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StarCraft 2 World Championship Series 2013 qualifier and regional final dates revealed

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Even as Blizzard announced a unified tying-together of StarCraft 2’s international leagues last week, the wheels of 2013’s Championship Series were already turning. WCS Korea is happening as we speak, and the WCS America and WCS Europe leagues are nearly upon us. 

As such, the Craft’s men and women in Irvine have seen fit to detail plans for this year’s Series, and to release a list of competition dates – which run from last Thursday to the end of May.

Ordinarily Blizzard plan to host qualifiers during the preceding season – but since the Series is new, this year will play out a little differently.

During this month’s WCS America and WCS Europe, Blizzard will invite 24 players to compete in each region. Each will be picked according to their performance in past tournaments. What’s more, round of special qualifiers will be held to find eight more players, bringing the total to 32 for the next few weeks of play.

After that, the rest of Season 1 will play out according to the structure Blizzard have determined for all future Series’. Regional finals will see the top eight local players compete in a weekend offline event, and the best players from each of the three regionals will scuffle for the world title at the global Season Finals – a live event in a region TBD.

“To seed that event, the top 6 players from the host region will be joined by the top 5 players from each of the two other regions to engage in a fierce tournament in order to crown the best StarCraft II player in the world for that season,” say Blizzard.

That’s what all this is about, really – world rankings for StarCraft 2 players. Who do you think will be left standing atop a pile of their peers and anointed this year’s best player?

  • April 4: Korea – League play begins
  • April 14: Europe – Special qualifiers begin
  • April 20: America – Special qualifiers begin
  • April 23: Europe – League play begins (round of 32)
  • April 28: America – League play begins (round of 32)
  • May 14: Korea – Regional league finals begin (round of 8)
  • May 25: Europe – Regional league finals begin (round of 8)
  • May 31: America – Regional league finals begin (round of 8)

Thanks, PCG.