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I am someone who really only started watching StarCraft 2 esports in 2020. Something that confuses me somewhat is the way the community discusses world championships. I have heard Artosis refer to Rogue as a 3 time world champion on account of his victories in WCS 2017, Katowice 2018, and Katowice 2020. But by the same token, I rarely (never?) hear anyone talk about soO as a former world champion on account of his win at Katowice 2019. And just today I heard ZG mention that we have never had a back to back champion, but if we are including Katowice as a world championship even before the ESL circuit used it as the culminative tournament for a season (first in 2021), then sOs and Rogue would both be [back to back] world champions. And if we are including tournaments that aren't the culminative event of the major circuit, then does the community count events like the World esports championship in 2014 held in Shanghai as a world championship? Does a tournament just have to be called a world championship for it to count? Is every Katowice a world championship, even 2020 and 2024 when it wasn't the last tournament for the ESL circuit? What about Gamers8?
I imagine people are going to come down on multiple sides of this, but I am curious about what people tend to think here. Looking through liquipedia, this is the list of events that I think people may consider world championships chronologically with their winner. If I missed any, please let me know.
Event----------------------------------------------------------Winner
IEM Season V - World Championship------------------AcE
2011 LG Cinema 3D World Championship Seoul---Mvp
IEM Season VI - World Championship ---------------- MC
2012 Battle.net World Championship --------------- PartinG
IEM Season VII - World Championship ------------- YoDa
2013 WCS Global Finals --------------------------------- sOs
IEM Season VIII - World Championship ------------- sOs
World E-Sport Championships 2014 -------------- Jaedong
2014 WCS Global Finals ---------------------------- Life (voided)
IEM Season IX - World Championship -------------- Zest
2015 WCS Global Finals --------------------------------- sOs
2016 WCS Global Playoffs and Finals --------------- Byun
World Electronic Sports Games 2016 ------------------TY --------------[from Waxangel]
IEM Season XI - World Championship ---------------- TY
2017 WCS Global Finals -------------------------------- Rogue
IEM Season XII - World Championship ------------- Rogue
World Electronic Sports Games 2017 -----------------Maru ------------[from Waxangel]
2018 WCS Global Finals -------------------------------- Serral
IEM Season XIII - Katowice ----------------------------- soO
World Electronic Sports Games 2018 -------------INnoVation --------[from Waxangel]
2019 WCS Global Finals --------------------------------- Dark
IEM Katowice 2020 --------------------------------------- Rogue
IEM Katowice 2021 -------------------------------------- Reynor
IEM Katowice 2022 --------------------------------------- Serral
IEM Katowice 2023 -------------------------------------- Oliveira
Gamers8 ---------------------------------------------------- Reynor
IEM Katowice 2024 --------------------------------------- Serral
Esports World Cup 2024 --------------------------------- Clem
Esports World Cup 2025 --------------------------------- + Show Spoiler +
Edited for clarity, formatting, and inclusion of tournaments listed as potentially world championships by Waxangel
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Actually, never mind I assumed there was only one World Championship each year, which isn’t accurate. When we had both WCS and IEM in a year, both were considered World Championships. It’s debatable whether WESG should count as well since it's WCG-style format and WCG was WC in the past no doubt. Personally, I think it should, but because it was hosted by the Chinese company instead of a major esports organizer like ESL, it likely didn’t receive official recognition or partnership from Blizzard.
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It can definitely be confusing. world championships are basically designated by the governing body of SC esports and their respective circuit - for a long time, Blizzard handled this. Technically the first "World Championship" as far as being literally named as such was in 2012. Blizzard's circuit was called the WCS, World Championship Series. So world championships were Blizzcons basically, with the last world championship Blizzcon being 2019. Blizzard then gave the handling of a SC esports circuit to ESL, which made the EPT or ESL Pro Tour. Because of the transfer of power, Katowice 2020 was not considered a world championship and is actually a gap year.
Starting in 2021, the EPT would choose Katowice as its world championship tournament and be the lone organizer for the years to come. So up to Katowice 2023, this was the world championship. With EWC being created, it was decided to make the world championship EWC 2024 and now 2025.
So yeah, probably confusing for a lot of people who get into SC2 and try to understand the lineage.
Edit: Looking into it more, it is also confusing because yeah, a lot of Katowice's are designated as "World Championships" even when WCS was happening at Blizzcon. That has to do with it still being its own circuit with its own events, so ESL had its own World Championships and Blizzard had its own too. It is interesting that we all just went with WCS WC aka Blizzcon being the "true World Championship" Recency bias, with 2019 being a year that Katowice stepped back from that branding. Very interesting discussion tbh.
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United States33385 Posts
funny enough, I have an article I'm working on about this topic right now (coming soon™)
So you're correct in that "world championships" in SC2 are basically just defined by community consensus. The culture of SC2 has just developed in a way that tournaments with enough money + prestige + intangible factors can earn WC status in the eyes of the community, even if that means there's more than one per year.
It's pretty hard to explain exactly how this came to be, but a big part is IEM WC building up a strong legacy through repeated tournaments + big prize money, thus normalizing the notion that there can be more than one world championship in a year. Blizzard 'helped' by never trying to force a "Blizzcon is the only WC" narrative in response. In fact, Blizzard was totally happy to go along with the general community view, and BlizzCon broadcast graphics + casters basically recognized IEM WC as a "world championship."
Of course, consensus being what it is, that also means there are a handful of tournaments that fall into a grey zone.
As of now, I'd say the undisputed ones are WCS/BlizzCon 2012-2019, IEM WC/Katowice 2014-2024 (except 2016), and EWC 2024-25.
Grey-zone tournaments include stuff like WESG 2016-2018 and Gamers8.
Stuff that really shouldn't be included but an unscrupulous TL poster might try to sneak in when they're desperately trying to hype a player is stuff like 2011 GSL WC, IEM WC 2010-2012 + 2016, ESWC, and a few others.
Funny tournaments that remind you anyone can technically call their tournament a "world championship" include IeSF WC 2011-2015, WEC, and some others.
If you HAD to force a more conventional rubric and pick just one tournament a year, ZG's post above is correct.
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As of now, I'd say the undisputed ones are WCS/BlizzCon 2012-2019, IEM World Championship 2014-2023 (except 2016), and EWC 2024-25.
Grey-zone tournaments include stuff like WESG 2016-2018 and Gamers8.
And I am guessing Kato 2024 falls in the grey-zone too for you then?
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United States33385 Posts
On July 25 2025 17:17 DoctorLife wrote:Show nested quote +As of now, I'd say the undisputed ones are WCS/BlizzCon 2012-2019, IEM World Championship 2014-2023 (except 2016), and EWC 2024-25.
Grey-zone tournaments include stuff like WESG 2016-2018 and Gamers8. And I am guessing Kato 2024 falls in the grey-zone too for you then?
No, just a typo 
IEM Katowice 2024 would be included.
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When I did my "World Championship Hall of Fame" a few years ago I went with ZombieGrubs approach: I tried to find the "official" World Championship of each year and only count that one...which stirred some backflash, because it excluded IEM Katowice.
Technically, as said before, everyone can name their tournament "World Championship". But in my opinion, as long as Blizzard was in charge, there was just "one" true Championship and that was BlizzCon/the WCS Global Finals. But that wasn't just because it was from Blizzard, but because it was THE biggest tournament that the entire year played into. For example, BlizzCon Tournaments were also a thing in WC3 but no one considered them to be THE World Championship, ESWC and WCG were much more important.
Anyway, after Blizzard left and ESL took over, so for me, IEM Katowice (as the epitomy of the EPT Circuit) became the new World Championship. But that didn't make all the other Katowices in retrospective "true" World Championships. After Katowice, it was EWC last year. This year, there is no circuit, but I think we can all agree that the prizepool and "prestige" of EWC is so much higher than anything else in the scene, it is the clear World Championship, even without someone having a full "claim" on the term anymore.
But that is just one definition. Maybe you want to include all great global events, like Katowice, WESG or even some MLGs. Or maybe you count everything that is named World Championship. Or maybe you even include GSL or even SSL.
The World Champion is who people believe it is. For example in Football there even is something called the "true World Champion". Essentially that means a nation keeps the title until it gets beaten in a game, then the new team takes over the title. Bit random, but you *can* do it that way.
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IEM Katowice (as the epitomy of the EPT Circuit) became the new World Championship.
Just for clarity, this means that your list is WCS 2012-2019, Katowice 2021-2023, and EWC 2024 and 2025?
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United States1867 Posts
For my GOAT stuff i went with the following events.
![[image loading]](/staff/Mizenhauer/wc.png)
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So Miz, you don't include PartinG's 2012 Blizzcon win? What is the reason for that?
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United States1867 Posts
On July 26 2025 05:11 DoctorLife wrote:
So Miz, you don't include PartinG's 2012 Blizzcon win? What is the reason for that?
![[image loading]](/staff/Mizenhauer/top.png)
oops. Forgot about that part.
Seriously, though, I think 2013 marks the start of the modern era of StarCraft 2 tournament formats. Blizzard switched things up and went with a 16 person tournament (with some number of foreigners) going forward, as well as the WCS branding. IEM introduced the concept of IEM Katowice as a tournament that stuck around without too many alterations. Because of this, events like WESG or the 2012 Battle.net WCs had to be looked at with extra scrutiny to discern where they fit among other WCs.
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On July 26 2025 04:51 DoctorLife wrote:Show nested quote +IEM Katowice (as the epitomy of the EPT Circuit) became the new World Championship. Just for clarity, this means that your list is WCS 2012-2019, Katowice 2021-2023, and EWC 2024 and 2025?
My declard World Championships were:
BlizzCon 2011 and '12
WCS/Blizzcon 2013-2019
No WC 2020
Katowice 2021-23
EWC 2024-25
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On July 25 2025 16:52 ZombieGrub wrote:
It can definitely be confusing. world championships are basically designated by the governing body of SC esports and their respective circuit - for a long time, Blizzard handled this. Technically the first "World Championship" as far as being literally named as such was in 2012. Blizzard's circuit was called the WCS, World Championship Series. So world championships were Blizzcons basically, with the last world championship Blizzcon being 2019. Blizzard then gave the handling of a SC esports circuit to ESL, which made the EPT or ESL Pro Tour. Because of the transfer of power, Katowice 2020 was not considered a world championship and is actually a gap year.
Starting in 2021, the EPT would choose Katowice as its world championship tournament and be the lone organizer for the years to come. So up to Katowice 2023, this was the world championship. With EWC being created, it was decided to make the world championship EWC 2024 and now 2025.
So yeah, probably confusing for a lot of people who get into SC2 and try to understand the lineage.
Edit: Looking into it more, it is also confusing because yeah, a lot of Katowice's are designated as "World Championships" even when WCS was happening at Blizzcon. That has to do with it still being its own circuit with its own events, so ESL had its own World Championships and Blizzard had its own too. It is interesting that we all just went with WCS WC aka Blizzcon being the "true World Championship" Recency bias, with 2019 being a year that Katowice stepped back from that branding. Very interesting discussion tbh.
its because blizzcon came before we had katowices. thats why we all called it "true World Championship." katowice came with their own and we were like no, we already have this XD. It's like if someone came to soccer world cup and said, we got a new world cup, before old world cup even stopped happening. no one take that shit seriously as official world championship. $100,000 first place prize at the WCS Global Finals wouldnt be true championship today. At the time it meant something. But $100,000 in 2012 is not $100,000 in 2025. $100,000 in 2012 has the same purchasing power as roughly $200,000 in 2025. So if you were to offer a $100,000 firstplace prizee today, you’re essentially offering what would've been only ~$65,000 in 2012 terms.. Imagine someone starting a new soccer tournament, calling it “THE WORLD CUP,” and giving the winner a $100K prize pool total not per team, but for the entire event. Do you think anyone in the FIFA ecosystem would take that seriously?Of course not. Because prestige in sports and esports is earned through scale. Through legacy. Through meaningful rewards. You can’t just slap the label “world championship” on an event and expect it to carry the same weight especially if the money doesn’t match the name and when the "grand prize" they train all year for is a diminished value check that’s less meaningful than what a top Twitch streamer makes in 2-3 months, you’re going to start losing top talent. 
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I think the official world championship for each year is always just the conclusion of the biggest circuit that took part that year (with regards to scope, prize pool etc.) This was pretty much always WCS/Blizzcon until EPT took over.
We have always considered Katowice a "world championship calibre" event, but I don't think we've ever called it THE world championship during the blizzcon years. Stuff like WESG etc usually gets discounted because of the spread of competition, only 3 Koreans taking part typically made the Korean qualifiers harder that the actual offline event.
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France12873 Posts
I mean winning IEM Katowice was harder or same as winning BlizzCon, and the prizepool was similar so I don’t see how they don’t count as WC.
If the argument is: « oh but there would be multiple WC in a year, that’s dumb », then having no WC in 2020 seems just as dumb, especially considering IEM Katowice 2020 was offline while the official 2021 Katowice was online
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On July 26 2025 22:45 WardiTV wrote:
I think the official world championship for each year is always just the conclusion of the biggest circuit that took part that year (with regards to scope, prize pool etc.) This was pretty much always WCS/Blizzcon until EPT took over.
We have always considered Katowice a "world championship calibre" event, but I don't think we've ever called it THE world championship during the blizzcon years. Stuff like WESG etc usually gets discounted because of the spread of competition, only 3 Koreans taking part typically made the Korean qualifiers harder that the actual offline event.
Yup, agree. IEM fed into WCS. For stand alone events that wouldn't be possible. So IEM was always an event considered as equal in prestige.
WESG was Alibaba's way of getting ad revenue... they declared it the olympics of SC2, but it basically was a national qualifier of 2-3 players, so a lot of big names were missing.
At WESG 2017 it was only TY and Maru from Korea, so guess who came in 1st and 2nd 
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On July 26 2025 22:48 Poopi wrote:
I mean winning IEM Katowice was harder or same as winning BlizzCon, and the prizepool was similar so I don’t see how they don’t count as WC.
If the argument is: « oh but there would be multiple WC in a year, that’s dumb », then having no WC in 2020 seems just as dumb, especially considering IEM Katowice 2020 was offline while the official 2021 Katowice was online
Katowice 2020 had no circuit that led into it in the year leading to it - the official circuit was the recently concluded WCS year as it was only 2-3 months after 2019 Blizzcon - so yes there is no "2020" world championship, but mostly just because of how the timeframe for the season changed from having an end of year world championship to one closer to the start of the year.
Yes it's just as hard to win Katowice as it was to win Blizzcon, that's why we consider it on the same level of accomplishment, but not the title of world champion.
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France12873 Posts
On July 26 2025 23:16 WardiTV wrote:Show nested quote +On July 26 2025 22:48 Poopi wrote:
I mean winning IEM Katowice was harder or same as winning BlizzCon, and the prizepool was similar so I don’t see how they don’t count as WC.
If the argument is: « oh but there would be multiple WC in a year, that’s dumb », then having no WC in 2020 seems just as dumb, especially considering IEM Katowice 2020 was offline while the official 2021 Katowice was online Katowice 2020 had no circuit that led into it in the year leading to it - the official circuit was the recently concluded WCS year as it was only 2-3 months after 2019 Blizzcon - so yes there is no "2020" world championship, but mostly just because of how the timeframe for the season changed from having an end of year world championship to one closer to the start of the year. Yes it's just as hard to win Katowice as it was to win Blizzcon, that's why we consider it on the same level of accomplishment, but not the title of world champion.
Who is « we »?
« • 3x World Champion and 4x Code S champion » in the GOAT list written by Mizenhauer, on TLnet.
So I don’t think it’s as definitive
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On July 26 2025 22:48 Poopi wrote:
I mean winning IEM Katowice was harder or same as winning BlizzCon, and the prizepool was similar so I don’t see how they don’t count as WC.
If the argument is: « oh but there would be multiple WC in a year, that’s dumb », then having no WC in 2020 seems just as dumb, especially considering IEM Katowice 2020 was offline while the official 2021 Katowice was online
Don't think of it so much as "2020 has no World Champion". It is more like "Reynor is the champion of 2020/21"
The definition of the year just changed because of the fact that Katowice was always held early in the year, while Blizzcon was always at the end. The same shift happened then with EWC - Oliveira is the "World Champion of 2023", but basically everything that happened in 2023 after Katowice fed into EWC 2024. So if you want to be stubborn about the entire year, Clem is probably more World Champion of 2023 than Oliveira
It is also not really important what tournament is "harder to win" (though I also don't buy into that, but anyway). As it is often the case, Tennis shows the way here: There is an official "ATP World Championship", is is the culmination of the entire year. Extremly prestigious and important event. But if you give players the choice what to win, the ATP World Championship or one of the Grand Slams, they will probably pick the later. But still, they refer to the winner of the ATP Tour as "World Champion".
And I don't think you can argue in any way that the winner of the WCS Circuit did become the World Champion. Everything fed into that circuit, even Katowice. You had to perform an entire year to get even into it and then it could be over in 2 Bo3s. For Katowice? Just play an online qualifier wololo.
You can btw do the same in refers for other games: Pretty sure the CS2 or LoL Teams can call themselves World Championship as much as they want for winning EWC, it will not change the fact that the "true" WCs in these games are the Majors or Worlds.
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On July 26 2025 23:16 WardiTV wrote:Show nested quote +On July 26 2025 22:48 Poopi wrote:
I mean winning IEM Katowice was harder or same as winning BlizzCon, and the prizepool was similar so I don’t see how they don’t count as WC.
If the argument is: « oh but there would be multiple WC in a year, that’s dumb », then having no WC in 2020 seems just as dumb, especially considering IEM Katowice 2020 was offline while the official 2021 Katowice was online Katowice 2020 had no circuit that led into it in the year leading to it - the official circuit was the recently concluded WCS year as it was only 2-3 months after 2019 Blizzcon - so yes there is no "2020" world championship, but mostly just because of how the timeframe for the season changed from having an end of year world championship to one closer to the start of the year. Yes it's just as hard to win Katowice as it was to win Blizzcon, that's why we consider it on the same level of accomplishment, but not the title of world champion.
Who exactly is “we,” and who counts as the “official”? Is it ESL, Blizzard, EWC, or just a group of ESL hosts/casters talking? Honestly, ESL has way too much power play when it comes to casting and producing content, the amount of biased hype they pour into foreigners is on another level, something you’d never see in Korean leagues, where foreigners are treated equally, if not better, than Koreans.
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EPT
