StarSeries i-League Season 7 viewer's guide

With just two days left until the commencement of StarSeries i-League Season 7, HLTV.org presents a comprehensive viewer's guide for the $500,000 event.

Shanghai is set to host the LAN finals of StarSeries i-League Season 7, kicking off on Saturday, March 30, where sixteen teams from across the world will duke it out over the course of eight days, looking to cop the lion's share of a sizeable $500,000 prize pool — a record amount in the history of StarSeries i-League competitions.

The group stage will see contenders battle in a Swiss, best-of-3 setting, upon conclusion of which eight top teams will be determined to advance into the playoffs stage. In the playoffs, both the quarter and semi-finals will adhere to a single-elimination, best-of-3 format, while the culmination of the event, the grand final, will witness a best-of-5 marathon.

Following are the sixteen participants:

Groups will take place over the course of March 30 - April 3, with a single-day-break taking place on April 4. Afterward, the playoffs will commence, seeing the quarter and semi-finals played out over the course of two days on April 5-6 and featuring three best-of-3 series per day. On April 7 the event will conclude with a showmatch, followed shortly by the best-of-5 grand final.

Below is a comprehensive schedule for the event:

Saturday, March 30
04:00 | North vs. NRG | Bo3
04:00 | ENCE vs. Spirit | Bo3
07:00 | FaZe vs. paiN | Bo3
07:00 | TYLOO vs. Renegades | Bo3
10:00 | fnatic vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas | Bo3
10:00 | MIBR vs. Panda | Bo3
13:00 | BIG vs. Vitality | Bo3
13:00 | Natus Vincere vs. ViCi | Bo3

Sunday, March 31
05:00 | Round 2 Match #1 | Bo3
05:00 | Round 2 Match #2 | Bo3
08:00 | Round 2 Match #3 | Bo3
08:00 | Round 2 Match #4 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 2 Match #5 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 2 Match #6 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 2 Match #7 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 2 Match #8 | Bo3

Monday, April 1
05:00 | Round 3 Match #1 | Bo3
05:00 | Round 3 Match #2 | Bo3
08:00 | Round 3 Match #3 | Bo3
08:00 | Round 3 Match #4 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 3 Match #5 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 3 Match #6 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 3 Match #7 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 3 Match #8 | Bo3

Tuesday, April 2
08:00 | Round 4 Match #1 | Bo3
08:00 | Round 4 Match #2 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 4 Match #3 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 4 Match #4 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 4 Match #5 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 4 Match #6 | Bo3

Wednesday, April 3
08:00 | Round 5 Match #1 | Bo3
11:00 | Round 5 Match #2 | Bo3
14:00 | Round 5 Match #3 | Bo3

Friday, April 5
06:00 | Quarter-final #1 | Bo3
09:00 | Quarter-final #2 | Bo3
12:00 | Quarter-final #3 | Bo3

Saturday, April 6
06:00 | Quarter-final #4 | Bo3
09:00 | Semi-final #1| Bo3
12:00 | Semi-final #2 | Bo3

Sunday, April 7
09:00 | Showmatch
10:00 | Grand Final | Bo5

After some time out of the fray, Duncan "Thoorin" Shields returns to the analyst panel alongside colleagues Halvor "vENdetta" Gulestøl, Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez and Jacob "Pimp" Winneche. The aforementioned quintet will be working alongside desk hosts James "BanKs" Banks and Tres "stunna" Saranthus to bring pre and post-match analysis to the English stream.

A wide array of casters have been selected for the tournament, including Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett, Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill and Mohan "launders" Govindasamy. Last, but not least, Frankie Ward will be hosting the stage in Shanghai, in addition to taking interviews over the course of the tournament.

The English on-air talent list for Shanghai is:

Frankie Ward — stage host/interviewer

James "BanKs" Banks — host
Tres "stunna" Saranthus — host

Duncan "Thorin" Shields — analyst
Halvor "vENdetta" Gulestøl — analyst
Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez — analyst
Jacob "Pimp" Winneche — analyst

Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill — caster
Mohan "launders" Govindasamy — caster
Harry "JustHarry" Russell — caster
Conner "Scrawny" Girvan — caster
James "JZFB" Bardolph — caster
Daniel "ddk" Kapadia — caster
Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett — caster
Hugo Byron — caster

The $500,000 prize pool will be distributed as found below:

1. $250,000
2. $80,000
3-4. $30,000
5-8. $15,000
9-11. $8,500
12-14. $5,500
15-18. $4,000