bytes: SPL Spring Split Begins, WCS Challenger Season

March 19, 2018 Kim Key

SMITE Season 5 Pro League Information

The SMITE Pro League Spring Split begins March 20th, and will run for 6 weeks. The weekly competition will determine qualifications for the SMITE Masters in early May, as the top two teams from North America and Europe will move on to the Masters.

The Spring Split will also follow a new format this year:

  • Double round robin format
  • Best-of-three matches
  • 2 matches on Tuesday and Wednesday
  • 3 matches on Thursday and Friday

The NA and EU regions will each be broadcast on a different day of the week. All matches will be broadcast on a new platform too – Mixer.

  • Tuesdays & Thursdays (1:00 PM EST) – EU SPL
  • Wednesdays & Fridays (5:00 PM EST) – NA SPL
STARCRAFT II WCS CHALLENGER SEASON 1 BEGINS APRIL 14

The World Championship Series (WCS) Challenger tournament begins April 14, giving 16 aspiring and seasoned StarCraft II professional players from North America and Europe a chance to claim a regional championship and prize money, and earn WCS points, which count towards qualifying for the WCS Global Finals later this year.

In addition, the top four WCS Challenger players from each region will receive an invitation to the Round of 32 at WCS Austin.

The main WCS Challenger tournament will run on weekends beginning April 14, with the first half of each broadcast day dedicated to Europe and the second half focused on North America. Matches will be broadcast live at: https://www.twitch.tv/starcraft

  • April 14: 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. PDT
  • April 15: 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. PDT
  • April 21: 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. PDT
  • April 29: 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. PDT
  • Finals TBD

Players can qualify for WCS Challenger through their final placement from WCS Leipzig Pre-Season and current rank on the competitive ladder. In addition, players can also secure a spot in WCS Challenger by qualifying through the online open qualifiers, which take place on April 7-8 in North America, and April 9-10 in Europe.  Registration details for open qualifiers will be announced soon.

Prizing

The top four WCS Challenger players in both North America and Europe will receive invites to the Round of 32 at WCS Austin. Based on their performances in the first season of WCS Challenger, the field of players receive cash prizes and WCS Points as follows:

1st Place 200 WCS Points $1,600 USD
2nd Place 140 Points $1,200 USD
3rd – 4th Places 90 WCS Points $800 USD
5th – 8th Places 60 WCS Points $600 USD
9th – 16th Places 30 WCS Points $400 USD

 

HCT Bangkok Results

Last weekend Bangkok played host to Thailand’s largest Hearthstone tournament to date with 209 participating players, offering $15,000 prize pool and 191 Hearthstone competitive points.

This was the fifth tour stop of the year. Players from 27 different countries participated in the competition. Tom60229, the 2017 World Champion, placed top 8, proving to any of his potential critics that his World Championship performance was no fluke.

Following Bangkok, HCT will land in Oslo this coming weekend March 24-25.

Results:

Place $ USD HC Points Player Country
 1st 5000 15  ShangHigh South Korea
 2nd 3000 12 DacRyvius  South Korea
 3rd-4th 1500 10 Crane333 Denmark
 3rd-4th 1500 10 Illsorry Australia
5th-8th 600 8 Tom60229 Taiwan
5th-8th 600 8 Kapi Thailand
5th-8th 600 8  Reall Taiwan
5th-8th 600 8 Kribo South Korea

Heroes Global Championship: Ballistix Rallies to Defeat KSV Black and Win the Eastern Clash

On Mar. 16-18 at the Blizzard Arena in Taipei, Taiwan, the best Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) teams from Asia met to decide who reigned supreme in the East, and in the end it was Korea’s Ballistix (6-1) who emerged victorious to take home the Eastern Clash championship and the lion’s share of the $250,000.

Korea reigned supreme throughout the Eastern Clash, but surprisingly, the undefeated Tempest (7-0) couldn’t hold off their Korean rivals and fell to KSV Black (5-2) and were eliminated by Ballistix. Ballistix actually were knocked down to the lower bracket by KSV Black in the semi-finals, but rebounded to take first place in the finals, beating KSV Black 4-3. The results from the Eastern Clash are:

  • 1st Place ($30,000) – Ballistix (KR)
  • 2nd Place ($20,000) – KSV Black (KR)
  • 3rd Place ($15,000) – Tempest (KR)
  • 4th Place ($10,000) – BlossoM (KR)