ESL Pro League Finals groups, format

ESL have revealed the groups, format and schedule for the $512,000 Pro League Season 3 Finals, taking place in Leicester and London, United Kingdom from May 11-15.

ESL Studio in Leicester, United Kingdom, will play host to the Pro League Season 3 Finals group stage, which will be played in the classic GSL-style format with best-of-one's in the opening round and winners' matches, while elimination and decider matches will feature best-of-three's.

Top four teams from each region, Europe and North America, have been split into the two following groups, seemingly according to their placing in the regular season:

Group A	Group B
Luminosity	Ninjas in Pyjamas
Astralis	Cloud9
OpTic	fnatic
G2	Liquid

For playoffs the competition will move to London's The O2 state-of-the-art arena after a travel day on Friday, May 13. Semi-finals will feature best-of-three's, while the grand final will come down to a best-of-five series.

ESL have also released a full schedule for the $512,000 event. As usual with ESL events, matches will start shortly after previous ones end, the schedule is only approximate:

Wednesday, May 11th
14:00	OpTic	vs. Astralis	BO1
15:10	Luminosity	vs. G2	BO1
16:20	fnatic	vs. Cloud9	BO1
17:30	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. Liquid	BO1
18:40	Group A winners' match		BO1
19:50	Group B winners' match		BO1
21:00	Group A elimination match		BO3
Thursday, May 12th
14:00	Group B elimination match		BO3
17:15	Group A decider		BO3
20:30	Group B decider		BO3
Saturday, May 14th
16:00	Semi-final #1 (B1 vs. A2)		BO3
19:40	Semi-final #2 (A1 vs. B2)		BO3
Sunday, May 15th
16:00	Showmatch
18:00	Grand final		BO5

ESL have yet to reveal the nature of the showmatch, which has in the past been a showdown of casters' and analysts' skills, for example at IEM San José.

Time is adjusted to your selected timezone OpTic #27 William 'RUSH' WierzbaOscar 'mixwell' CañellasPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzKeith 'NAF' MarkovicDamian 'daps' Steele Luminosity #2 Lincoln 'fnx' LauGabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo fnatic #3 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerDennis 'dennis' EdmanRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Cloud9 #17 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamMike 'shroud' GrzesiekAlec 'Slemmy' WhiteJake 'Stewie2K' Yip Astralis #4 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenRené 'cajunb' BorgAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenNicolai 'device' Reedtz Ninjas in Pyjamas #5 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmAdam 'friberg' FribergJacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi G2 #13 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyEdouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro Liquid #10 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinEric 'adreN' HoagNick 'nitr0' CannellaJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiKenneth 'koosta' Suen