If you want to know everything about ESL One Cologne, look no further, as we've prepared a viewer's guide for the upcoming major, taking place between August 20-23.

ESL One Cologne is nearly upon us, only two days are left before 16 teams gather in the fourth largest city in Germany, namely at the MMC studios for both group stages before eight move on to the 20,000-seater Lanxess arena for the playoffs.

The format is quite different from what we were used to at previous majors, as this time winners from the initial group phase advance directly to the playoffs, while the remaining three from each group will duke it out in the second phase for the other four spots.

The groups are as follows:

Group A Group B Group C Group D NiP NiP EnVyUs EnVyUs fnatic fnatic Virtus.pro Virtus.pro TSM TSM Luminosity Luminosity Natus Vincere Natus Vincere mousesports mousesports Renegades Renegades Kinguin Kinguin Titan Titan Cloud9 Cloud9 CLG CLG FlipSid3 FlipSid3 eBettle eBettle Immunity Immunity

Both group stages are all played in a best-of-one format, with the playoffs in a best-of-three. Below you can find the full schedule for the major:

Thursday, August 20 14:00 NiP NiP vs. CLG CLG A1 14:00 EnVyUs EnVyUs vs. FlipSid3 Tactics FlipSid3 Tactics B1 15:25 Renegades Renegades vs. Team SoloMid Team SoloMid A2 15:25 Team Kinguin Team Kinguin vs. Luminosity Luminosity B2 16:50 Winner A1 vs. Winner A2 16:50 Winner B1 vs. Winner B2 18:15 fnatic fnatic vs. Team eBettle Team eBettle C1 18:15 Virtus.pro Virtus.pro vs. Immunity Immunity D1 19:40 Titan Titan vs. Natus Vincere Natus Vincere C2 19:40 Cloud9 Cloud9 vs. mousesports mousesports D2 21:05 Winner C1 vs. Winner C2 21:05 Winner D1 vs. Winner D2 Friday, August 21 12:00 Group E elimination 13:25 Group E decider 14:50 Group F elimination 16:15 Group F decider 17:40 Group G elimination 19:05 Group G decider 20:30 Group H elimination 21:55 Group H decider Saturday, August 22 11:00 Quarter-final #1 14:05 Quarter-final #2 17:10 Quarter-final #3 20:15 Quarter-final #4 Sunday, August 23 12:00 Semi-final #1 15:20 Semi-final #2 19:00 Grand final

What stays the same is the prizepool, $250,000 will be spread among the participants in such manner:

1. $100,000

2. $50,000

3-4. $22,000

5-8. $10,000

9-16. $2,000

Don't forget that we've released all four previews for Group A, Group B, Group C, and Group D, as well as a "Facts and numbers" article, breaking down statistics and much more just in time for the major.

In light of the Pick'Em headshot percentage competition, we have put together simple guidelines for you to have an easier time to decide who to bet on in our "Pick'Em HS% - Who to choose?" article.

We're still in the middle of conducting pre-interviews, so far we have interviewed eight teams, as shown in the list:

The whole event will be streamed by ESL TV with most of the organization's usual crew and several guests, who will serve as color casters or analysts at the desk. The full breakdown looks as follows:

O. J. Borg - Stage Host O. J. Borg - Stage Host

William " Chobra " Cho - Desk Host William "" Cho - Desk Host

Soe Gschwind-Penski - Esports in Cinemas Soe Gschwind-Penski - Esports in Cinemas

Sean Charles - Reporting Sean Charles - Reporting

Joe Miller - Caster Joe Miller - Caster

Leigh " Deman " Smith - Caster Leigh "" Smith - Caster

Anders Blume - Caster Anders Blume - Caster

Auguste " Semmler " Massonnat Auguste "" Massonnat

Lauren " Pansy " Scott - Caster Lauren "" Scott - Caster

Alex " Machine " Richardson - Caster Alex "" Richardson - Caster

Jason Kaplan - Caster Jason Kaplan - Caster

Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - (observer)

Simon "pAn" Schumacher - (observer) Simon "" Schumacher - (observer)

HLTV.org will be present in Cologne with a five-man crew to bring you a full coverage from the major, including statistics, galleries, interviews, post-match articles, live tweets and more.

Before the event starts, feel free to get in the major mood with our teaser, or go into our hype video contest to see what the community came up with: