| 2013 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | StarCraft II |
| Location | Anaheim, California |
| Administrator | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Venue(s) | Anaheim Convention Center |
| Purse | $250,000 |
| Final positions | |
| Champion | Kim "sOs" Yoo Jin |
| Runner-up | Lee "Jaedong" Jae-dong |
The 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2013 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. [1] The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Kim "sOs" Yoo Jin. [2]
The 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series introduced large scale changes after the inaugural 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series, turning the World Championship Series into the highest level of StarCraft II competition and culminating in the Global Finals at BlizzCon. Based on the format of the Global StarCraft II League (GSL), three Premier Leagues were formed - Korea, Europe, and America. Each region also contained a Challenger League that fed into Premier, in reaction to Korean dominance across all WCS leagues. Korea's WCS Premier League returned to Global StarCraft II League (GSL) branding, with all three seasons fully run by GOMTV, marking the end of the Ongamenet Starleague (OSL). All WCS leagues featured three seasons of regular play, with cross-regional Season Finals pitting the top-placing players of each region against each other. [1]
Non-WCS events which covered some prize pool, online coverage, and qualification requirements were allowed to become sanctioned events and give out WCS Points to count towards qualification and seeding in the Global Finals.
All sanctioned events, including Premier Leagues and non-WCS tournaments, gave out WCS Points to players based on their ranking and the event's WCS Points prize allocation. The sixteen highest-ranking players received invites to the Global Finals, seeded into a bracket based on their rank. [1] As there were two players tied for the 16th seed, a tie-breaker match was held prior to the commencement of the Global Finals. [3]
The WCS Global Finals were held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California as part of BlizzCon 2013. [1] They featured bracket play throughout the event, ending with Kim "sOs" Yoo Jin victorious. [2] [4]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
 Soulkey | 1 | ||||||||||
| Bomber | 3 | Bomber | 1 | ||||||||
| sOs | 3 | sOs | 3 | ||||||||
| Polt | 1 | sOs | 4 | ||||||||
| Dear | 2 | Jaedong | 1 | ||||||||
| Jaedong | 3 | Jaedong | 3 | ||||||||
| Maru | 3 | Maru | 1 | ||||||||
| duckdeok | 2 | ||||||||||
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch.
Lee Jae-dong, who plays simply under the name Jaedong, is a South Korean professional StarCraft: Brood War player and former StarCraft II player, playing most recently for team Evil Geniuses prior to his StarCraft II retirement. After retiring from StarCraft II, Jaedong returned to playing SC:BW. Announced as a full-time streamer on 12 November 2016, he made his return to the tournament scene a week later during the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match lll. Using the Zerg race in both games, Lee is considered one of the most successful StarCraft players of all time, having won five OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) and MBCGame StarCraft League (MSL) tournaments, and earning over $600,000 in tournament prize money. His other nicknames include The Tyrant and The Legend Killer.
StarCraft II is a military science fiction video game created by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the successful StarCraft video game released in 1998. Set in a fictional future, the game centers on a galactic struggle for dominance among the various fictional races of StarCraft.
Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void tournament hosted by afreecaTV and Blizzard Entertainment in South Korea. This event is broadcast up to 2 nights a week. GOMeXp had hosted it until the last season of 2015. There is also an English language stream available. The tournament features two leagues, Code S (major) and Code A (minor). The English cast of them is mainly performed by Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott. Formerly broadcast on Wednesdays and Saturdays on TwitchTV, the program switched to broadcasting on Mondays and Thursdays, with the English casts on YouTube, in 2020. In 2023, it was reported that the GSL will continue, but with a reduced presence: it will hold fewer, smaller tournaments with the preliminary matches played online, presumably due to Blizzard no longer funding the prize pools.
Lim Jae-Duk (Korean: 임재덕), known by the pseudonym of NesTea, is one of the most successful players of the real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. He has won $246,963 in tournament winnings over the course of his StarCraft 2 career, and has won three GOMTV Global Starcraft II League (GSL) tournaments, the third-most of any player, just behind teammate Jung "Mvp" Jong Hyun who has four titles as well as Maru who has recently won his fifth title.
The 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is part of the Battle.net World Championship Series, a series of video game tournaments held by Blizzard Entertainment, the creators of the video game StarCraft II (SC2). Tournaments were held in more than 28 countries to find top StarCraft II competitors. The top-ranked players from each continent were then invited to compete in the Global Finals in Shanghai, China. Korean player Won "PartinG" Lee-Sak emerged victorious in the final match against Jang "Creator" Hyun Woo, with third place going to Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong.
Park "Lyn" June (Korean: 박준) is a professional Starcraft II Terran player and former Warcraft III Orc player from South Korea. Lyn was a successful Warcraft III player before transitioning to Starcraft II. He is the only player to have won almost all of the premier tournaments, including the World Cyber Games, Electronic Sports World Cup, BlizzCon and Intel Extreme Masters. The only two premier tournaments which he has never won are the World e-Sports Games and International E-Sports Festival, instead placing second in the World e-Sports Games in 2008 and 2010, and in the International E-Sports Festival in 2007. The total prize money Lyn has won playing Warcraft 3 is behind only Jang "moon" Jae-ho.
Lee Seung-Hyun, better known as Life, is a former professional South Korean StarCraft II player. He began his career in 2011 with Team Zenex, which merged with StarTale shortly after. He later played for KT Rolster and shortly for Afreeca Freecs. At the end of his career, Life was one of the most accomplished StarCraft II players of all time with second most premier tournament wins of any StarCraft II player, including one World Championship Series title in 2014, two Global StarCraft II League (GSL) titles, one GSL Blizzard Cup title, two Major League Gaming titles, two DreamHack titles, and one Intel Extreme Masters title.
The StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) was a StarCraft II professional tournament series organized and sanctioned by Blizzard Entertainment that ran from 2012 to 2019. For all but its first year of operation, it was the highest tier of professional StarCraft II competition. Its longest-running iteration featured two regions, World Championship Series Korea and World Championship Series Circuit, with World Championship Series Global events featuring players from both regions. Grand finals were held annually at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, except for the first year of competition, when the finals were held in Shanghai, China. WCS Circuit events were streamed on Twitch while WCS Korea events were available on Twitch, YouTube, and afreecaTV.
Won Lee-sak, (Korean: 원이삭) better known by his in-game name PartinG, is a South Korean StarCraft II Protoss player. He was the winner of the 2012 StarCraft II World Championship Series. He has played for yoe Flash Wolves, SK Telecom T1, and Team Player 1.
The StarCraft II StarLeague, also known as SSL or S2SL in short, was a large StarCraft II tournament series hosted by SPOTV GAMES that was played offline in South Korea. The tournament series was held in parallel with the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) as qualifiers for the StarCraft World Championship Series (WCS) held yearly at BlizzCon.
Kim Yoo-jin (Korean: 김유진), better known by his gaming handle sOs, is a Korean professional StarCraft II player. He is the first two-time StarCraft II World Championship Series winner, claiming the title in 2013 and 2015. Kim spent most of his career playing for the Jin Air Green Wings team, from 2013–2020. He is a Protoss player. He announced his retirement from professional gaming in 2021.
Professional StarCraft II competition features professional gamers competing in Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game StarCraft II. Professional play began following the game's initial release in 2010, as the game was the long-awaited sequel to StarCraft, considered one of the first esports and the foundation of South Korea's interest and success in competitive gaming. Between 2016 and 2019, competition was centered around the Global StarCraft II League in Korea and the World Championship Series Circuit everywhere else, with all Blizzard-sanctioned events being under the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) banner. Since 2020, Blizzard changed the format of WCS by entering into a three-year partnership with esports organizers ESL and DreamHack.
Joona Sotala, better known as Serral, is a Finnish professional StarCraft II player using the race Zerg. In 2018, Serral became the first non-Korean player to win the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS). He won every major non-Korean tournament in 2018, the 2018 Global Starcraft II League (GSL) vs. the World event and, ultimately, the 2018 WCS Global Finals. In 2022, he won the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice, and with the updated championship format he won the world championship of StarCraft II for the second time.
The 2018 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2018 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the top esports tournament circuit for StarCraft II. Featuring the top eight players from each WCS region, World Championship Series Korea and the World Championship Series Circuit, the Global Finals received greater coverage than most prior events when Finnish professional player Joona "Serral" Sotala became the first non-Korean world champion in the StarCraft series.
The 2017 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2017 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Lee "Rogue" Byung Ryul.
The 2016 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2016 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Byun "ByuN" Hyun Woo.
The 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2015 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Kim "sOs" Yoo Jin, becoming the first two-time StarCraft II world champion.
The 2014 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2014 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the highest level of esports competition for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Lee "Life" Seung Hyun.
The 2019 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) is the 2019 edition of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, the top esports tournament circuit for StarCraft II. The tournament series' Global Finals were won by South Korean professional player Park "Dark" Ryung Woo.
| StarCraft video games | |
|---|---|
| StarCraft II video games | |
| Universe | |
| Other media |
|
| Esports | |
| People | |
| Related | |
Esports and competitive video gaming | |
|---|---|
| Fighting | |
| MOBA |
|
| Real-time strategy | |
| Shooter | |
| Sports | |
| Other genres | |
| Multi-genre | |
| Governing bodies |
|
| Defunct organizations | |
| Years | |
