Starcraft 2 GSL vs the World starts on August 2
Players from South Korea have been dominating the Starcraft stage for two decades. They proved to be equally successful when playing the sequel and are more than a match for their international peers in Starcraft 2. Having said this, tournaments such as GSL vs the World are immensely popular with the fans from all over the globe. That’s because it provides them with the chance to see the best players from across the globe putting their skills to the test against the top players from Korea.
This is the second WCS Global Event of 2018 and it takes precisely 4 days, starting on August 2. It takes place in South Korea and it will conclude on August 5, when winners will be crowned. Past performance suggests that the local players are overwhelming favorites as they have dominated the previous event. The tournament is played in a single elimination bracket with all matches except for the final being best-of-five. In the final act of the competition, the finalists will play in a best-of-seven series. For commentators, Artosis and Tasteless were the obvious choices and they will bring the matches to life in 2018 once again.
Tournament Structure and Prize Pool
Starcraft 2 is the most popular real-time strategy game right now and by far the most competitive in the sports arena. The prize pool is yet to be determined, but last year it consisted of $96,000, which was a bit disappointing for some. In spite of the paycheck coming short of hitting the six digit threshold, the money is good enough to motivate the player, but represents just one of the incentives. Participants are first and foremost interested in proving their quality against the best players in the world.
South Koreans are overwhelming favorites once again, after innovation won the tournament last year. He received a bit over $35,000, while the runner-up was also a South Korean, TY who got $13,400. Both were Terran players, while the ones who finish in the third and fourth place were Protoss and Zerg players. Not surprisingly, they were from the same country, with Stats defeating soO; both claimed a bit over $6000, yet this is an important result in their CV.
An interesting aspect about the Starcraft 2 GSL vs the World is that one player from each team will lead the squad as a champion. Fan voting started earlier this month and concluded already, so we know the names. Innovation was the choice for Terran players, Dark represents the Zerg and Zest is the Protoss choice, with soO winning the wild-card.
Team world has its own group of champions, with Kelazhur winning the nomination for Terrans and Scarlett for Zerg. Has and Cyan are both Protoss, with the first winning the nomination, while the latter being the Chinese representative. The bottom line is that the Starcraft 2 GSL vs the World is likely to be major hit, with the international team starting as a huge underdog against the South Korean hosts.
