2017 StarCraft II World Championship Series

From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki

Overview[edit]

The 2017 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, AfreecaTV, DreamHack and ESL. Like in 2016, there will be a 2 million USD prize pool, that will be spread out among multiple events throughout the year. WCS will be essentially split between the WCS Circuit and WCS Korea, only reunited in WCS Global Events and in the WCS Global Playoffs and Finals that conclude the season.

Sixteen spots in the WCS Global Playoffs will be available, either by winning specific events (IEM Katowice, WCS Circuit events or WCS Korea GSL seasons), or by being one of the top-ranked players of the WCS Circuit or WCS Korea.

Format[edit]

The WCS system is split in two: WCS Korea and WCS Circuit. Both systems have their standings, with points earned at various events.

Throughout the year[edit]

WCS Korea[edit]

There will be three seasons of Global StarCraft II League (GSL) awarding points.

GSL[edit]

The Global StarCraft II League is organized by AfreecaTV, and operates as follows:

  • There is no more Code A, with direct qualifiers for Code .
  • Code S has two group stages and a final elimination tournament. Unlike previous years where quarterfinalists were seeded into the next season, in 2017 only the semifinalists are seeded into next season's first Code S group stage.
  • There will be three GSL seasons in 2017, back up from two in 2016.
SSL[edit]

The StarCraft II StarLeague is organized by SPOTV Games, and operates as follows:

  • Open qualifiers determine the 10 players advancing to SSL Challenge and SSL Premier for season 1, respectively, for a total of 20 participants in the regular season.
  • SSL Challenge for Season 1 has 10 players from open qualifiers playing in the first round in two groups of five. Six players advance to the second round in a six-player Bo5 round robin format. The top finisher is seeded directly into Season 1 SSL Premier, second and third place advance to Fast Lane Day 1, and fourth place advances to Day 2. The rest of the players are eliminated from the SSL.
  • SSL Premier has 10 players playing a Bo3 round robin format. The top four advance to the playoffs, or Post Season, the top placing finisher being seeded directly into the grand finals. Alongside the top four, fifth place is also seeded into next season's SSL Premier. Sixth and seventh advance to Fast Lane Day 1, and eighth advances to Fast Lane Day 2. Ninth and tenth place finishers are relegated to next season's SSL Challenge.
  • Fast Lane is a two day event allowing for a total of four players to advance to next season's SSL Premier through two GSL-style four-player groups. In Day One the first four player group is played, with the top two advancing to SSL Premier and the bottom two playing in Day Two. In Day Two another two players join those eliminated in Day One. The top two players of Day Two also advance to SSL Premier, while the bottom two are relegated to SSL Challenge for the next season.
  • There will be two SSL seasons in 2017, equal to 2016.

WCS Circuit[edit]

Events[edit]

There will be four WCS Circuit Events awarding points. These events are run by DreamHack.

Regional Challenger tournaments will seed into the events, and provide additional points.

Global Events[edit]

Besides the WCS Global Playoffs and Finals, WCS Global Events will reunite players from both regions.

Conclusion[edit]

2017 WCS Format overview

Global Playoffs[edit]

At the end of the year, sixteen players from each region qualify to the 2017 WCS Global Playoffs.

  • The winner of the global event IEM Season XI - World Championship.
  • The winners of the three GSL seasons, and the four WCS Circuit events. If one of them is the winner of the IEM Katowice, then the next-highest placing player qualifies.
  • With WCS points:
    • WCS Korea: 5 seeds from the standings.
    • WCS Circuit: 4 seeds from the standings

If a player has won multiple GSL seasons, or multiple Circuit Events, then there will be one more seed from the corresponding standings. There will one less seed in the region where the winner of IEM Katowice plays.

There will be four groups of four players :

  • Two players from WCS Korea, two players from WCS Circuit
  • Dual Tournament format
  • Best-of-three
  • Top two qualify to the WCS Global Finals

Global Finals[edit]

The 2017 WCS Global Finals will feature 8 players qualified from the Global Playoffs, playing in a single-elimination bracket, with Bo5 matches leading to a Bo7 grand final, crowning the 2017 WCS Champion.

2017 StarCraft II World Championship Series Events[edit]

Event Date Winner Runner-Up Score
World Championship
2017 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals 2017-10-27 - 2017-11-04 South Korea Zerg Rogue South Korea Zerg soO 4-2
GSL
2017 Global StarCraft II League Season 1 2017-01-04 – 2017-03-26 South Korea Protoss Stats South Korea Zerg soO 4-2
2017 Global StarCraft II League Season 2 2017-04-19 – 2017-06-24 South Korea Terran GuMiho South Korea Zerg soO 4-2
2017 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 2017-07-05 – 2017-09-16 South Korea Terran INnoVation South Korea Protoss sOs 4-3
SSL
2017 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 1 2017-03-20 – 2017-06-10 South Korea Terran INnoVation South Korea Zerg Solar 4-1
2017 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 2 2017-07-03 – 2017-09-24 South Korea Protoss Stats South Korea Zerg Dark 4-3
WCS Korea Events
IEM Season XI - Gyeonggi 2016-12-14 – 2016-12-18 South Korea Terran INnoVation South Korea Protoss Stats 4-0
2017 AfreecaTV Super Tournament #1 2017-04-06 – 2017-04-09 South Korea Protoss herO South Korea Terran aLive 4-2
2017 AfreecaTV Super Tournament #2 2017-09-28 – 2017-10-01 South Korea Zerg Rogue South Korea Protoss herO 4-3
WCS Circuit Events
2017 WCS Austin 2017-04-28 – 2017-04-30 United States Protoss Neeb Poland Zerg Nerchio 4-2
2017 WCS Jönköping 2017-06-17 – 2017-06-19 United States Protoss Neeb Finland Zerg Serral 4-3
2017 WCS Valencia 2017-07-13 – 2017-07-15 Poland Zerg Elazer Norway Zerg Snute 4-3
2017 WCS Montreal 2017-09-08 – 2017-09-10 United States Protoss Neeb Norway Zerg Snute 4-0

2017 WCS Global Events[edit]

Event Location Date Winner Runner-Up Score
Intel Extreme Masters IEM Season XI - World Championship Poland Katowice 2017-02-27 – 2017-03-05 South Korea Terran TY South Korea Protoss Stats 4-3
Intel Extreme Masters IEM Season XII - Shanghai China Shanghai 2017-07-27 – 2017-07-30 South Korea Zerg Rogue South Korea Protoss herO 4-1
GOMTV Global StarCraft II League 2017 GSL vs. the World South Korea Seoul 2017-08-03– 2017-08-06 South Korea Terran INnoVation South Korea Terran TY 4-0

See also[edit]

External links[edit]