Asia Minor viewer's guide

The Asia Minor leading up to the second Major of 2018 is about to start, so we have prepared a viewer's guide with all the information you need to know to watch the $50,000 tournament.

The third Minor of the FACEIT Major circuit will kick off on Monday with eight teams squaring off for two spots at the next $1 million Valve-sponsored event plus their share of a $50,000 prize fund.

Visa issues forced Signature to miss the event and will see several other teams field stand-ins in London, including the Thai team's own replacement, BOOT-d[S], who will be travelling to the UK with Leslie "⁠Bobosaur⁠" Soen instead of Alikhan "⁠w1nt3r⁠" Kopzhanov.

VG.Flash, one of the favourites heading into the event, will not be able to field their full line-up either after YuanZhang "⁠Attacker⁠" Sheng sustained a foot injury playing basketball, with coach Zhenghui "⁠z8z⁠" Liu replacing him in the starting line-up.

The eight competing teams have been drawn into two double-elimination groups, featuring best-of-three matches in the lower bracket. The top two teams from both groups will advance to the double-elimination, best-of-three playoffs.

Below you can find the group draw in full:

The complete schedule for this five-day competition looks as follows:

Monday, July 16
09:00 - VG.Flash vs. SCARZ Absolute | BO1
10:15 - Renegades vs. BOOT-d[S] | BO1
11:30 - Group A winners' match | BO1
12:45 - Group A elimination match | BO3
16:00 - Group A decider | BO3

Tuesday, July 17
09:00 - TYLOO vs. 5POWER | BO1
10:15 - Tainted Minds vs. Uniquestars | BO1
11:30 - Group B winners' match | BO1
12:45 - Group B elimination match | BO3
16:00 - Group B decider | BO3

Wednesday, July 18
09:00 - Upper bracket semi-final #1 | BO3
12:15 - Upper bracket semi-final #2 | BO3

Thursday, July 19
09:00 - Upper bracket final | BO3
12:15 - Lower bracket final | BO3

Friday, July 20
09:00 - Consolidation final | BO3
12:15 - Grand final | BO3

Taking viewers through the action on the English stream will be a seven-man team including the winners of the ECS Community Caster Challenge, Adam "Dinko" Hawthorne and Alexander "Hawka" Hawkins, Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus as host and Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill as analyst.

The complete on-air team for the event looks as follows:

Tres "stunna" Saranthus - Host

Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill - Analyst
Sudhen "Bleh" Wahengbam - Analyst

James Bardolph - Commentator
Daniel "ddk" Kapadia - Commentator
Adam "Dinko" Hawthorne - Commentator
Alexander "Hawka" Hawkins - Commentator

The prize distribution for the Minor is the following:

1. - $30,000 + spot in New Challengers Stage
2. - $15,000 + spot in New Challengers Stage
3. - $5,000