With IEM Shanghai 2018 set to start on Wednesday, we bring you a viewer's guide with all the information you need to know regarding the event.

The last tournament of the season will run from August 1-6 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, where eight teams will duke it out for the lion's share of a $250,000 prize pool.

The event will kick off with a double-elimination group stage, where only the opening matches will be played in a best-of-one format. The top two teams from both groups will then advance to the single-elimination, best-of-three playoffs.

NRG are one of the favourites for the event

HellRaisers and BOOT-d[S] will both field stand-ins as Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker and Alikhan "⁠w1nt3r⁠" Kopzhanov could not travel to Shanghai due to unforeseen circumstances. Kristjan "⁠fejtZ⁠" Allsaar, who is no stranger to HellRaisers, will be playing alongside Kirill "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow's men, while Leslie "⁠Bobosaur⁠" Soen will be helping his countrymen from BOOT-d[S].

The eight competition teams have been drawn into two groups of four as you can see below:

Group A

5POWER

HellRaisers

NRG

Virtus.pro Group B

BOOT-d[S]

Gambit

Grayhound

TYLOO

Below you can find the full schedule:

Wednesday, August 1

06:00 - NRG vs. 5POWER| BO1

07:10 - HellRaisers vs. Virtus.pro | BO1

08:20 - Gambit vs. BOOT-d[S] | BO1

09:30 - Grayhound vs. TYLOO | BO1

10:40 - Group A winners' match | BO3

14:15 - Group B winners' match | BO3

Thursday, August 2

06:00 - Group A elimination match | BO3

09:35 - Group B elimination match | BO3

13:10 - Group A decider | BO3

Friday, August 3

06:00 - Group B decider | BO3

Saturday, August 4

06:00 - Semi-final #1 | BO3

Sunday, August 5

06:00 - Semi-final #2 | BO3

Monday, August 6

05:00 - Grand final | BO3

The on-air team for the event features several familiar faces, including desk host Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus and analysts Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche and Halvor "⁠vENdetta⁠" Gulestøl. Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill will be making the switch from analysis to commentary, being joined by Matthew "⁠Sadokist⁠" Trivett, Harry Russell and Alex "Snodz" Byfield.

The full broadcast team can be found below:

Yu "DXMASTER" Hao - Stage Host

Matt Andrews - Content Host

Tres "Stunna" Saranthus - Desk Host

Halvor "Vendetta" Gulestol - Analyst

Sudhen "Bleh" Wahengbam - Analyst

Jacob "Pimp" Winneche - Analyst

Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill - Caster

Harry Russell - Caster

Alex "Snodz" Byfield - Caster

Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett - Caster

Finally, here is how the $250,000 prize pool will be distributed among the eight participants: