017-06-22 09:38

ez 4 fnatic

Gonna be hard for all the team in group A

2017-06-21 16:47

Hard for faze and sk. Ez for g2

2017-06-21 17:03

hltv.org/forums/threads/1501835/casters-.. HLTV should create profile of casters without matches but with basic info (photo, name, age...). It's something easy to do and useful

Where is sadokist :'(

GOGO KEITA AND SLIGGY source legends

Seltzer, dazed, ddk and james PogChamp

ez for dazed

2017-06-21 16:58

Awesome James and Ddk

All the best teams, great talent, DKK & BDKK and no sadokist perfect event!!!!

2017-06-21 17:01

>Perfect Event >Thorin Pick one.

2017-06-21 18:24

Picked both.

2017-06-22 02:20

unlucky Optic:/

bb optic and clown 9

2017-06-21 17:10

2017-06-21 17:21

What a shit group

2017-06-21 17:22

#FaZeUp

Most excited for the showmatch tbh.

2017-06-21 17:32

RIP OPTIC

Fnatic would be so happy

wtf where is my favorite analyst spunJJJ??

2017-06-21 17:39

Rachel "Seltzer" Quirico - Stage Host kreygasm

2017-06-21 17:49

bruh hyped af sick teams, sick crew! and hopefully good production

So hyped for this event!

2017-06-21 17:57

Gl c9, the new numba1 is coming !

2017-06-21 18:04

Thorin Lurppis oh boy

2017-06-21 18:07

2ez for lurppis

2017-06-21 18:21

Did Martin rig this event? Astralis got the easiest group ever

2017-06-21 18:36

there was no random draw for these groups, they were beased on league rankings from the season

2017-06-21 21:30

FaZe wins Group A 2-0 SK advances 2-1 G2 loses bo3 to SK 1-2 OpTic goes 0-2 Astralis wins group 2-0 Liquid advances 2-1 Fnatic loses bo3 to Liquid 1-2 Cloud9 goes 0-2 (unfortunately... dammit C9!!!!)

2017-06-21 18:42

2017-06-21 20:06

its anyones game between faze, sk and g2. this will be a great event

2017-06-21 21:31

DaZeD, Ynk, Thorin and lurppis on the same desk (They won't have all 4 together obvs) will be lit

2017-06-21 18:46

It will be really tough for SK to get out of group, but if they achieve it they will win this tournament.

2017-06-21 18:47

DIS GON B GUD BOIS

no semmler yessss

2017-06-21 18:52

#G2Army

2017-06-21 18:54

where is james????? I loved him ;-; </3

Let's go BRAZIL, we can do it! We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL! Kreygasm

2017-06-21 18:56

that A group

2017-06-21 19:01

RIP NA

2017-06-21 19:05

Faze = eZaF

2017-06-21 19:17

Group A fucked SK It is going to be like this: Faze beat Optic (ez) G2 beat SK (16-12) SK beat optic (eZ) Faze beat G2 (16-8) G2 beat SK (2-0) SK would win agaist faze, but they will not match. I don't see they moving out of the groups

I agree with your analysis but G2 could very well beat faze if just bo1 winners match

2017-06-21 21:32

faze have been pretty bad lately in groups and also they haven't played tournament in a while, so i think that the odds for faze winning bo1 against g2 is something like 35-40%

2017-06-22 02:30

no blu, thank the fucking lord

Who will be in the fpl showmatch since issaa and woxic visa got denied

2017-06-21 19:38

twitch or youtube

ofc youtube

2017-06-21 21:51

In London? No Thank You!

2017-06-21 19:57

Why? UK crowds are known for being great at least

2017-06-21 20:46

EU Crowd in DH Summer lul

2017-06-21 23:29

what is the time zone that these times are in, will it be in local time (where the tourney is played)

If you already change the time zone in your profile, it should be showing the times in your time zone.

2017-06-22 14:11

Astralis are the favorites imo. Then we have SK and G2 tied, but not so far away from them. I don't see FaZe winning this

2017-06-21 20:44

lol astralis as always easiest group

2017-06-21 20:49

No Sadokist. Sad times.

2017-06-21 21:08

Cloud9 needs a sniper like Nifty/JDM to make America great again.

2017-06-21 21:18

they need a LAN player and get rid of shroud. Honestly to me it feels like optic and cloud9 need to make a super team between them to win anything against euros tbh something like mixwell stewie autimatic rush naf-fly otherwise they will never beat teams like SK, astralis, g2, etc...

2017-06-21 21:36

shroud and nothing should work together like a married gay couple and become the front-liners for entering bombsites only then there's a better chance the team gonna win. Let these gays die first or else they won't have enough time to realize their clutch dreams is a risky business. It's a team game where they need a period to organize intel and re-group for greater firepower. They can throw effective flashbangs, just needed more improvement with coordination when moving together as a team.

2017-06-22 04:52

SK vs G2 final ez G2 52x0

2017-06-21 21:41

Astralis, g2 or SK will be the winner and the top 1 at HLTV. Anyone that disagree is desilusional.

2017-06-21 23:20

c9top1?

2017-06-21 23:25

grandfinal BO3/BO5?

2017-06-21 23:37

The tournament will kick off with a double-elimination group stage, featuring best-of-three matches in the Lower Bracket, followed by the best-of-three single-elimination playoffs with the last four teams. hltv.org/news/20765/schedule-for-ecs-s3-.. Might be 1-0 map advantage for team coming from the Upper Bracket. We will have to wait and see.

2017-06-22 14:36