StarLadder Major New Challengers stage viewer's guide

22-8-2019 11:23

With the New Challengers stage of the StarLadder Major Berlin kicking off on Friday, we present a viewer's guide containing all the information you need to know about the first phase of the tournament.

The first stage of the 15th CS:GO Major is set to kick off on Friday, August 23, with 16 teams set to duke it out over the course of four days as they look to advance to the New Legends stage, where the top eight teams from IEM Katowice lie in wait.

The New Challengers stage will feature a Swiss format with best-of-one matches, followed by best-of-three elimination and progression series. The first-round seeding was determined by using HLTV.org's rankings between March 4 and August 12, with each team assigned an ELO rating accordingly - which will be updated after every match.

The New Challengers stage is just 24 hours away from kick-off

For those looking to catch the action live, matches will be played out at the Verti Music Hall for both the New Challengers and the New Legends stages, while for the New Champions stage, action will move to the iconic Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Below are all 16 participants of the New Challengers stage:

Below you can find EGB.com's betting odds for the event as of August 22nd:

Team: Rate (Ratio)
Liquid: 3.710 (24.26%)
Astralis: 5.664 (15.89%)
ENCE: 5.898 (15.26%)
Vitality: 7.557 (11.91%)
Natus Vincere: 10.883 (8.27%)
FaZe: 11.152 (8.07%)
MOUZ: 19.824 (4.54%)
Ninjas in Pyjamas: 28.754 (3.13%)
FURIA: 52.632 (1.71%)
MIBR: 55.901 (1.61%)
NRG: 59.603 (1.51%)
Other: 63.830 (1.41%)
G2: 68.702 (1.31%)
North: 81.081 (1.11%)

Following is a comprehensive schedule for all four tournament days:

Friday, August 23
12:00 - Vitality vs. Syman
12:00 - NRG vs. DreamEaters
13:15 - G2 vs. TYLOO
13:15 - North vs. INTZ
14:30 - FURIA vs. HellRaisers
14:30 - MOUZ vs. FORZE
15:45 - AVANGAR vs. Complexity
15:45 - CR4ZY vs. Grayhound
17:00 - Round 2 match #1 | BO1
17:00 - Round 2 match #2 | BO1
18:15 - Round 2 match #3 | BO1
18:15 - Round 2 match #4 | BO1
19:30 - Round 2 match #5 | BO1
19:30 - Round 2 match #6 | BO1
20:45 - Round 2 match #7 | BO1
20:45 - Round 2 match #8 | BO1

Saturday, August 24
13:00 - Round 3 match #3 | BO1
13:00 - Round 3 match #4 | BO1
14:15 - Round 3 match #5 | BO1
14:15 - Round 3 match #6 | BO1
15:30 - Round 3 match #1 | BO3
15:30 - Round 3 match #7 | BO3
18:45 - Round 3 match #2 | BO3
18:45 - Round 3 match #8 | BO3

Sunday, August 25
12:00 - Round 4 match #1 | BO3
12:00 - Round 4 match #2 | BO3
15:15 - Round 4 match #3 | BO3
15:15 - Round 4 match #4 | BO3
18:30 - Round 4 match #5 | BO3
18:30 - Round 4 match #6 | BO3

Monday, August 26
12:00 - Round 5 match #1 | BO3
15:15 - Round 5 match #2 | BO3
18:30 - Round 5 match #3 | BO3

Hosting the Major will be the trio of Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus, Matthew "⁠Sadokist⁠" Trivett and Alex "⁠Machine⁠" Richardson, the latter also part of the eight-man commentator line-up. Complementing the desk with their analysis will be three former professional players, namely Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche, Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill and Sean "⁠seang@res⁠" Gares. Lastly, James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks and Sue "⁠Smix⁠" Lee will be working on the ground, providing interviews with player post and pre-match.

The comprehensive talent line-up looks as follows:

Tres "stunna" Saranthus - Stage Host / Desk Host

Alex "Machine" Richardson - Desk Host / Commentator
Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett - Desk Host

James "BanKs" Banks - Interviewer
Sue "Smix" Lee - Interviewer

Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill - Analyst
Sean "seang@res" Gares - Analyst
Jacob "Pimp" Winneche - Analyst

Henry "HenryG" Greer - Commentator
Jason "moses" O'Toole - Commentator
Anders Blume - Commentator
James Bardolph - Commentator
Daniel "ddk" Kapadia - Commentator
Harry "JustHarry" Russell - Commentator
Hugo Byron - Commentator