With the global finals just a couple of days away, I think it’s safe to uncross all digits and appendages and say that StarCraft II’s World Championship Series has been a success this year. That was never a given – on some weeks, when the US progaming scene seemed overrun by Korean talent, or when the regional finals were scheduled to clash with Dota 2’s International, it seemed a distant hope. But the whole thing went off with enough good bangs, and Blizzard are celebrating it the only way they know how – with cards.
These are not the digital oblongs that populate the Hearthstone beta, nor the fading rectangles of the now-defunct World of Warcraft Trading Card Game – instead, BlizzCon attendees will be showered with cards emblazoned with the faces of top StarCraft II players and casters. Many of whom will be in attendance, which should be nice and weird for them.
Those at BlizzCon this weekend will be proferred trading card packs at WCS matches, at the StarCraft II Fan Tournament Area, at pro player signing booths, and at various points throughout the show floor where developers and community teams will sport ‘Ask Me About #WCScards’ buttons.
“Packs are always free with a dose of StarCraft II,” write Blizz.
Elsewhere, however, they’re somewhat harder to come by. You’ll either want to visit the WCS Portal or StarCraft Facebook page to enter the contest advertised there, or attend an BlizzCon BarCraft event. Find one of those near you on the official page.
Blizzard refer to the new cards as ‘Series One’, and clearly have some intention of building on this foundation at future events. The current set features the following teams:
- Alliance
- Axiom
- CMStorm
- Evil Geniuses
- Grubby
- Incredible Miracle
- KT Rolster
- Millenium
- mousesports
- MVP
- mYinsanity
- NewRoSoft
- Prime
- Quantic Gaming
- Samsung Galaxy
- SK Gaming
- SK Telecom T1
- Team Acer
- TeamLiquid
- Woongjin Stars
Is your favourite among those names?