EPT
NetEase, the operator of Starcraft II in China, announced a new series of China's official domestic Starcraft II competition, the Starcraft II GOLD League. (The GOLD League is a tournament brand by NetEase, which also has Hearthstone competition)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/2BncUdml.jpg)
The tournament will run three seasons starting this July, the first season ends in September, the second season starts in October and ends in December with a grand offline event to conclude this year's GOLD League series.
The roster of the first season are formed by:
- Eight Chinese mainland Starcraft II progamers who have played in WCS Challenger and Premier League this year.
- Top four Taiwanese players within the WCS ranking system.
- Two top players from SOC weekly/monthly tournaments.
- Two top players from Chinese Collegiate StarLeague.
- Players qualify from open qualifiers.
The invitees of the first season are:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wfxaMFnl.jpg)
Chinese WCS participants
JimMacSed
XiGuaTopTooDmingCourageGeminiShanaTop Taiwanese WCS participants
SenHasIanSlamSOC participants
XYEinCSL participants
iAsonuXluoSThe open qualifier registration starts on July 16th till 20th, the qualifier will be held from July 21st to 26th. The qualifiers are only open to Chinese citizens.
Format
The tournament will run under the WCS system which consists of two dual tournament group stages and a single elimination bracket. The map pool will be the lastest WCS/ladder map pool. After the first season, top 16 of each season qualify for the next season while the last 16 players will have to play a "challenger league" against the 16 qualified players which consists of top 3 from CSL, top 5 from SOC and top 8 Chinese GM ladder for the rest 16 spots.
Prize pool
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/E34sBOgl.jpg)
80,600 CNY (~12990$) each season
Winner: 30,000 CNY (~4834$)
Runner-up: 15,000 CNY (~2417$)
3rd-4th: 5,000 CNY(~805$)
5th-8th: 2,000 CNY(~322$)
9th-16th: 1,000 CNY(~161$)
17th-32th: 600 CNY(~97$)
Broadcasting
The official Chinese cast will be handled by NeoTV, which is also the official broadcaster of GSL, recently they covered The Sandisk SHOUTCRAFT Invitational to wide spread acclaim by the community and the man TotalBiscuit himself. An English cast is likely to be available by a yet to be determined broadcaster.
TL:DR: officially ran mini version of "WCS China", top Chinese and Taiwanese pros, grassroots open qualifier, 40k$ total prize money. And a not so clever title.
