2017 will be a busy year for StarCraft II with everyone fighting for a slot at the WCS Global Finals. Of the 16 players that will eventually qualify for the US$500,000 final, eight will come from the various DreamHack stops during the WCS Circuit: Austin, Summer, Valencia, and Montreal. Each of the WCS Circuit stops will have its own WCS Challenger event, allowing eight players from EU and NA to secure their tickets to the WCS Circuit.
ESL and Blizzard are partnering up to bring you the biggest WCS Challenger yet, with 32 days of broadcast throughout the year and $80,000 in prizing between North America and Europe.
The format
Four WCS Challenger events will be hosted in 2017 with the best players earning WCS Points and prize money, as well as winning travel and accommodation for the respective WCS Circuit event.
WCS Challenger #1 -> WCS Austin, April 28-30 WCS Challenger #2 -> WCS Jönköping, June 17-19 WCS Challenger #3 -> WCS Valencia, July 13-15 WCS Challenger #4 -> WCS Montreal, September 8-10
Each of the WCS Challenger events will be a week-long affair to determine the eight players, four from EU and four from NA, that will make the trip to their respective WCS Circuit tournament. The top players of the in-game ladder will automatically qualify for the WCS Challenger events with the remaining players being determined through open cups.
Signups are open, sign up and make sure you don't miss the qualifiers!
Playoffs Day 1: Friday, Saturday, May 27 12:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)
Playoffs Day 2: Saturday, Sunday, May 28 12:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) (double elimination, bo5)//(lower bracket non qualifying matches Bo3)
Player must be eligible to compete based on the residency requirements outlined in section 4.4 of the WCS 2017 Rules.
Qualifier Slot Distribution
Qualifiers: The top 4 placed players from each cup advance to the WCS Challenger Playoff tournament.
Playoffs: A total of sixteen players (8 players receive a direct invite from the Grand Master Ladder) will compete for one of four spots in the WCS circuit and a total of $10.000 in prize money.
Grand Master League cutoff
Top eight players from the respective ladder (NA/EU) automatically advance to the WCS Challenger Playoff The cut-off will be based on MMR and take place at 11:59 p.m. in CEST and EDT
Players must complete 15 ladder games a day between Grandmaster League promotion windows (20:00 EDT, 21:00 CEST) starting on the Thursday-Friday window and continuing through Sunday.
Starting at the Thursday promotion window, players will be required to play under the name that they wish to use during the WCS Circuit event. Please contact esportsteam@blizzard.com if you require a free character name change to compete.
After watching Sortof and Zanster win on the russian channel I feel a bit seasick. I don't mean to be nasty or anything, but the observer could do with some practice.
On May 17 2017 04:45 Poopi wrote: Hades beating TLO and bluecheese beating Namshar, is this the new maps effect? Did they use some weird builds?
Hades plays mech exsclusively in every matchup amd current map pool does seem favorable to it.
Oh crap what did the map makers do
Sequencer and Odyssey are definitely too big to play bio vs Zerg. Both are really easy to runby on with hellions. Can't talk about Blood Boil as I vetoed it right away.
I'm not really sure what Kas was doing vs SortOf. Constantly running around on creep, no pre splitting and losing his whole army. Felt almost like my games.
Alright, who will make it through today? Looks like uThermal, Namshar, TLO and DNS are the one to watch closely? Of course DNS is going up against the legendary Korean slayer Ptak...
On May 18 2017 03:03 BaneRiders wrote: Alright, who will make it through today? Looks like uThermal, Namshar, TLO and DNS are the one to watch closely? Of course DNS is going up against the legendary Korean slayer Ptak...
My bets would be on uThermal, TLO, MaNa and Namshar. But Elazer or DnS also got a good chance.
No Terrans through the qualifiers. Truly, what else is new in WCS?
This is very sad I would say, however uThermal is playing other games, Heromarine and Soul are a weak terran players. Nevertheless they made it through ladder. Given the state of the game now it will always be a free win to the top Korean Terran players. Terran bio is hugely overpowered in the right hands.
Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
On May 18 2017 17:42 kallagen wrote: Hi guys. I have a question about Group Stage 1 . How do players get to this stage? I rummaged through the liquipedia, but I did not understand how this group was formed. Help to understand please. Thank you. p.s. I hope, Bly will promote to Ro16.)
No Terrans through the qualifiers. Truly, what else is new in WCS?
This is very sad I would say, however uThermal is playing other games, Heromarine and Soul are a weak terran players. Nevertheless they made it through ladder. Given the state of the game now it will always be a free win to the top Korean Terran players. Terran bio is hugely overpowered in the right hands.
It is definitely not hugely overpowered, otherwise those Korean terrans would win everything which they clearly don't
Rofl "terran bio is overpowered" Kafka777 2800 mmr gives us his opinion on the balance.
Hahaha no, I don't have 2800 mmr. Perhaps there is a player by this nick who does but it is not me. Korean Terrans actually do win essentially everything they want and they will continue to do so, even though the current map pool is not the greatest for them.
Since Legacy of the Void: P has 11 wins split between Zest, Neeb(2x), Harstem(2x), Showtime, herO, Stats(2x), Patience and Ptitdrogo T has 9 wins split between Polt, INnoVation, Byun(3x), MMA, TY(2x) and uThermal Z has 8 wins split between Dark(2x), Nerchio, Snute, Hydra, Solar(2x) and True
Since Legacy of the Void: P has 11 wins split between Zest, Neeb(2x), Harstem(2x), Showtime, herO, Stats(2x), Patience and Ptitdrogo T has 9 wins split between Polt, INnoVation, Byun(3x), MMA, TY(2x) and uThermal Z has 8 wins split between Dark(2x), Nerchio, Snute, Hydra, Solar(2x) and True
I speak about in korea, because outside = 0 terran who win because of bio
WESG HSCup and WCA arent accurate, iem G = gyeonggi
TY uThermal and Byun had to cheese/allin to win, if not, they losethe maps.
Are they even right? I thought it's meant to be seeded on WCS Points, yet Lambo is seeded above Namshar, Harstem is seeded above MaNa.Drogo is seeded between Bly and Elazer, even though Bly and Elazer have the same number of WCS points...
On May 20 2017 02:26 DBooN wrote: Was Lambo really dead there? Looked to me like he had broken the critical protoss mass while having a strong economy himself to remax with?
Archons and immortals would have walked over him. There was more than enough left. Breaking that composition is really hard... Edit: It feels really weird that immortals are so good against hydras.
On May 20 2017 02:26 DBooN wrote: Was Lambo really dead there? Looked to me like he had broken the critical protoss mass while having a strong economy himself to remax with?
Archons and immortals would have walked over him. There was more than enough left. Breaking that composition is really hard... Edit: It feels really weird that immortals are so good against hydras.
Not many ground units immortals aren't good against.
On May 20 2017 02:49 RaFox17 wrote: Showtime is real good but it feels like protoss defense is way too good. Is air viable in any way against P?
If Zerg goes Air it gives the Protoss too much time to get his own Air Fleet out... and we all know what happens when Archon Immortal Storm Mothership (Carrier Voidray Chargelot) Clashes against any Zerg comp.
I'm a bit sad ShowTime is not playing so well lately. Very happy to see Elazer doing so well though.
How come Need is not pre-qualified for Top 8 GM? I saw his account (the barcode one) on the top all the time. I guess he wouldn't care given he will advance in qualifier anyway.
On May 24 2017 03:17 Vutalisk wrote: I'm a bit sad ShowTime is not playing so well lately. Very happy to see Elazer doing so well though.
How come Need is not pre-qualified for Top 8 GM? I saw his account (the barcode one) on the top all the time. I guess he wouldn't care given he will advance in qualifier anyway.
Barcode accounts don't count. They only account. But not when it counts. You can count on it, but not account on a barcode account. OMG somebody stop me!
So, Neeb vs Pokebunny had already started their series and the admins made them restart the game to cast, after proxies were down and things getting going, and booting Wardiii off the series in the process. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.
On May 24 2017 11:16 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So, Neeb vs Pokebunny had already started their series and the admins made them restart the game to cast, after proxies were down and things getting going, and booting Wardiii off the series in the process. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.
They didn't boot me off, I just don't see the point casting the same thing as main stream.
On May 24 2017 11:16 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So, Neeb vs Pokebunny had already started their series and the admins made them restart the game to cast, after proxies were down and things getting going, and booting Wardiii off the series in the process. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.
They didn't boot me off, I just don't see the point casting the same thing as main stream.
Well, it's still shitty to restart the game that far into it. Thought you got booted because you seemed down about it
On May 24 2017 11:16 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So, Neeb vs Pokebunny had already started their series and the admins made them restart the game to cast, after proxies were down and things getting going, and booting Wardiii off the series in the process. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.
They didn't boot me off, I just don't see the point casting the same thing as main stream.
Well, it's still shitty to restart the game that far into it. Thought you got booted because you seemed down about it
More just straight up disbelief. Restarting a game with proxies already down etc, when you have casters inside covering it already. I get there's a main stream but if the admin wants to hold the game for main stream it should be held, not stopped mid-game. I missed another series because I was going for Neeb vs Pokebunny, as it wasn't being held & main stream was in another series.
Might write more about it later when I'm not such a salt bag
edit: And Jig beats TRUE! Jig's really been on the upswing recently. The fact that the current maps make ZvZ even more random than usual does detract a bit from his victory a little though.
It was really unfortunate what happened to Wardi. The whole thing kind of broke his heart a bit. Clearly, there was a miscommunication or lack of situation awareness. Normally, the qualifying matches are hold for Main Stream. They should've let Wardi know in advance for sure if they want to hold all of them or only 2/4 or something and let Wardi go offline if there is no more matches for community stream or let him cast the one that they wouldn't cast anyway.
I hope Wardi won't be too upset about this. Unlucky, mate. Cheer up!
I think Avilo might be legitimately paranoid at this point. It was funny when it was all on his stream, but now that he's taking his complaints to Reddit and the forums I'm starting to feel a little concerned for his mental health. Playing SC2 for 7 years and having nothing to show for it must be damaging.
Symptoms of paranoia and delusional disorders include intense and irrational mistrust or suspicion, which can bring on sense of fear, anger, and betrayal. Some identifiable beliefs and behaviors of individuals with symptoms of paranoia include mistrust, hypervigilence, difficulty with forgiveness, defensive attitude in response to imagined criticism, preoccupation with hidden motives, fear of being deceived or taken advantage of, inability to relax, or are argumentative.
I'm no psychologist, but Avilo exhibits a lot of these symptoms.
On May 25 2017 10:31 Carminedust wrote: ive been gone almost all evening what is the latest news on the 2nd NA qualifier so far ?
Well, Avilo is out after going 1-2 vs a Zerg. He is now claiming on stream that he is being targeted by a group of 5-10 hackers that sign up under aliases to snipe him during qualifiers.
On May 25 2017 10:31 Carminedust wrote: ive been gone almost all evening what is the latest news on the 2nd NA qualifier so far ?
Well, Avilo is out after going 1-2 vs a Zerg. He is now claiming on stream that he is being targeted by a group of 5-10 hackers that sign up under aliases to snipe him during qualifiers.
aaaah okay. I mean there is like 3 people who do stream snipe him regularly so he is can be right on like a group of people sniping him, but thats just what when you shoot your mouth off the way he does its expected to happen. It is bit a weird that his zerg opponent withdrew after beating him. Do to how he acts and talks garbage and his all around demeanor being toxic no one will really rally around him which sucks,but its what happens. but them being hackers naah i dont believe that at all.
On May 25 2017 10:31 Carminedust wrote: ive been gone almost all evening what is the latest news on the 2nd NA qualifier so far ?
Well, Avilo is out after going 1-2 vs a Zerg. He is now claiming on stream that he is being targeted by a group of 5-10 hackers that sign up under aliases to snipe him during qualifiers.
LOL. Well, kudos to whoever eliminated him. No time for his childish drama, especially from a guy who is almost 30.
Puck is on a come-back series today. In the first game, I thought he was dead long ago but he managed to come back somehow. Until the useless sentries warp-in and then he was out for real. The second game was a real come-back story. The last game was too fast (compared to the first two). Happy to see Puck advance but DisK was a treat to watch.
Wardi is casting 2 series at once by himself, meanwhile the main stream has been on break for half an hour. Whoever is running the production for ESL needs to be fired, their work this year on SC2 has been inexcusable. Tod and Kaelaris are casting in the dark, I guess this is what happens when an organization doesn't care about a game any more and still gets gigs because no foreign org aside from DH wants to touch this game.
On May 27 2017 11:22 Solar424 wrote: Wardi is casting 2 series at once by himself, meanwhile the main stream has been on break for half an hour. Whoever is running the production for ESL needs to be fired, their work this year on SC2 has been inexcusable. Tod and Kaelaris are casting in the dark, I guess this is what happens when an organization doesn't care about a game any more and still gets gigs because no foreign org aside from DH wants to touch this game.
ToD/Kaelaris went on lunch break which is why you had no games it was said in WCS chat
On May 27 2017 11:22 Solar424 wrote: Wardi is casting 2 series at once by himself, meanwhile the main stream has been on break for half an hour. Whoever is running the production for ESL needs to be fired, their work this year on SC2 has been inexcusable. Tod and Kaelaris are casting in the dark, I guess this is what happens when an organization doesn't care about a game any more and still gets gigs because no foreign org aside from DH wants to touch this game.
ToD/Kaelaris went on lunch break which is why you had no games it was said in WCS chat
EU ladder: Zanster vs Zanster games hahaha. Zanster spreading out points from his accounts to others. There is more bullshit going on. This should not be organized like this.
On May 28 2017 09:57 Solar424 wrote: Scarlett 3-2 Neeb in a presumably great series we didn't get to watch.
Wait, WHAT?! How was that not streamed?!
The main stream is covering the qualifying matches, but there's no reason they can't cast that series after these. They didn't cast the WB Finals of the EU qualifier either.
On May 28 2017 09:57 Solar424 wrote: Scarlett 3-2 Neeb in a presumably great series we didn't get to watch.
finished 5 games before semper vs masa finished their 2nd if that tells you anything
Well of course. Scarlett vs Neeb series only last long when Neeb wins. It's still too bad we missed it. I don't know all the best proxy-hatch locations on the new maps yet, so it would've been useful.
On May 28 2017 12:43 Shellshock wrote: was semper vs jonsnow just a bo3 or did semper forfeit after game 2? oh apparently they're just bo3
The way the losers' Round 4 is a bo5 but all the other losers' rounds on either side are bo3 always throws me off, though it does make sense since losers' Round 4 is the qualifying round.
edit: Insane style points from Neeb for stasis snaring those larva (though he probably would've won even without it).
Natural at the gold from Scarlett. Very nice. I was worried that she would play straight up against Neeb because the map pool is favourable for zerg. Based on how short the previous series was I shouldn't have worried I guess.
edit: Good build order from Scarlett; getting faster hydras off the gold rather than saturating the nat.
On May 28 2017 13:26 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Natural at the gold from Scarlett. Very nice. I was worried that she would play straight up against Neeb because the map pool is favourable for zerg. Based on how short the previous series was I shouldn't have worried I guess.
edit: Good build order from Scarlett; getting faster hydras off the gold rather than saturating the nat.
Yea that hydra timing looked so good, she just rolled after a few good bane hits
EPT![[image loading]](https://gfx.esl.eu/gfx/media/play/wcs/banner2.jpg)
PtitDrogo, 
HeRoMaRinE, 
Bly, 
2017 WCS Jönköping/Qualifiers/Europe
Lambo 3-0 
![[image loading]](https://kek.gg/i/5HC2Pq.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://nwps.ws/pub/forum-gifs/mm2015/jtammi.gif)
