StarLadder have announced the tournament format, seeding for the first round of the group stage and prize pool distribution.
With the LAN finals of StarLadder StarSeries i-League Season 3 just a week away, the organisers have announced details regarding the tournament format and group stage seeding. The event will be hosted at the National Palace of Arts "Ukraina" in Kiev, Ukraine on April 4th - 9th, where sixteen teams will butt heads for the lion's share of a $300,000 prize pool. Of the teams mentioned, eight received direct invites, whilst eight teams were admitted via the European, North American and Chinese qualifiers. Three slots were offered to Europe and China respectively, whilst North America had two slots to fill.
Below is the distribution of the $300,000 prize pool:
1st place - $130,000
2nd place - $50,000
3rd & 4th places - $25,000
5th-8th places - $10,000
9th-12th places - $4,500
13th-16th places - $3,000
In the aforementioned announcement StarLadder stated that the group stage of the event will see a Swiss system. The sixteen participants will be split into four equal pools: two composed of teams that received direct invites and two composed of qualified teams. In the initial round of the group stage invited teams will meet qualified teams exclusively. Upon the conclusion of the group stage two teams will have secured a flawless map score (3-0), propelling said teams straight to the playoffs of the tournament; on the other hand two teams will be unfortunate enough to sustain three consecutive losses, meaning an early exit. As for the twelve teams in-between, they will fight it out for the six remaining slots in the playoffs of the tournament. Regarding playoffs format, we'll see standard single-elimination, best-of-three matches, including the grand final.
Below you will find all four pools for the group stage:
| Pool #1 (Invited) | Pool #2 (Qualified) | Pool #3 (Invited) | Pool #4 (Qualified) |
|---|---|---|---|
 Natus Vincere |  North |  Fnatic |  Counter Logic Gaming |
| Astralis |  Gambit Esports |  G2 Esports |  5Power Club |
 Virtus.pro |  FaZe Clan | HellRaisers | TyLoo |
 SK Gaming | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Immortals |  MVP Project |
Pools #1 and #3 are exclusively comprised of invited teams. As mentioned earlier, in the first round of the group stage they will be paired with teams from pools #2 and #4 that in turn contain qualified teams. All round one match-ups may be found below:
Tuesday, April 4th - Group Stage (round 1)
Astralis vs. Counter Logic Gaming
Virtus.pro vs. MVP Project
SK Gaming vs. TyLoo
Natus Vincere vs. 5Power Club
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. G2 Esports
North vs. Immortals
FaZe Clan vs. HellRaisers
Gambit Esports vs. Fnatic
Images courtesy of StarLadder
