Sixteen of the world's top StarCraft II players will meet this week in Seoul, South Korea, for the cross-region 2013 World Championship Series Season 1 Finals, where they’ll battle for the title of WCS Season 1 Champion. Players from around the globe climbed to the top of their WCS regions with the gleam of the $150,000 prize pool and 17,000 WCS points in their eyes. Regional Champions Jung 'Mvp' Jong Hyun and Song 'HerO' Hyeon Deok have many tournament victories in their past results, while Kim 'Soulkey' Min Chul is looking to add to his trophy case after his astonishing WCS Korea comeback. The rest of the field will have to bring their best builds and keep their nerves cool to make it past these heavyweights.

You can watch all the WCS Season 1 Finals matches, produced by OnGameNet, starting at 3:00 a.m. CEST each night from June 7–9 at starcraft2.com/wcs, featuring shoutcasters Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott, Shaun ‘Apollo’ Clark, Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles, and Erik ‘DoA’ Lonnquist. All streams will be presented in free 720p and accessible from mobile devices. If you would like to attend in person, entry into the event is free all weekend long, and you can find venue details here.

We have a special two-part Season Finals preview episode of WCS Today to share with you. In part 1 found below, Andrew Dunne and Kevin Knocke highlight everything you need to know about Round of 16 Groups A and B. Make sure to check back here tomorrow, as we’ll be featuring Groups C and D in the second part of this Season Finals preview.

WCS Today: Global Finals Part 1 – June 5, 2013

If you want to peek ahead to see which players are in each group, check out the images below:

As Group A is one of two Zerg heavy groups, WCS Korea Champion Soulkey will have to stay on his toes to make it out with the fickle ZvZ matchup. This group also features the rivalry between two popular European players, Dario ‘TLO’ Wünsch and Ilyes ‘Stephano’ Satouri. The only Terran in the group, Han ‘aLive’ Lee Seok may find this group to be quite challenging. With a 44% win rate versus Zerg in WCS Matches thus far, aLive will need to prepare heavily for his opponents this weekend.

Mvp is often favored to get out of any group he joins, but he will find formidable opposition in Group B, which features a set of consistent and powerful players. Kim ‘Ryung’ Dong Won earned himself the nickname The Terran Sniper in Wings of Liberty, and Yang ‘Alicia’ Joon Sik’s best matchup so far in WCS is versus Terran. Hwang ‘KangHo’ Kang Ho is not a player to be underestimated either, as he swept an excellent Terran player, Choi ‘Bomber’ Ji Sung, 3-0, to reach the Season Finals.

Park ‘ForGG’ Ji Soo has built his WCS season on his ability to excel in Terran versus Terran, but he won't have the opportunity to showcase his mirror skills in Group C. Kim ‘sOs’ Yoo Jin and Kang ‘Symbol’ Dong Hyun each pose a significant threat within the group, and , HerO seems to be riding momentum from his WCS America championship and his strong performance at DreamHack.

The only group without a regional champion, Group D features Lee ‘INnoVation’ Shin Hyung, who some might say is the most fearsome player in the Season 1 Finals. INnoVation demonstrated ruthless Terran versus Zerg prowess during his run through WCS Korea, only coming up short in the final match against Soulkey. If that signified the start of a slump, Zerg versus Zerg could very well decide the group, with Kim ‘Revival’ Dong Hyun and Shin ‘RorO’ No Yeol demonstrating incredible talent with the ZvZ matchup in the past. Dmytro ‘DIMAGA’ Filipchuk is a European wildcard who has taken down Koreans in international competition before, but can he do it again?

​​Click here for a prediction bracket that you can print out, fill out, and score as you watch the Season Finals.

All photos courtesy of GomTV, Ina Veiser and Richard Stanway.