The ECS Season 3 Finals will garner all top four teams according to our ranking, including IEM Sydney victors SK, IEM Katowice winners Astralis, StarSeries champions FaZe, and G2, who snatched the latest big title at ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.

Another big title will be up for grabs from June 23-25 in London's SSE Arena, which will host the ECS' third season's finals, starting with the GSL group stage:

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

For more details on the $660,000 event, check out our viewer's guide, where you'll find the complete schedule, prize money distribution, and the extensive talent lineup.

Ratings used are from the past three months on LAN

Group A

SK (#1)	Age	Rating 2.0
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	22	1.26
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	25	1.25
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	26	1.14
João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos	20	1.13
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	22	0.98

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	DreamHack Open Summer
3rd-4th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
1st	IEM Sydney
1st	cs_summit
9th-11th	SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals

SK are going to London with another title under their belt from DreamHack Open Summer, after G2 had seen them off three weeks ago, in the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals' semis.

In Dallas, coldzera posted underwhelming numbers compared to his standard, especially in the semis against the Frenchmen, but he has since put more work in and showed that his uncharacteristic dip at the ESL event was indeed just a one-off thing, picking up another MVP award in Sweden.

The Brazilians continue their tournament-filled journey towards the PGL Major with barely any breaks in between, which made them stay in Europe until they reach the finish line in Krakow. By the time they get there, SK will have attended seven events in the space of three months, which could be a worrying prospect considering other top teams such as Astralis chose to focus on the Major and skipped a few stops.

SK's map pool was shaky during DHS despite their triumph

Whether the amount of data on SK will end up hurting them in the long run remains to be seen. However, we've already seen hints of that happening against teams significantly below FalleN's team's level, with CLG and Immortals besting SK on two of their signature maps, Mirage and Cache.

On top of that, the current No.1 team in the world is likely losing confidence on Overpass, especially after fnatic's dominant victory on it during DreamHack Open Summer's final. That puts SK in a tough situation facing the likes of FaZe and Astralis in London — who don't play Cobblestone, one of SK's top three maps —, seeing as there is next to zero time for adjustments due to the Brazilian squad's packed schedule.

Nevertheless, the IEM Sydney champions should still be seen as one of the favorites. With two other top four teams in their group, they won't catch any breaks and the road will be tough, but with coldzera and fer on top of their game, SK can beat anyone.

FaZe (#3)	Age	Rating 2.0
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	20	1.21
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	22	1.15
Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey	22	1.07
Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli	25	1.00
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	27	0.94
Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	IEM Sydney
1st	SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals

Out of all eight teams at ECS Season 3 Finals, FaZe have attended the fewest tournaments in the last three months, conspicuously missing the Pro League finals, in Dallas, after placing below the top six in the European division.

It's not necessarily clear whether that's a good thing or not; on the one hand, they have had lots of time to perfect their map pool and overall play, but on the other,FaZe very much rely on individual form, which can translate from event to event. 

With their last offline appearance dating seven weeks back, we can't base their form on anything other than online matches, which more often than not have ended in 1-1 stalemates in the last month.

Whoever tops Group A should earn a favorable match-up in semis

FaZe's map pool will help them in this group of death, in which their biggest opponents, G2 and SK, have Cobblestone as their best map. With SK somewhat unsure about their map pool and G2 being a good match-up for FaZe, karrigan's team could end up winning the group and securing what is most likely going to be a favorable semi-final for them, unless Astralis screw up on the other side.

With matches being played on just one map on the upper side of the group, the chances between the three giants are more or less even, though, which makes this group very intriguing. The question is: who will be left out come playoffs?

G2 (#4)	Age	Rating 2.0
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	22	1.21
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	20	1.10
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	25	1.08
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	23	1.06
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	24	1.06
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
1st	DreamHack Open Tours
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Austin
5th-8th	SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals

Currently ranked #4 following their triumphs at DreamHack Open Tours and more importantly ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, G2's confidence ahead of ECS Season 3 should be the highest it's ever been since the creation of the lineup, at the start of the year.

As highlighted in our Winners and Losers of the Dallas event article, three of G2's individual players have probably never looked better in the last several months. kennyS got his second MVP award in a row following some superstar performances, and the supposed role players, bodyy and NBK-, looked fantastic as well.

Now's the time for G2 to definitively earn their place among the best of the best

However, many put an asterisk next to shox's team's latest triumph due to the two best teams in the world at the time not being present and G2 beating only one elite team on their way there, SK, in a series in which coldzera was nowhere to be seen.

If there ever was a time for G2 to step it up even further and prove that they truly deserve their place among the best of the best, it's now at the ECS Season 3 Finals, where the competition will be harder than before, with FaZe and SK in their group, and Astralis (plus a good-looking fnatic) in the other. 

OpTic (#7)	Age	Rating 2.0
Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas	21	1.17
Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic	19	1.15
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	21	1.01
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	23	0.99
James "⁠hazed⁠" Cobb	28	0.86

Offline placings in the last three months
7th-8th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals (4/5 of the current lineup)
3rd-4th	IEM Sydney
3rd	cs_summit (4/5 of the current lineup)

OpTic have once again found themselves in a tough position after swapping players for months as they are forced to use hazed for the foreseeable future because of Jason "⁠jasonR⁠" Ruchelski stepping down from the lineup.

That throws a wrench into the works of the team, who now have to adjust again to accommodate hazed, and, to make matters worse, OpTic have been put in the hardest group in which they possibly could find themselves.

That feeling when you see Group A at ECS Season 3 Finals

mixwell & co. should be heavily outmatched in London's Group of Death, and the best they can hope for are ruining the day for one of the elite teams on the back of a massive performance from mixwell and NAF, and getting as much experience as they can before they move on to the PGL Major's Main Qualifier.

Even one best-of-one win seems out of reach for OpTic, though, let alone another playoff appearance for this lineup, after hazed stood in at IEM Sydney and helped them to advance to the semi-finals.

Group B

Astralis (#2)	Age	Rating 2.0
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	21	1.17
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	21	1.15
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	19	1.11
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	24	1.09
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	22	1.06
Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	ELEAGUE Clash for Cash
3rd-4th	IEM Sydney
2nd	SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals

Astralis made it clear they wanted to focus fully on the Major; the ECS Season 3 Finals will be their last event before the Krakow showdown, which makes it hugely important for Astralis, who want to make sure they gain some confidence after their losses to FaZe at IEM Sydney and StarSeries Finals.

Group B pales in comparison to Group A, with one clear favorite Astralis looking down on the others from their pedestal following an amazing record since gla1ve took over the leadership duties, with three semi-final finishes, two second places, and four titles.

The group should be just another day's work for the Danish powerhouse, who should be a clear-cut favorite in any match-up and on nearly any map, with perhaps one exception being Inferno against fnatic. gla1ve rarely takes chances like that, and considering how wide his team's map pool is, Astralis' opponents should never get to play their best map. 

Another Astralis and FaZe encounter could be on the cards

The real challenge will begin in playoffs, where Astralis are bound to face at least one of FaZe, SK, and G2. We only have FaZe encounters to judge based on previous match-ups, though, because Xyp9x's squad have yet to meet the current version of G2 offline and only share two best-of-ones with SK. That adds another layer of excitement for the London event, which is almost destined to give us a rare match-up among the elite.

When it comes to maps, we have learned that Cobblestone may not be such a good idea for Astralis, who played FaZe on it twice in Sydney and it likely cost them their place in the final. They'll probably go back to vetoing it first every time, but that can only help against SK or G2, both of whom have Cobble as one of their favorite maps.

fnatic (#6)	Age	Rating 2.0
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	1.08
Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman	26	1.07
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	22	1.06
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	23	1.06
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	23	0.97
Jimmy "⁠Jumpy⁠" Berndtsson (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	DreamHack Open Summer
7th-8th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
5th-8th	SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals

fnatic are heading to London with the wind in their sails following a respectable second place on home turf at DreamHack Open Summer, after they had gone out in the groups at ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.

The Swedes still have a long way to go to reach anywhere near their level from the start of 2016, but they seem to improve steadily with every event they attend, rarely losing matches for which they are favoured.

Inferno has been pivotal in fnatic's online and offline endeavours, but that map proved tough in Jönköping, where flusha and company played it three times, overcoming Gambit in overtime and losing to Immortals and SK.

fnatic are in for a tough ride

It's a bit worrying that fnatic haven't played Cobblestone offline in months, which would be fine if they had LAN experience on Cache and Nuke - which is not the case. Fortunately for them, Astralis don't play Cobble, Liquid stay away from Cache, and Cloud9 famously rarely play Nuke, which should make vetoes a little less rough for fnatic.

To start it off, the Swedish side should on paper repeat their triumph in the last Cloud9 encounter at DreamHack, but the other two match-ups could prove problematic. There's a possibility of fnatic facing Liquid in a best-of-three scenario, in which the teams can pick the opponent's bad map (Inferno and Nuke) and it will all come down to just one, with Train looking like a toss-up between the two.

There is little evidence of fnatic being able to take on the elite teams in a best-of-three, which they'll have to if they make the playoffs, but a semi-final finish should be a possibility for olofmeister's team.

Liquid (#14)	Age	Rating 2.0
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski	19	1.15
Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken	17	1.12
Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella	21	0.99
Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano	27	0.99
Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz	23	0.96
Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
7th-8th	DreamHack Open Austin
5th-6th	cs_summit

After a couple of disappointing showings shortly after revamping their lineup, Liquid managed to secure a decent semi-final finish at the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.

Normally, a result of that stature should be fantastic for a struggling team, but we have to keep in mind that on their way there, Liquid beat NRG, a defunct OpTic, North in a match that didn't hold any value to the Danes, and an inconsistent Envy.

jdm64 looked more like his old self in Dallas

Nevertheless, it was important for Liquid, not only to gain experience and much-needed confidence as a team, but also for jdm64 to get back in form with his first positive showing in nearly a year.

jdm64's resurgence, combined with the fragging power of EliGE, the team's consistent star, could be a determining factor in whether Liquid make the playoffs at the ECS event or not. As mentioned above, they'll probably have to go through Cloud9 and fnatic to do so. Their questionable map pool (zero matches on Overpass and Cache, and a 0-3 record on Inferno) is about on par with that of the two rivals, making these match-ups around 50/50 on paper.

Cloud9 (#15)	Age	Rating 2.0
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.14
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	20	1.08
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	23	1.01
Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert	26	0.96
Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek	23	0.92
Soham "⁠valens⁠" Chowdhury (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
7th-8th	DreamHack Open Summer
1st	Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow
11th-12th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Austin
4th	cs_summit (4/5 of the current lineup)

Similarly to SK, Cloud9 continue their long run of offline events with ECS Season 3 being their sixth in the last three months. While the Brazilians made it work and don't seem to be stopping anytime soon, Stewie2K's squad are on a downward spiral.

Disregarding the Americas Minor, where Cloud9 finally broke the curse against Immortals, the North American team went out in the groups at three international events in a row, including last week's DreamHack Open Summer, where they went to double digits against fnatic and Gambit.

It does seem Cloud9 are in dire need of a break to figure out what their future holds, including whether autimatic should return to in-game leading after the role was transferred back to Stewie2K due to the team's schedule.

Cloud9's destiny seems to lay on this man's shoulders

Cloud9 heavily rely on their individual players, and the Stewie2K+autimatic duo continue to put in the necessary numbers, but there is little evidence going in favor of shroud, who hit a personal all-time low in Sweden, at least statistically.

Overall, another last place for Cloud9 would probably surprise no-one, even though they have a good shot in a potential Liquid meeting. Other than that, only an incredible performance from Stewie2K could push them further than expected.