ESL Dubai Invitational viewer's guide

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With the eight team, $250,000 ESL Dubai Invitational getting under way in approximately 6 hours time, we have prepared a viewer's guide to help get you ready for the event.

ESL and ESEA will host the eight team, $250,000 Dubai Invitational from September 10-12 at GAMES 15, a video game expo which will take place at the Dubai International Marina Club.

With temperatures scorching outside (~39 °C or 102 °F on all three days) in UAE's megapolis, the action inside promises to be just as sweltering with some of 2015's most accomplished CS:GO teams facing off in two group stages.

Before Dubai, ESL and ESEA last teamed up for the ESL ESEA Pro League, which fnatic won

The format begins as a GSL best-of-one group stage, with decider matches having recently been changed to a best-of-three format. The top two teams from each group then advance to best-of-three semifinals, followed by a best-of-five grand final.

The group draw for the event is as follows:

Group A	Group B
EnVyUs	fnatic
Virtus.pro	TSM
NiP	Null element Na`Vi
Cloud9	Titan

The exact schedule for the three day event is meanwhile:

Thursday, September 10th
11:15	EnVyUs	vs. Cloud9	A1
12:45	Virtus.pro	vs. NiP	A2
14:00	fnatic	vs. Titan	B1
15:15	TSM	vs. Null element Na`Vi	B2
17:30	A1 winner	vs. A2 winner	A3
19:00	A1 loser	vs. A2 loser	A4
20:00	B1 winner	vs. B2 winner	B3
21:15	B1 loser	vs. B2 loser	B4
Friday, September 11th
10:15	A3 loser	vs. A4 winner (Bo3)
13:30	B3 loser	vs. B4 winner (Bo3)
16:30	Semi-final #1
20:30	Semi-final #2
Saturday, September 12th
16:30	Grand final

The prize-pool breakdown is very similar to that of a major, with a few minor alterations, and the first place prize is the same as a major winner's cash prize.

1. $100,000
2. $60,000 
3-4. $25,000 
5-6. $12,500 
7-8. $7,500 

No official casting lineup has ever been released by ESL for the event, however some brief homework on Twitter has revealed the presence in Dubai of multiple casting and commentating personalities, some tied to ESL and some not.

Readers should note that this list is not official and merely speculative.

•  Leigh "Deman" Smith - Caster
•  Anders Blume - Caster
•  Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Caster
•  Alex "Machine" Richardson - Caster
•  Jason Kaplan - Caster

• Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson - Commentator
• Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Commentator 
• Halvor "⁠vENdetta⁠" Gulestøl - Commentator 

•  Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - (observer)
•  Simon "pAn" Schumacher - (observer)

The action kicks off live at 11:15 when EnVyUs take on Cloud9 on ESL's stream here.

* Update: ESL have released a statement on Reddit which highlights heat issues with an apparent outdoor arena delaying the tournament as well as mentioning that the abovementioned casting lineup will take over the cast at around 18:45 Dubai time.

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Janko 'YNk' Paunović Age: 23 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 93 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.70 Jason 'moses' O'Toole Age: 28 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 13 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Robin 'Fifflaren' Johansson Age: 27 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 537 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.60 Halvor 'vENdetta' Gulestøl Age: 26 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.86 Maps played: 8 KPR: 0.58 DPR: 0.68