Previously, we announced our WCS Season 2 Schedule, including the WCS America Qualifiers, run by Blizzard Entertainment in cooperation with the Electronic Sports League. All qualifiers are 512 player, single elimination tournaments, in which the top two qualify for WCS America Challenger League. We are now opening signups to the general public.

Requirements

To compete in the WCS America Season 2 Qualifiers you must have achieved Master League or above in the Americas Battle.net region during this, or the previous, Ladder Season. You must also be at least 13 years of age by the time of the qualifier.

How to Sign Up

Register for ESL's Website

If you have not created an account on ESL's website, or registered for a tournament before, there is a very useful guide that can be found on ESL's website.

Register Your StarCraft II Americas Account

Make sure when you create a game account (which can done here), you create it for Americas region of StarCraft II. Use your Americas region account information.

You will also have to enter your Battle.net profile URL AND your character code, so that we can verify that you’ve met the league requirement on the Americas region of Battle.net.

In order to find your character profile URL, first login in at us.battle.net/sc2 to access your America region Battle.net account. Then click the dropdown arrow next to your StarCraft II character name to navigate to your profile page.

Copy the URL of your profile page into the text field on ESL's website. Do not hit send.

Next, you need to add your StarCraft II character code associated with your Americas region Battle.net account. You can find this by hitting "View Posts" in your profile drop-down, as pictured above. You can also look it up through the Starcraft II game client by opening the “Add Friend” menu, then selecting the “Character Friend” tab. Hit send, and you'll register your game account.

Qualifiers Day-of Instructions

After you've signed up with your account information from the Americas region, your next step will be on the day of the qualifiers.

Check-in

Check-in is on a first-come, first served basis and starts at 11:00 a.m. PDT -one hour before the official start of the cup. The qualifier will start at 12:00 p.m. PDT, or as soon as we have a full bracket of players (512) checked in.

If you have any questions about the event, qualifiers, or participation in WCS, please send an email to the Blizzard eSports team.

Admin Support

If you have any problems during the Cup, including reporting match results or not being able to find your opponent, please contact an admin in the Cup Chat. For any questions, open a support ticket. Please join the channel "WCS America" on StarCraft II Battle.net as well.

Start Your Match

Once the Cup has started, your match will appear in the "matches" area at the bottom of the page. Hover over "matches" and click the joystick icon for your match to reach the match page. Hover over "matches" and click the match to open the chat for your match.

The first place to try contacting your opponent is in-game through Battle.net. Go to the match page and you will find their Battle.net nickname and character code underneath their ESL nickname.

If you can't find them on Battle.net, then try:

• Writing a comment on the match page
• Chatting with the match chat (matches at the bottom right and click your match)
• Cup Chat

Keep trying to contact your opponent via all methods for at least 10 minutes before reporting to an admin in Cup Chat.

Report Your Match Result

Go to "matches" and then match setup to enter the result in map wins (e.g. 1:0.) The other player can then confirm the result.

Either player should upload the replay(s) of the match by going to the match page and then "Upload replays"

You can find replays in
"My Documents\StarCraft II\Replays"

Problems

If you have any problems, go to Cup Chat to get the attention of an admin.

On one line write, "admin:
"

e.g. "admin: my opponent has not confirmed http://www.esl.eu/eu/sc2/go4sc2/cup2

Rules

Map Pool

The starting map for every round will be listed on the bracket. The map pool contains only official Blizzard maps, and is as follows:

• Red City LE
• Akilon Wastes
• Korhal Sky Island LE
• Newkirk Precinct TE
• Neo Planet S LE
• Bel'Shir Vestige LE
• Derelict Watcher TE

Vetoes

In Best of 3 a map veto (removal and pick) system is used. The higher seeded player (seeds can be found at round 1 on the grid page) decides who starts. They process is as follows, with Player 1 representing the higher seeded player:

1. Player 1 vetoes a map
2. Player 2 vetoes a map
3. Player 1 vetoes a map
4. Player 2 vetoes a map
5. Player 1 picks Map 1
6. Player 2 picks Map 2
7. The last remaining map will be used as Map 3.

Disputes

Contact an admin to resolve any conflicts between players or for rule clarifications. As stated previously, if you cannot reach your opponent after 10 minutes of directly attempting to contact them, please seek admin assistance.

If you have any questions or concerns about the tournament, direct them to esportsteam@blizzard.com