Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
The 2018 World Championship Series Global Finals for StarCraft II is set to unfold over the next two weeks. The Group Stages usher in this year's BlizzCon Opening Week, with the game's top players hitting the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, CA. (The Heroes of the Storm Global Championship will be contested simultaneously in front of a live audience, while the StarCraft II matches are contested in a more intimate atmosphere.) The Group Stages will determine the finalists who will advance to BlizzCon itself in Anaheim, CA, where one player will be crowned the StarCraft II World Champion.
The StarCraft World Championship Series Global Finals prize pool begins at $500,000. Sales from the StarCraft II War Chest will increase the final prize pool by a currently undetermined amount. Here is how the current $500,000 pot is set to be distributed:
The opening Group Stage will be contested in a dual elimination format. The top two players in each group at the end of the weekend will advance to the single-elimination bracket stage at BlizzCon.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Here's how the Group Stages played out:
And here's the bracket for the Playoff stage:
North America can check out all of the action either through the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket or for free via Twitch.
StarCraft II's WCS Global Finals 2018 will air live on Twitch. Those who watch the action and have active Blizzard accounts linked to their Twitch account are eligible to receive special drops. These include:
In addition, Blizzard will randomly award 2,000 lucky viewers each hour with a new race Banner. Viewers must tune in for a minimum of one hour to be eligible for this prize.
Blizzard will regularly update the StarCraft Esports YouTube channel with full matches that can be viewed on demand.