Blizzard will be pulling out all the stops for the Santa Monica Group Stage event that is about to get underway in their own backyard of Los Angeles. It’s a perfect opportunity to demonstrate to fans and investors alike that the demand for live Overwatch esports in L.A. is real.

On paper it looks like they have saved the best event til last, with the quality of the matchups significantly better than Katowice's 4-0verwatch exhibition. Ask eight people who the favourites are here and you are likely to get eight different answers.

Over the next three days our final two BlizzCon teams will emerge from the remaining hopeful nations. For one unfortunate winner this will just mean a traumatic 80 day wait until you get brutalized by Team South Korea in Anaheim.

Once again we have collated all the vital information here in one mighty list of lists. Be sure to check out our event page if you want to dive in to the detail and the spoilers.

Schedule

Friday 11th August

• 10:00 PDT / 19:00 CEST / 02:00 KST - Group G: United States vs. New Zealand
• 11:30 EDT / 20:30 CEST / 03:30 KST - Group G: Taiwan vs. Brazil
• 13:00 EDT / 22:00 CEST / 05:00 KST - Group H: United Kingdom vs. Belgium
• 14:30 EDT / 23:30 CEST / 06:30 KST - Group H: Germany vs. Israel

Saturday 12th August

• 10:00 PDT / 19:00 CEST / 02:00 KST - Group G: United States vs. Brazil
• 11:30 EDT / 20:30 CEST / 03:30 KST - Group G: Taiwan vs. New Zealand
• 13:00 EDT / 22:00 CEST / 05:00 KST - Group H: United Kingdom vs. Israel
• 14:30 EDT / 23:30 CEST / 06:30 KST - Group H: Germany vs. Belgium

Sunday 13th August

• 10:00 PDT / 19:00 CEST / 02:00 KST - Group G: United States vs. Taiwan
• 11:30 EDT / 20:30 CEST / 03:30 KST - Group G: Brazil vs. New Zealand
• 13:00 EDT / 22:00 CEST / 05:00 KST - Group H: United Kingdom vs. Germany
• 14:30 EDT / 23:30 CEST / 06:30 KST - Group H: Israel vs. Belgium
• 16:00 EDT / 01:00 CEST / 08:00 KST - Playoffs: Group G Winner vs. Group H Runner-up
• 17:30 EDT / 02:30 CEST / 09:30 KST - Playoffs: Group H Winner vs. Group G Runner-up

Format

All matches in the round robin Group Stage are played as 4 map sets featuring a Hybrid, Control, Assault and Escort map.

Teams are ranked on individual map wins and losses, not series results. Head-to-head results and tiebreakers will be used to resolve any potential tie scenarios.

The top two teams from each group advance to the best-of-five playoff matches. Win your playoff match and you have booked your ticket to compete in BlizzCon's World Cup extravaganza.

Maps

• Hybrid: King's Row, Numbani and Hollywood
• Control: Ilios, Lijiang Tower and Nepal
• Assault: Horizon Lunar Colony and Volskaya Industries
• Escort: Dorado and Route 66
• Tiebreaker: Oasis (best-of-three)

Broadcast

Talent

• Soe "Soembie" Gschwind Penski
• Alex "Goldenboy" Mendez
• Malik Forté
• Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles
• Erik "DoA"Lonnquist
• Rachel "Seltzer" Quirico
• Andrew "ZP" Rush
• Robert "Hexagrams" Kirkbride
• Jonathan "Reinforce" Larsson

Streams

• twitch.tv/playoverwatch
• twitch.tv/blizzardzhtw
• twitch.tv/playoverwatch_KR
• twitch.tv/overwatchFR
• twitch.tv/overwatchRU
• twitch.tv/overwatchDE
• twitch.tv/playoverwatchJP
• twitch.tv/overwatchTH
• twitch.tv/SnasGG
• twitch.tv/highstyled
• twitch.tv/hypedgg

Teams

Below you'll find our team cheatsheet with groups, rosters and profiles. You might also want to check out Blizzard's official event preview.

Group G

United States

• Jay "sinatraa" Won (DPS)
• Jake "JAKE" Lyon (DPS)
• Matt "coolmatt69" Iorio (Flex)
• Russell "FCTFCTN" Campbell (Tank)
• Shane "Rawkus" Flaherty (Support)
• Adam "Adam" Eckel (Support)

Team USA profile "Team USA plans to make the opposition see stars"

Taiwan

• Lu "Zonda" Zhongda(DPS)
• Luo "Baconjack" Zihuan (DPS)
• JI "Jongie" Zicheng (Flex)
• Syu "KMoMo" Maojyun (Tank)
• Huang "Realment" Huang (Support)
• Li "S1nkler" Jiahao (Support)

Team Taiwan profile "Taiwan unleash the Wolves in Santa Monica"

Brazil

• Eduardo "dudu" Macedo (DPS)
• Murillo "murizzz" Tuchtenhagen (Flex)
• Felipe "liko" Lebrao (Flex)
• Mateus "neil" Kröber (Tank)
• Rodrigo "kolero" Kröber (Support)
• Renan "alemao" Moretto (Support)

Team Brazil profile "Team Brazil are ready to kick balls... and we ain't talkin' soccer"

New Zealand

• Dale "Signed" Tang (DPS)
• Wirihana WILLx Owen (DPS)
• Daniel "HooWoo" McIntosh (Flex)
• Andrew Legabril Medlicott (Tank)
• Bailey Birdy Metcalfe (Support)
• Paul CantuS Vantlutlen (Support)

Team New Zealand profile "Team New Zealand flock to Santa Monica"

Group H

United Kingdom

• Harrison "Kruise" Pond (DPS)
• Michael "MikeyA" Adams (DPS)
• Eoghan "Smex" O'Neill (Flex)
• Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham (Tank)
• Isaac "Boombox" Charles (Support)
• Marcus "Realzx" Vining (Support)

Team United Kingdom profile "United Kingdom seeks to reestablish dominance in the Americas"

Germany

• Joshua "cRNKz" Santana (DPS)
• German "Nesh" Kobrin (DPS)
• Arthur "EISSFELDT" Marx (DPS)
• Nicholas "skipjack" Rosada (Tank)
• Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka (Support)
• Marcel "Veineless" Lehmann (Support)

Team Germany profile "Team Germany focus on firepower for Santa Monica"

Israel

• Josh "Eqo" Corona (DPS)
• Elad "KAFEEEEE" Vaaknin (Flex)
• Shon "ShonP" Trikisha (Flex)
• Michael "DeadlyMich" Goltzfarb (Tank)
• Danny "awkward" Novak (Support)
• Andrey "FrAgOn" Katz (Support)

Team Israel profile "Team Israel hopes to reach its zenith at Santa Monica"

Belgium

• Andreas "Logix" Berghmans (DPS)
• Jarne "Senpai" Hernalsteen__ (Flex)
• Alexandre "SPREE" Vanhomwegen (Flex)
• Dany "Brudor" Debois (Tank)
• Fabio "AFoxx" Veigas (Support)
• Julien "baud" Robert (Support)

Team Belgium profile "Team Belgium looks to upset off the back of star carries"