12 teams have gathered in Burbank, where the IEM Oakland group stage will take place. The groups will be played in a round-robin format under the adjusted points system, where overtime wins award two points to the winner and one point to the loser.

Second and third-placed teams will then duke it out in the quarter-finals before the competition moves on to Oakland's Oracle Arena from the semi-finals on, after a day off on Friday.

Here are the groups:

Group A	Group B
SK	FaZe
Astralis	G2
Cloud9	Liquid
Ninjas in Pyjamas	Gambit
Envy	Renegades
TheMongolz	OpTic

Without further ado, here are all the 12 teams gathered in Burbank for the group stage and the biggest storylines surrounding IEM Oakland:

Group A

SK (#1)	Age	Rating
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	23	1.21
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	26	1.18
Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass	20	1.18
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	26	1.16
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	22	0.91

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	EPICENTER
9th-12th	ELEAGUE Premier (4/5 of the lineup)
3rd-4th	ESL One New York (4/5 of the lineup)
3rd	ESG Tour Mykonos (4/5 of the lineup)
5th-8th	DreamHack Masters Malmö (4/5 of the lineup)

With their win at EPICENTER just days after boltz was added to the team, SK are well on their way to becoming a consistent title contender again following a rough period since the off-season came to a close.

The Brazilians needed very little time to accommodate boltz within the lineup. With more time, it's only logical they will grow even more accustomed to each other and reinforce their teamplay as well as the map pool, which — understandably — looked somewhat unrefined throughout EPICENTER.

SK are looking to win back-to-back titles

As explained by coldzera in our interviews with him in Russia, the newcomer brings more stability and balance with his passive playstyle, complimenting the aggression levels of the rest of the squad.

That makes SK one of the favorites at IEM Oakland, particularly after their win over FaZe in the group stage of the St. Petersburg event. A potential G2 match-up along the way in playoffs could throw a wrench in their works, but FalleN's men will have something new in store for the Frenchmen with the new addition.

Astralis (#3)	Age	Rating
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	22	1.19
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	24	1.09
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	22	1.08
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	22	0.98
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	19	0.98
Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
4th	EPICENTER
2nd	ELEAGUE Premier
5th-6th	ESL One New York
5th-8th	DreamHack Masters Malmö

Astralis are coming into IEM Oakland as a team that should, on paper, make it to semi-finals, although recent events have shown that the Danes are far from the favorites they had been at the beginning of the year.

They have always had issues finding their groove against FaZe, who have had the upper hand every time the two went head-to-head. Based on EPICENTER, G2 have been added to the list of teams Astralis struggle against alongside SK, which may become a factor later on in the tournament.

Astralis should be safe in groups, but Kjaerbye has to step up for them to go far

In groups, however, the Danish side should be safe. Aside from SK, Group A features dangerous match-ups in the form of Cloud9, who are gaining more and more confidence with the new lineup, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, but it's unlikely Astralis will stumble in both scenarios. After all, they've been quite effective in matches they're favored in by a significant margin.

For Astralis to punch above their weight (think finals or winning the tournament), they'll have to find a way to reinvigorate Kjaerbye, who has been on a steady decline throughout the last several months and rarely shows the form he had in early 2017. Otherwise they may have to make do with another 3rd-4th finish at best.

Cloud9 (#7)	Age	Rating
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.19
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	21	1.17
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	21	1.10
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	23	1.08
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	24	1.00
Soham "⁠valens⁠" Chowdhury (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	iBUYPOWER Masters
1st	DreamHack Open Denver
3rd-4th	ELEAGUE Premier
3rd-4th	ESL One New York
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Montreal
9th-12th	DreamHack Masters Malmö

Cloud9 continue to rack up impressive results after a slow start with the new lineup after the off-season, most recently winning two smaller titles at DreamHack Open Denver and iBUYPOWER Masters.

While the small titles may not mean much at big tournaments, they will certainly boost Cloud9's confidence going up against the higher-tier opponents. We know they can go toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the world from ELEAGUE Premier, where the Americans beat G2 and took Astralis to their limit.

Cloud9 are picking up speed

Nonetheless, the group will be a tough one for Stewie2K's team. SK and Astralis are favored for the first two spots, while the third should come down to match-ups between Cloud9, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and possibly Envy, who could cause an upset under the right conditions.

Barring any big surprises in Group B, the right match-up in the quarter-finals — basically any opponent other than FaZe, who stomped tarik's roster in New York — could pave the way for Cloud9 to make semi-finals again.

Ninjas in Pyjamas (#9)	Age	Rating
William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin	22	1.18
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund	27	1.11
Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg	29	1.10
Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner	19	1.05
Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström	26	0.99
Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-12th	ELEAGUE Premier
3rd-4th	DreamHack Masters Malmö

Ninjas in Pyjamas return to offline turf after a two-month hiatus from LAN events, with their last showing at ELEAGUE Premier ending in rather quick fashion following a loss to Envy in their group's decider.

Since then the Swedes have missed out on the Europe Minor for the second time in a row after a couple of massive upsets at the hands of TEAM5 and PRIDE, with the Poles making it to Romania instead after the last round's match.

NiP return to the big stage after nearly two months

IEM Oakland will kick off Ninjas in Pyjamas's journey of up to four events until the end of the year, also including BLAST Pro Series, ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals, and potentially ECS Season 4 Finals if they make it into the top four in the European division.

That makes Oakland an important test for GeT_RiGhT & co., who looked great shortly after the signing of REZ but now have to get back on the horse. Making it to the playoffs will be their first goal, of course, but with Astralis, SK, and a good-looking Cloud9 in their group, it will be a tall order. We will have to wait and see in what kind of form Ninjas in Pyjamas will turn up; a long time away from offline events can be a double-edged sword.

Envy (#13)	Age	Rating
Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy	28	1.10
Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom	23	1.09
Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer	25	1.02
Alexandre "⁠xms⁠" Forté	20	0.92
Christophe "⁠SIXER⁠" Xia	26	0.85
Damien "⁠maLeK⁠" Marcel (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	Europe Minor - ELEAGUE Major
5th-8th	ELEAGUE Premier
7th-8th	ESL One New York
7th-8th	ESG Tour Mykonos
13th-16th	DreamHack Masters Malmö

Envy return to the big stage after making it to the playoffs at ELEAGUE Premier by taking down Ninjas in Pyjamas in the decider. Other than that, however, their results against top-tier teams are cause for concern when it comes to the Frenchmen's chances at IEM Oakland.

Happy's men made it to the Major's Main Qualifier via the Europe Minor, where they met one other team also participating at IEM Oakland — OpTic, who aren't even part of the same group.

Things are simply not looking good for Envy in Group A. As mentioned above, they can cause an upset against Ninjas in Pyjamas or Cloud9, but they'll need to beat both to make it through, barring a tiebreaking scenario, because they shouldn't stand much of a chance against the favorites, SK and Astralis.

TheMongolz (#116)	Age	Rating
Enkhtaivan "⁠Machinegun⁠" Lkhagva	27	1.22
Temuulen "⁠Zilkenberg⁠" Battulga	26	1.13
Bold "⁠ncl⁠" Batsuh	22	1.01
Tsog "⁠Tsogoo⁠" Mashbat	23	0.99
Erdenedalai "⁠maaRaa⁠" Bayanbat	27	0.85
"NokS" (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
7th-8th	Asia Minor - ELEAGUE Major
3rd	WCA Mongolian Qualifier
1st	eXTREMESLAND Mongolia Closed Qualifier

It doesn't take a genius to see that TheMongolz will be heavily outmatched at IEM Oakland. Machinegun's squad have not played against teams of this stature for a year and a half (since IEM Katowice 2016 where they didn't even reach double digits in the five matches they played).

The Mongolian team, who made it to Oakland via the South-East Asia qualifier by beating Chiefs and MVP PK, simply doesn't have the experience or the firepower to match up against some of the best teams in the world featured in Group A. Any wins going the way of TheMongolz would be a big surprise; they're mostly looking to gain some much-needed experience.

Group B

FaZe (#2)	Age	Rating
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	20	1.30
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	26	1.26
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	23	1.22
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	1.08
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	27	1.03
Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-6th	EPICENTER
1st-2nd	EPICENTER Wild Card Qualifier
1st	ELEAGUE Premier
1st	ESL One New York
9th-12th	DreamHack Masters Malmö

FaZe are heading into IEM Oakland with diminished confidence. After two titles went their way, ELEAGUE Premier and ESL One New York, without FaZe losing a map, the group stage exit at EPICENTER showed that karrigan's men do bleed.

olofmeister and rain were far from their usual form in St. Petersburg, finishing the tournament with a 0.90 and 0.93 rating, respectively. That's unlikely to happen again, especially to rain who came down with a sickness before the event and never recovered throughout.

FaZe want to prove that EPICENTER was just a stumble

The EPICENTER result makes FaZe less of a favorite at IEM Oakland than they had been in Russia, but they still are one of the two main contenders for the title alongside SK. That also means they'll be favored to grab first place in Group B, which would earn them a spot in the semi-finals.

Anything but a final would be a disappointment for the European mixture. For them to get back to winning ways, they especially have to figure out what to do against SK, who are a pain in karrigan's side on Overpass at the very least. It's possible that the Danish in-game leader won't even let that through next time they meet, which will hopefully happen in Oakland's playoffs.

G2 (#4)	Age	Rating
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	22	1.19
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	24	1.13
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	25	1.09
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	23	1.06
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	20	1.01
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd	EPICENTER
5th-8th	ELEAGUE Premier
1st	DreamHack Masters Malmö

Like Group A, Group B also has its second favorite to go through, G2. The Frenchmen should be optimistic going into Oakland two weeks after EPICENTER, where they beat Astralis twice and North in a dominant fashion en route to a third place.

If G2 do make it through from second or third place in the group at IEM Oakland, as they should considering the state of the other teams, there's a good chance they will meet Astralis once more and get to confirm their dominance over the Danes.

G2 should be a lock for playoffs

However, there's as good of a chance Cloud9 will be in their way, which is a match-up G2 aren't big fans of after their loss to the Americans at ELEAGUE Premier, for which shox & co. prepared for weeks but ended up traveling home after one quick series.

If they make it past the quarter-finals or place first in the group and earn a direct ticket to semis, it's possible we'll see an SK match-up that G2 seem to have a good grasp on. All in all, it seems the match-ups could determine quite a bit when it comes to the French squad, but as usual, it also depends on which version of G2 shows up.

Liquid (#8)	Age	Rating
Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken	17	1.21
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski	20	1.15
Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano	27	1.02
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	23	1.02
Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella	22	0.93
Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	iBUYPOWER Masters (4/5 of the lineup)
1st	Americas Minor - ELEAGUE Major (4/5 of the lineup)
7th-8th	EPICENTER (4/5 of the current lineup)
1st-2nd	EPICENTER Wild Card Qualifier (4/5 of the lineup)
13th-16th	ELEAGUE Premier (4/5 of the lineup)
2nd	ESL One New York(4/5 of the lineup)
2nd	ESG Tour Mykonos (4/5 of the lineup)

Liquid are coming into Oakland on the back of a last-minute roster change, as steel replaced Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz on the active roster earlier today and the North American squad are set to debut at the $300,000 event.

Whether Liquid have had any practice with steel or not, it's close enough to zero that it will matter very little. However, the Brazilian player can be used as a plug-and-play device and thus things will be much easier for Liquid right from the start. There are bound to be some gaps in the teamplay, as steel has never played with any of the players before, but Liquid couldn't wish for a better fit.

Before the change, Liquid would have been sitting on a knife's edge with a group stage exit on one side and playoffs on the other already. The last-minute switch makes their chances slightly worse, but it also removes pressure from the team, and that can work wonders on its own.

Gambit (#10)	Age	Rating
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	23	1.09
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	27	1.05
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	26	1.04
Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov	25	1.04
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	29	1.01
Andrey "⁠Andi⁠" Prokhorov (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
7th-8th	EPICENTER
2nd	ROG Masters EMEA Finals
5th-6th	ESG Tour Mykonos
3rd-4th	DreamHack Masters Malmö

Gambit started off the new season very well after the departure of Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko with a semi-finals finish at DreamHack Masters Malmö, but their results since then have declined, as they finished 5th-6th at ESG Tour Mykonos and second at ROG MASTERS EMEA Finals to MOUZ.

Like many of the IEM Oakland teams, Gambit were part of EPICENTER. Considering whom they met (FaZe and eventual finalists Virtus.pro), their last-place finish isn't all that bad, as AdreN's squad were two and three rounds away from winning both matches.

With that in mind, Gambit shouldn't be counted out from IEM Oakland. With Liquid fresh off a roster change and OpTic not looking as good as they had on paper, the Kazakh-Russian team have a very good chance of making playoffs.

Renegades (#14)	Age	Rating
Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic	19	1.27
Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis	19	1.07
Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage	21	1.02
Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac	24	1.02
Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward	25	1.00
Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	iBUYPOWER Masters
1st	SL i-League Invitational Shanghai
1st	Asia Minor - ELEAGUE Major
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Denver
13th-16th	ELEAGUE Premier
9th-12th	DreamHack Masters Malmö (4/5 of the current lineup)

Renegades have been looking better than ever with their newest addition, NAF, who has now been part of the team for over two months. The Canadian has grown to be their best player by a mile thanks to an immensely consistent level, even if mostly against lower-tier opposition.

The Australian-American-Canadian composition recently picked up titles at the Asia Minor, defeating TYLOO for the second time in a row in that event's final, and perhaps more importantly at SL i-League Invitational Shanghai with wins over HellRaisers and Virtus.pro.

Can Renegades take the next step with NAF at the helm?

IEM Oakland will serve as the next level for them and a true test of their new lineup. This upcoming weekend we'll find out if they have it in them to take the next step and start beating better teams more consistently.

OpTic (#19)	Age	Rating
Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas	22	1.17
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	19	1.17
Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli	25	1.07
Kevin "⁠HS⁠" Tarn	20	1.05
Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg	26	0.90
Chet "ImAPet" Singh (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	iBUYPOWER Masters
3rd	Europe Minor - ELEAGUE Major

The OpTic project hasn't been working out very well so far. friberg's team's first event, the Europe Minor, ended in disappointment after they missed out on the Main Qualifier in the deciding series with Envy.

The European mix then went to iBUYPOWER Masters this last weekend and finished 3rd-4th, losing to Liquid in groups and Renegades in the semi-final without reaching double digits in any of the three maps.

There's a lot of work to be done for OpTic to get into the top tier. They're still a very young team gathering experience together, which is what they're aiming to do at IEM Oakland. One or two wins is an imaginable prospect for mixwell & co., but that should be their limit.