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2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series
From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki
Overview[edit]
The 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series is a series of events organized by or in cooperation with Blizzard Entertainment. They are designed to include three major StarCraft II broadcasters, ESL, GOMeXP and SPOTV Games. There will be a 1.6 Million USD prize pool, that will be spread out among multiple events throughout the year. Those events are split into regions with two in South Korea and the rest of the world reunited in a single WCS. There will be three seasons of the regional events. Players will earn points throughout the seasons to qualify for the overall final.
There are big changes in the 2015 edition, with WCS Europe and WCS America merged in a unique WCS, and the creation of a second league in Korea organized by SPOTV Games.
Format[edit]
Regional Events[edit]
WCS[edit]
- Qualifiers will be tournaments giving 32 players access to the WCS Challenger.
- For the first season, 64 players will have access to the WCS Challenger.
- WCS Challenger contains 64 players vying for a spot in the Premier League for the current season.
- Only one round, consisting of 32 best-of-five Up-and-Down matches. The losers are eliminated from the WCS season, while the winners proceed to the WCS Premier League.
- Introduced for the Season 2 in the regions of America and Europe, Premier Pick allow the Premier League players to pick the WCS Challenger players.[1]
- For the picks, Premier League players are ranked as follows:
- Placement in the previous season
- WCS Points (as of the previous WCS Season Finals date)
- If both the placement and WCS Points are equal between a group of players, the ranking will be determined by random draw
- WCS Premier League, contains the top 32 players in the tournament.
- All those players will have to compete in the WCS Challenger of the next season.
- The Premier League Champion will automatically retain a spot in Premier League for the next season. That player’s region will receive one less Challenger spot.
- Both Ro32 and Ro16 consists of a dual tournament group stage where the top 2 moves on in the tournament.
- Premier League RO32 Group Stage will be played onsite at the ESL Studios. Four groups will be played in the ESL Burbank studio in the US, and four groups will be played in the ESL Cologne studio in Germany.
- The 16 Players advancing from the RO32 will be compete onsite at a live venue location for the Season Finals event.
- All those players will have to compete in the WCS Challenger of the next season.
- WCS Premier League Residency Requirements
- In order to compete in the WCS Premier League, all participants must be a resident of a country within the home regions for regional qualifiers into WCS Challenger.
- Eligible countries and regions:
- Europe, Africa, Middle East
- North America (USA, Canada)
- Mainland China
- Latin America
- Oceania, Southeast Asia
- Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau
- If the player is a foreign resident of an eligible country for the WCS Premier League, the player must submit a copy of their passport along with a valid resident visa for the eligible country for an evaluation of their residency status. The visa must be acquired before the start of the qualifiers and is only considered valid if it allows the player to stay in the region, work in the region, and earn prize money in the region.
- Examples of acceptable identification: Professional athlete visa, Work visa, Student visa
- Examples of non-acceptable identification: Expired visa, Working holiday visa, General tourist/visitor visa
- If a player can demonstrate consistent residency in a region starting on or before January 1, 2013, the residency visa requirement can be waived.
GSL[edit]
The GOMeXP Global StarCraft II League operates slightly differently:
- Code A, the equivalent to Challenger League, contains 48 players vying for a spot in the Premier League for the current season.
- Code S will operate as Premier League, with two group stages and a final elimination tournament. The top 8 players are automatically qualified in Code for the next season.
Exceptionally, for Season 1, 32 players qualify for Code .
SSL[edit]
The StarCraft II StarLeague operated by SPOTV Games is a new league introduced in 2015 to give more opportunities to Koreans players to earn WCS points.
- Qualifiers will be tournaments giving 32 players access to the Challenge round.
- Challenge is a 32 players round where the top 16 will advance to the main event.
- Main Event, 16 players competing for the championship, with the top 4 players automatically qualified in the main event for the next season.
WCS Global Events[edit]
As for the 2013 & 2014 series, partner events will give the opportunity to players to gain WCS points outside of the league. Three tiers have been created to determine the number of WCS points given out, depending on factors like prize pool, map pool, qualifier and tournament format.
Global Finals[edit]
The 2015 WCS Global Finals feature the sixteen players with the most WCS points in 2015. They are played in California, conclude 2015's WCS and distribute a total of $250,000 USD in prize money among the participants.
Prize Pool[edit]
WCS[edit]
WCS Premier League[edit]
WCS Challenger[edit]
Place | Prize (USD) | Points |
---|---|---|
1st-32nd | $0 | |
33rd-64th | $2,000 | 50 |
Total | $64,000 | 1,600 |
GSL[edit]
Code S[edit]
Code A[edit]
Place | Prize (KRW) | ≈ USD | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1st-24th | ₩0 | $0 | |
25th-48th | ₩400,000 | $361 | 50 |
Total | ₩9,600,000 | $8,664 | 1,200 |
Exception in Season 1, with no player in Code A.
The top 32 players from the qualifiers advance in Code S.
The top 32 players from the qualifiers advance in Code S.
SSL[edit]
Main Event[edit]
Challenge[edit]
Place | Prize (KRW) | ≈ USD | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1st-16th | ₩0 | $0 | Main Event |
17th-28th | ₩200,000 | $180 | 50 |
Total | ₩2,400,000 | $2,160 | 600 |
The distribution of points and money for the places 17th-28th was introduced for the Season 2.
Non-WCS Events[edit]
WCS Tier 1[edit]
Place | Points |
---|---|
1st | 1,500 |
2nd | 800 |
3rd-4th | 550 |
5th-8th | 400 |
9th-16th | 250 |
Total | 7,000 |
WCS Tier 2[edit]
Place | Points |
---|---|
1st | 750 |
2nd | 500 |
3rd-4th | 375 |
5th-8th | 250 |
9th-16th | 125 |
Total | 4,000 |
WCS Tier 3[edit]
Place | Points |
---|---|
1st | 300 |
2nd | 200 |
3rd-4th | 150 |
5th-8th | 100 |
9th-16th | 75 |
Total | 1,800 |
Minimum prize pool for Tier 1 = $75,000, Tier 2 = $25,000 and Tier 3 = $10,000.
2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series Events[edit]
Event | Date | Winner | Runner-Up | Score |
---|
World Championship | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals | 2015-11-01 – 2015-11-07 | sOs | Life | 4-3 |
Season 1 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series Season 1 | 2015-01-14 – 2015-04-05 | Polt | Hydra | 4-3 | ||
2015 Global StarCraft II League Season 1 | 2015-01-07 – 2015-03-22 | Life | PartinG | 4-3 | ||
2015 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 1 | 2014-12-17 – 2015-03-21 | Maru | Dream | 4-1 |
Season 2 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series Season 2 | 2015-04-18 – 2015-06-28 | Hydra | Lilbow | 4-2 | ||
2015 Global StarCraft II League Season 2 | 2015-04-01 – 2015-06-28 | Rain | ByuL | 4-1 | ||
2015 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 2 | 2015-04-02 – 2015-06-20 | Classic | Dream | 4-1 |
Season 3 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series Season 3 | 2015-05-29 – 2015-09-13 | Lilbow | MaNa | 4-2 | ||
2015 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 | 2015-07-08 – 2015-10-04 | INnoVation | ByuL | 4-2 | ||
2015 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 3 | 2015-07-02 – 2015-09-20 | herO | ByuL | 4-2 |
2015 WCS Partner Events[edit]
Event | Location | Date | Points | Winner | Runner-Up | Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2014 Hot6ix Cup | Seoul | (2014-11-18 – 2014-12-07) | 4,000 | sOs | MarineKing | 4-1 | |
IEM Season IX - San Jose | San Jose | (2014-12-03 – 2014-12-07) | 4,000 | herO | Rain | 4-3 | |
IEM Season IX - Taipei | Taipei | (2015-01-28 – 2015-02-01) | 4,000 | Life | Maru | 4-3 | |
IEM Season IX - World Championship | Katowice | (2015-03-12 – 2015-03-15) | 7,000 | Zest | Trap | 4-1 | |
Gfinity Spring Masters I | London | (2015-03-27 – 2015-03-29) | 1,800 | PartinG | Hydra | 4-2 | |
Copenhagen Games Spring 2015 | Copenhagen | (2015-04-01 – 2015-04-03) | 1,800 | PartinG | FanTaSy | 4-0 | |
Gfinity Spring Masters II | London | (2015-05-01 – 2015-05-03) | 1,800 | Solar | Hydra | 4-1 | |
2015 KeSPA Cup Season 1 | Seoul | (2015-05-03 – 2015-05-05) | 4,000 | herO | Dark | 4-3 | |
2015 DreamHack Open: Tours | Tours | (2015-05-08 – 2015-05-09) | 4,000 | PartinG | GuMiho | 3-1 | |
3rd Hong Kong Esports Tournament | Taipei | (2015-05-31 – 2015-06-13) | 1,800 | PartinG | Leenock | 4-1 | |
2015 KeSPA Cup Season 2 | Seoul | (2015-07-06 – 2015-07-12) | 4,000 | soO | Dark | 4-1 | |
2015 DreamHack Open: Valencia | Valencia | (2015-07-16 – 2015-07-17) | 4,000 | Curious | TRUE | 3-0 | |
IEM Season X - Shenzhen | Shenzehn | (2015-07-16 – 2015-07-20) | 4,000 | Classic | PartinG | 4-1 | |
4Gamers StarCraft II Tournament | Taipei | (2015-07-27 – 2015-09-05) | 1,800 | HyuN | Bomber | 4-2 | |
ASUS ROG Summer 2015 | Helsinki | (2015-07-30 – 2015-07-31) | 1,800 | Losira | PtitDrogo | 4-2 | |
IEM Season X - gamescom | Cologne | (2015-08-05 – 2015-08-09) | 4,000 | INnoVation | soO | 4-1 | |
MSI Masters Gaming Arena 2015 | Seattle | (2015-08-30 – 2015-08-31) | 4,000 | sOs | Solar | 3-0 | |
2015 DreamHack Open: Stockholm | Stockholm | (2015-09-24 – 2015-09-25) | 4,000 | Solar | HyuN | 3-1 |
Racial Distribution[edit]
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
- 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series
- WCS 2015: Details on Points, Prizes, and Residency
- 2015 WCS Player Handbook
References[edit]
- ↑ Blizzard Entertainment (March 11, 2015). "WCS Qualifiers, Schedule, and New Premier Pick System for Season 2". Wcs.battle.net. Retrieved March 11, 2015.