by Kia KahaWith the next major, first in North America and first to feature a staggering $1 million, starting in under two days, here is the viewer’s guide for MLG Columbus.
MLG Columbus 2016 is set to start on Tuesday, March 29th, with the first two rounds of group stage matches. The groups will see a standard GSL format being played, with all matches barring the decider played in best-of-ones.
A peculiar veto format will be used in best-of-ones, where one team vetoes three maps, the other only two, and the map will be chosen randomly out of the remaining two in the pool.
Groups are following:
Group A
1. NiP
2. Luminosity
3. mousesports
4. FlipSid3
Group B
1. FaZe
2. fnatic
3. Splyce
4. Liquid
Group C
1. EnVyUs
2. Astralis
3. Gambit
4. CLG
Group D
1. Natus Vincere
2. Virtus.pro
3. G2
4. Cloud9
The entire group stage on the first three days will be played without audience in the MLG Arena, for the three-day playoffs the competition will move on to the Nationwide Arena.
The full schedule looks as follows:
Tuesday, March 29th
16:00h NiP vs. FlipSid3 – BO1
17:10h Luminosity vs. mousesports – BO1
18:20h FaZe vs. Liquid – BO1
19:30h fnatic vs. Splyce – BO1
20:40h EnVyUs vs. CLG – BO1
21:50h Astralis vs. Gambit – BO1
23:00h Natus Vincere vs. Cloud9 – BO1
00:10h Virtus.pro vs. G2 – BO1
Wednesday, March 30th
16:00h Group A – elimination match BO1
17:10h Group B – elimination match BO1
18:20h Group C – elimination match BO1
19:30h Group D – elimination match BO1
20:40h Group A – winners’ match BO1
21:50h Group B – winners’ match BO1
23:00h Group C – winners’ match BO1
00:10h Group D – winners’ match BO1
Thursday, March 31st
16:00h Group A – decider BO3
18:20h Group B – decider BO3
20:40h Group C – decider BO3
23:00h Group D – decider BO3
Friday, April 1st
16:00h Quarter-final #1 (A1 vs. TBD) BO3
18:30h Quarter-final #2 (B1 vs. TBD) BO3
21:00h Quarter-final #3 (C1 vs. TBD) BO3
Saturday, April 2nd
16:00h Quarter-final #4 (D1 vs. TBD) BO3
18:30h Semi-final #1 BO3
21:00h Semi-final #2 BO3
Sunday, April 3rd
18:00h All-Star match BO1
19:30h Grand final BO3
The official English broadcast will be streamed via both Twitch and MLG.tv. The following 13-man lineup will take you through all the action in Columbus, Ohio:
Paul “Redeye” Chaloner – Stage Host
Chris Puckett – Interviewer
Scott “SirScoots” Smith – Desk Host
Duncan “Thorin” Shields – Analyst
Richard Lewis – Analyst
Jason “moses” O’Toole – Analyst
Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson – Analyst
Anders Blume – Commentator
Auguste “Semmler” Massonnat – Commentator
Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett – Commentator
Henry “HenryG” Greer – Commentator
Daniel “ddk” Kapadia – Commentator
James “JZFB” Bardolph – Commentator
There will also be an official Russian stream produced by SLTV, who promised to bring a massive production for Russian-speaking audience, with the following on-air team:
Antonina “Tonya” Predko – Host
Stepan “DonStepan” Shulga – Analyst
Alexey “xaoc” Kucherov – Analyst
Aleksandr “petr1k” Petrik – Analyst
Ivan “Johnta” Shevcov – Analyst
Stepan “DonStepan” Shulga – Analyst
Taufiq “Tafa” Khidri – Commentator
Igor “sL4M” Sopov – Commentator
Juriy “strike” Tereshenko – Commentator
Konstantin “leniniw” Sivko – Commentator
Fiodor “KvaN” Zakharov – Commentator
Aleksandr “HomeR” Lysenko – Commentator
As mentioned above, the first North American major will also bring the biggest prize purse yet, a staggering $1,000,000, which will be distributed among the participants as such:
1. $500,000
2. $150,000
3-4. $70,000
5-8. $35,000
9-12. $8,750
13-16. $8,750
Source: HLTV.org
