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Posted on June 5, 2013, Ryan Visbeck State on StarCraft: HerO Dominates WCS America Finals

State on StarCraft is a weekly column on Game Front by Ryan “State” Visbeck, a pro StarCraft 2 player. Each week State brings you his unique perspective on all things StarCraft, including tips, tricks and stories from the front line of competitive play.

NOTE: “State” is officially sponsored by Game Front.



Hi, everyone!

This week we will recap the WCS America Season 1 Finals and provide you with some more replays of my ladder and tournament games. Download the replay pack right here and watch a few of my winning matches in the quarter- and semi-finals from SHOUTcraft America, as well as ladder games against IdrA, DeMusliM, and EG’s newest player, Xenocider.

What is WCS?

The 2013 World Championship Series (WCS) is a year-long, $1.6 million dollar StarCraft 2 tournament run by Blizzard Entertainment. The tournament is divided into three regions (Korea, America, and Europe) and spans four seasons. At the end of the year, the WCS Grand Finals will be held at BlizzCon in Anaheim, CA.

You can watch this video to see Blizzard’s Tim Frazier and Andrew Dunne recap the WCS America and WCS Korea final:

The Finals

Last Sunday, WCS America held its finals at the MLG studio in New York City. Eight players vied for $60,000 in prizes and America’s 5 seeds to the season finals in Seoul, Korea.

At the finals, fan favorite Liquid`HerO displayed dominance in all matchups on his way to a decisive 4-2 victory over Evil Genius’ Revival. Liquid`Snute and Nv`mOOnGLaDe also capped off fantastic seasons as the highest placing non-Koreans in WCS America.

The top eight players of the tournament will participate again in Season 2. A separate qualifier, the Challenger League, will seed the other 24 players. So far, we are halfway through the Challenger League and eight players have qualified, including North Americans AcerScarlett, ROOTheognis, and EGSuppyRC. In two weeks, I am participating to qualify as one of the remaining 16 players.

Liquid`HerO, EGRevivalRC, AxiomRyung, EGaLiveRC, and AxiomAlicia will represent America at the season finals in Seoul, Korea. For the full results of the WCS America Premier League, visit Blizzard’s official brackets here.

If you missed watching the WCS America finals live, you can watch the VODs for free on Twitch.TV.

Major League Gaming also announced the return of StarCraft 2 to the Spring Championship at Anaheim. Unlike previous MLG events, MLG Anaheim will feature no invitees or group stages. Rather, 128 players will compete in a double-elimination, open bracket tournament for $25,000 in prizes. WCS points, which are used to determine who will compete in the WCS Grand Finals at the end of the year, are also up for grabs. I’ll be participating in the Spring Championship at Anaheim, so be sure to watch!

As always, you can watch me play live on Twitch.TV and follow me to receive updates on Twitter.

Next week’s article will feature another guide. I’d love to hear in the comments what you’d like to see!