MLG Columbus viewer's guide

With 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	Group B	Group C	Group D
Ninjas in Pyjamas	FaZe	Envy	Natus Vincere
Luminosity	fnatic	Astralis	Virtus.pro
MOUZ	Splyce	Gambit	G2
FlipSid3	Liquid	CLG	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
16:00	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. FlipSid3	BO1
17:10	Luminosity	vs. MOUZ	BO1
18:20	FaZe	vs. Liquid	BO1
19:30	fnatic	vs. Splyce	BO1
20:40	Envy	vs. CLG	BO1
21:50	Astralis	vs. Gambit	BO1
23:00	Natus Vincere	vs. Cloud9	BO1
00:10	Virtus.pro	vs. G2	BO1
Wednesday, March 30th
16:00	Group A - elimination match		BO1
17:10	Group B - elimination match		BO1
18:20	Group C - elimination match		BO1
19:30	Group D - elimination match		BO1
20:40	Group A - winners' match		BO1
21:50	Group B - winners' match		BO1
23:00	Group C - winners' match		BO1
00:10	Group D - winners' match		BO1
Thursday, March 31st
16:00	Group A - decider		BO3
18:20	Group B - decider		BO3
20:40	Group C - decider		BO3
23:00	Group D - decider		BO3
Friday, April 1st
16:00	Quarter-final #1 (A1 vs. TBD)		BO3
18:30	Quarter-final #2 (B1 vs. TBD)		BO3
21:00	Quarter-final #3 (C1 vs. TBD)		BO3
Saturday, April 2nd
16:00	Quarter-final #4 (D1 vs. TBD)		BO3
18:30	Semi-final #1		BO3
21:00	Semi-final #2		BO3
Sunday, April 3rd
18:00	All-Star match		BO1
19:30	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 "⁠BARDOLPH⁠" 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 - AnalystOleksij "⁠xaoc⁠" Kucherov - AnalystAleksandr "petr1k" Petrik - Analyst Ivan "⁠Johnta⁠" Shevtsov - Analyst  Stepan "DonStepan" Shulga - Analyst
Oleksij "⁠xaoc⁠" Kucherov - Analyst
Aleksandr "petr1k" Petrik - Analyst
Ivan "⁠Johnta⁠" Shevtsov - 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

Make sure to give our previews a read, as we have prepared one for each group during this past week:

MLG Columbus Group A preview
MLG Columbus Group B preview
MLG Columbus Group C preview
MLG Columbus Group D preview

We have also released pre-interviews with some of the teams attending MLG Columbus. Check below if you missed any of them:

Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad: "Getting to semis is our goal"

Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski: "Want to break the NA streak"

Cloud9: "Not content with summer 2015"

Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist: "LG & NiP our biggest threats"

Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas: "Slowly grinding back to form"

Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy: "Gambit is the underdog"

Dmitry "⁠hooch⁠" Bogdanov: "We bootcamped for 10 days"

All of the information about MLG Columbus can be found on our brand new landing page for the event as well.

HLTV.org will be travelling to Columbus, Ohio with a four-man lineup to bring you a full coverage of the first $1 million major, including galleries, interviews, stats as well as live Tweets and more, so make sure to follow @HLTVorg for the latest updates about the event.

Ninjas in Pyjamas #10 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmAdam 'friberg' FribergJacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi CLG #14 Stephen 'reltuC' CutlerJosh 'jdm64' MarzanoJames 'hazed' CobbJacob 'FugLy' MedinaTarik 'tarik' Celik Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Natus Vincere #2 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsDenis 'seized' KostinEgor 'flamie' Vasilyev Gambit #21 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevDmitry 'hooch' BogdanovMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovJan 'wayLander' Rahkonen Igor 'sL4M' Sopov Age: 27 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.88 Maps played: 3 KPR: 0.58 DPR: 0.64 Ivan 'Johnta' Shevtsov Age: 28 Team: ArcadeC Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy Age: 29 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 0.86 Maps played: 534 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.72 Oleksij 'xaoc' Kucherov Age: 28 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 Juriy 'strike' Tereshenko Age: 29 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.86 Maps played: 15 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.74 Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 29 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 934 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 18 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 278 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.71 James 'BARDOLPH' Bardolph Age: 31 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.52 Maps played: 7 KPR: 0.33 DPR: 0.74 Daniel 'ddk' Kapadia Age: - Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.76 Maps played: 2 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.90 Taufiq 'Tafa' Khidri Age: 31 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 FaZe #11 Ricardo 'fox' PachecoMikail 'Maikelele' BillPhilip 'aizy' AistrupHåvard 'rain' NygaardJoakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Cloud9 #13 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamRyan 'freakazoid' AbadirMike 'shroud' GrzesiekJake 'Stewie2K' Yip Robin 'Fifflaren' Johansson Age: 28 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 537 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.60 Konstantin 'leniniw' Sivko Age: 21 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.60 Maps played: 6 KPR: 0.51 DPR: 0.89 Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 817 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.63 Astralis #3 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenRené 'cajunb' BorgAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenNicolai 'device' Reedtz MOUZ #9 Chris 'chrisJ' de JongNikola 'NiKo' KovačJohannes 'nex' MagetTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' Howell Dmitry 'hooch' Bogdanov Age: 29 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 248 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.70 Jason 'moses' O'Toole Age: 29 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 13 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Liquid #16 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinNick 'nitr0' CannellaOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEric 'adreN' Hoag Envy #5 Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerTimothée 'DEVIL' Démolon Henry 'HenryG' Greer Age: 27 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.68 Maps played: 1 KPR: 0.48 DPR: 0.78 Splyce #26 Arya 'arya' HekmatAbraham 'abE' FazliDavid 'DAVEY' StaffordJason 'jasonR' RuchelskiAndrew 'Professor_Chaos' Heintz Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 249 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.70 Luminosity #4 Lincoln 'fnx' LauGabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo G2 #8 Richard 'shox' PapillonKévin 'Ex6TenZ' DroolansCédric 'RpK' GuipouyEdouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxAdil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom fnatic #1 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerDennis 'dennis' EdmanRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson FlipSid3 #15 Yegor 'markeloff' MarkelovAndrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyOleksandr 'Shara' HordieyevVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukGeorgi 'WorldEdit' Yaskin Virtus.pro #6 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński