The 2018 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 Code S Playoffs underway

Some of the best players in the world have joined the prestigious 2018 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 Code S tournament. With a guaranteed prize pool of roughly $160,000, the tournament started in early July and it will conclude in mid-September. During the first group stage, matches were played in a best-of-three series, in a dual format.

Players who were eliminated, after finishing fourth in their group, will get another chance to re-qualify for the next season. The 2018 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 Code S spans over several months and it has taken almost 30 days for the Round of 16 to be reached and the remaining players have once again been split into four groups.

At this point, participants from both groups went through a loser’s bracket and a winner’s bracket after playing the first matches. The two players to qualify for the following round will be determined after the loser of the winner’s bracket and the winner of the loser’s bracket play a deciding match.

Good results for the non-Korean players

Out of the 32 players who signed up for the 2018 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 Code S, only three were from outside South Korea. In spite of playing against some of the best opponents in the world, they did a brilliant job. Reynor and Neeb won twice and advanced, while SpeCial finished third in his group and was eliminated. Reynor was assigned to Group A where he played against Maru, Neeb and Impact. He finished in third-place, leaving Neeb as the only non-Korean in the race for the trophy.

The quarterfinals are usually played in a single elimination playoff, but this time, the matches were played in a best-of-five format. These matches took place over the weekend and Neeb was the first to book his place in the semifinals. He defeated Rogue in four matches and he’ll be playing against TY in the middle of next week. Maru and Zest will be playing another match, after the former crushed his opponent, while the latter barely clawed his way into the semifinal.

The first semifinal will be played on September 5th and the second on September 8th and both will be decided in a best-of-seven series. There is an obvious balance, with two Terrans and two Protoss. Maru is favoured to win the tournament. The final is scheduled to take place on September 15th and the winner will be awarded a WCS Global Finals seed.

The losers of the semifinals won’t play a final match for the third-place, instead both will collect the equivalent of $7000. The runner-up will collect twice as much and +2800 WCR KR points. The winner will receive the lion’s share of $37,500, +4000 WCR KR points.

This article has been updated.