MICHAEL VAN GERWEN will begin his bid to win the bwin World Series of Darts Finals for a fourth successive year against either Maik Langendorf or Damon Heta next weekend.
The Dutchman has dominated the end-of-year tournament since its inception in 2015, winning three successive titles in Glasgow before this year's move to Vienna.
Van Gerwen, August's Auckland Darts Masters winner, has drawn the winner of Friday's first round tie between German qualifier Langendorf and Australian thrower Heta.
Top seed Peter Wright, who won the Melbourne Darts Masters, will play either Wales' Gerwyn Price or Hong Kong's Royden Lam, while Brisbane Darts Masters winner Rob Cross meets Welshman Jamie Lewis or Belgium's Dimitri Van den Bergh.
US Darts Masters champion Gary Anderson, the fourth seed, will play either Dave Chisnall or Canadian youngster Dawson Murschell.
Michael Smith, the Shanghai Darts Masters winner, plays either Ian White or Australia's Kyle Anderson, while Raymond van Barneveld plays Australian Raymond Smith or former World Youth Champion Keegan Brown.
Mensur Suljovic, the German Darts Masters winner in May in front of a record 20,210 fans in Gelsenkirchen, has drawn either qualifier Ross Smith or James Wade.
Australia's Simon Whitlock, the number eight seed, will play either qualifier Steve Beaton or world number five Daryl Gurney.
The £250,000 tournament begins on Friday November 2 with the first round, with the seeded stars entering the action in Saturday night's second round.
Sunday's decisive final day sees the quarter-finals in the afternoon session and the semi-finals and final in the evening session.
The tournament will be broadcast live on ITV4 and through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners, as well as through PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers.
For tickets, visit www.pdc-europe.tv/tickets.
2018 bwin World Series of Darts Finals
Draw Bracket
(1) Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price/Royden Lam
(8) Simon Whitlock v Steve Beaton/Daryl Gurney
(5) Michael Smith v Ian White/Kyle Anderson
(4) Gary Anderson v Dave Chisnall/Dawson Murschell
(2) Rob Cross v Jamie Lewis/Dimitri Van den Bergh
(7) Mensur Suljovic v Ross Smith/James Wade
(6) Raymond van Barneveld v Raymond Smith/Keegan Brown
(3) Michael van Gerwen v Maik Langendorf/Damon Heta
Schedule of Play
Friday November 2 (2000 Local Time 1900 UK Time)
First Round x8
Raymond Smith v Keegan Brown
Maik Langendorf v Damon Heta
Ian White v Kyle Anderson
Dave Chisnall v Dawson Murschell
Jamie Lewis v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Gerwyn Price v Royden Lam
Steve Beaton v Daryl Gurney
Ross Smith v James Wade
Saturday November 3 (2000 Local Time 1900 UK Time)
Second Round x8
Michael Smith v Ian White/Kyle Anderson
Raymond van Barneveld v Raymond Smith/Keegan Brown
Gary Anderson v Dave Chisnall/Dawson Murschell
Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price/Royden Lam
Simon Whitlock v Steve Beaton/Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross v Jamie Lewis/Dimitri Van den Bergh
Mensur Suljovic v Ross Smith/James Wade
Michael van Gerwen v Maik Langendorf/Damon Heta
Sunday November 4
Afternoon Session (1345 Local Time 1245 UK Time)
Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (2000 Local Time 1900 UK Time)
Semi-Finals
Final