The WCS Winter Championship is taking place at the Spodek arena during Intel Extreme Masters Katowice next week! US$150,000 on the line, 11,000 WCS points up for grabs and a WCS Global Playoffs seed for the taking promise a hard-fought and thrilling knockout round.
Our very own Shaun “Apollo” Clark can’t wait to host the analysis desk during the four-day event to cover the intense 32-player single elimination bracket, but before that we asked him what he expects to see in Katowice.
The expert opinion
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Shaun had the following thoughts about the bracket:
“I am very excited to be traveling over to Poland in the next couple of days to cover the first WCS Championship of the year. The tournament is set to be a very intense one due to the nature of the tournament format. With the bracket being single elimination, there is no room for error from players, and with so much on the line everybody will be on the edge of their seats for every single match. I think it’s very difficult to call out a favorite to do well because I think there is a group of elite players who can easily go back and forth trading games all day.
I am very curious to see who will be the first player to qualify for the global playoffs in California to play for a spot at Blizzcon. When push comes to shove, I think you have to look out for Hydra/Polt/Violet, naturally. I think MarineLorD is going to do very well but my pick for the tournament has to be Nerchio. I feel Zerg are doing well recently and this guy is the ultimate veteran. He is experienced, motivated and is enjoying LotV - my pick for sure!”
The schedule
Below you can find a mini schedule for the WCS Winter Championship. Please note that all matches are best of five except for the grand finals, which are best of seven.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2ND
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~12:00 to ~22:30 CET: Round of 32 matches
THURSDAY, MARCH 3RD
- ~12:00 to ~15:00 CET: Round of 32 matches
- ~15:00 to ~22:30 CET: Round of 16 matches
FRIDAY, MARCH 4TH
- ~12:00 to ~17:00 CET: Round of 16 matches (auditorium)
- ~17:00 to ~23:00 CET: Quarterfinals (auditorium)
SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH
- ~12:00 to ~13:40 CET: Semifinal one (main stage)
- ~13:40 to ~15:20 CET: Semifinal two (main stage)
- ~15:20 to ~17:40 CET: Grand final (main stage)
You can find the complete schedule on the Intel Extreme Masters site.
Streams and social media
We can’t wait for March the 2nd to watch the start of the round of 32! As always, don’t forget to follow ESL StarCraft on Twitter and Facebook to get all WCS Winter Championship updates and make sure to tune in next week on our livestream. See you then!
