The ECS Season 3 Finals at London's SSE Wembley Arena kicks off this Friday and will feature a $660,000 prize pool, four teams from the European and North American divisions each, and a first place prize of $250,000. It's been a long road to get to this point, so here are the storylines you need to know about going into this weekend's tournament.

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It's been a rough 2017 for North American Counter-Strike fans. Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz's departure all but killed OpTic's hopes of remaining a top team, and Jake "Stewie2K" Yip's Cloud9 have yet to advance past groups at a big event since their EPL Season 4 Finals victory last fall. Team Liquid snuck into the top four at EPL Season 5 Finals earlier this month, but that result was mostly a result of a favorable bracket draw thanks to Team EnVyUs's upset wins in group A.

There have been rumors about a potential North American shuffle, but inertia and contracts have thus reigned supreme. At some point, though, something's got to give. These teams will get two more chances at ESL One Cologne and the PGL Krakow major -- assuming they qualify -- but this could be the beginning of the end. One good result among this crew could be enough to keep that roster together. Pressure is on.

Is SK the world's best, or has the team simply avoided Astralis and FaZe at the right times?

Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo. Patrick Strack/ESL

Save for a catastrophic two-tournament run at IEM Katowice and SL i-League Season 3 Finals, SK have been in peak form since João "felps" Vasconcellos joined the team in February. It's won three of four since early May, and notably its only best-of-3 series loss has come against G2 in Kiev. The world's best player, Marcelo "coldzera" David, talked about his motivation to win in an interview recently, and there's nothing to suggest the Brazilians aren't still hungry for a title.

Despite being the consensus number-one team for most of 2016, SK's dominance resulted in surprisingly few tournament wins -- though they won the biggest ones. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo has flirted with his 2016 form at times, but has not fully rebounded to the kind of level of play that had many considering him for the title of the year's best player. The team's map pool is not nearly as strong as it once was, but the added variance in its terrorist play could have unseen upsides. ECS Finals will be SK's first test since their group stage exits, with both Astralis and FaZe in attendance. It may have talked about winning one event being enough, but this is the first real test before the major.

G2 won ESL Pro Series Finals earlier this month and Fnatic impressed at DreamHack Summer -- can they keep their top form?

French superteam G2 have quietly leaped to 4th place in HLTV.org's world ranking, winning two straight events leading up to the ECS Season 3 Finals. Despite a disappointing loss to Gambit at DreamHack Open Austin, its offline record is stellar -- it was only bested by eventual champions FaZe in a close BO3 series at the SL i-League StarSeries Season 3 Finals, and most recently they took down SK in a best-of-3 and North in a best-of-5 series to win the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.

All the indicators are trending in the right direction for G2, which is emerging as a dark horse candidate for even winning the major next month. But the Frenchmen have often struggled to find consistency, and a challenge for them will be ensuring they peak at the right time. With the PGL Krakow major the goal in mid-July, will Richard "shox" Papillon and company be in peak form this week in London? And more interestingly, do they want to risk peaking now and running out of gas ahead of the biggest tournament of the season?

Shortly after, Fnatic had its best showing to date with the 2017 roster, devastating Immortals in the semifinals of DreamHack Summer, stealing overpass from SK in the grand final before a tough loss. The team is not yet back to its golden days -- despite Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer's gradual return to top form -- but the victory on Overpass versus SK reminded viewers of Fnatic at its peak. In the Fnatic era were practically known for overcoming the longest of odds. What if the Swedes, too, are peaking at the right time?

How has the break from tournament play impacted Astralis and FaZe?

Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth and Astralis came in as favorites to lift the ESL Pro League Season 8 trophy. Helena Kristiansson/ESL

Astralis have won three tournaments and ELeague's Clash for Cash versus Virtus.pro, lost the grand final at two other tournaments, and exited in the semifinals thrice since Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander took over the team in November last year. By all accounts, they have been the world's best team since, but inactivity is starting to take its toll on its ranking. Having lost to FaZe in the last outing in Kiev in a best-of-3 and SK in a best-of-1 at IEM Sydney, Astralis cannot leave London without another championship and still expect to be regarded as the world's number one team.

The Danes lost Nuke versus Virtus.pro in Atlanta at ELeague, but then dominated the Poles to the tune of 32-7 over the remaining maps. The problem is Virtus.pro has been inactive as well, and as such it can be hard to draw conclusions of the win. Astralis remain favorites going into ECS Finals, but the margins are getting thinner and thinner. In my books, the world's top three will depart London in the order they finish in the tournament - unless G2 surprises. This is Astralis's chance to make it seem as if they never left the top of the podium.

Since adding Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, FaZe have finished in the top two at three tournaments, including a win over Astralis, with a 3-2 overall record against G2, SK and Astralis in playoff series. ITs form is the biggest question mark coming in, as it has been nearly seven weeks from their previous offline event. The world's top dogs have lost its magic in a shorter period of time, so all eyes will be on Finn "karrigan" Andersen and company to prove they are still one of the elite teams on the short list of favorites to win the next major.

Who will become the temporary world champions before the PGL Krakow Major?

The North Americans look outmatched, and while Fnatic stepped up a notch at DreamHack Summer last weekend, it is likely still a brutal loss or two away from contending for titles again. As such, there is a clear group of four teams -- though the group stage could once again ruin the best of plans for a stacked playoff bracket of G2, SK, FaZe and Astralis -- which are favored to advance past the first two days of group play.

ECS Season 3 Finals will act as the first (with FaZe and Astralis missing the EPL Season 5 Finals) and most important -- due to Astralis choosing to skip over ESL One Cologne in favor of practice -- prelude to the PGL Krakow major. Unless a major upset happens, the champions in London will get to hold onto a temporary world champions title, at least until ESL One Cologne; and maybe until the major itself. The stakes are even higher than usual, because teams will be hoping to finalize preparation for the major with a confidence-boosting win against their rivals. This weekend will finally pit all the elite teams against one another.