Complete guide to StarCraft 2-esports

Similar to its predecessor, the second version of StarCraft was highly praised for its gameplay engaging and extremely creative and well-developed storyline. Wings of Liberty it was a success not only among gamers, but also among specialized reviews. He scored 93% approval in the Metacritic and 92% no GameRankings , both websites that gather scores from reviews and evaluations made by official channels such as magazines and newspapers.

The premise of StarCraft II is real-time strategy within a sci-fi storyline that builds a universe of its own. The game features characters and locations already known from the original game and its story takes place four years after the events of Brood War (the only expansion for StarCraft), following three key characters as the plot unfolds.

Wings of Liberty , first episode of the trilogy, was released in 2010. The game follows the story of its predecessors ( StarCraft and Brood War ), widespread in the distant future that bring together three species or races: Terrans (or Terrans), Zerg and Protoss, about which we will talk in more detail even in this article.

Wings of Liberty it is followed by Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. In each part of the game, players can control one of three races. Therefore, each campaign has unique characteristics and its own plot. While the first episode is centered on the race of Terrans, the second and third show the world through the eyes of the Zerg and Protoss, respectively.

Despite the initial success of the title, the number of players and spectators soon declined over the years and with the emergence of new e-sports, being the most famous at the moment League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2 .

To try to regain a little attention to StarCraft amid a sea of new games, Blizzard announced at its annual BlizzCon 2017 that the game would be, from then on, free-to-play (free to all). In addition, the developer also began to organize more official events of the game, promoting its competitive scene in a strategy to attract more players and professionals to play the tournaments. It is in these tournaments that you will be able to place your bets on StarCraft 2.

The objectives of the game are the same for all players. To be successful, the player must build a base with multiple units around hubs , which are deposits of ores and gas. Players mine minerals and Vespene gas to use in training their army and building more technologically advanced units.

The ultimate goal is to use your units to destroy your enemy's base and units while maintaining the defense of your own base. While currently the game can be played between teams of players, competitive matches are usually head-to-head – that is, one player versus another player.

StarCraft II brings back the three races present in the original game. Each of them has its own characteristics and unique style of play. Depending on which one you are currently playing with, you will have different unit and build options at your disposal. Players can choose one to master, or play with all three. They are:

The three episodes of StarCraft II are quite different. The first of them, Wings of Liberty , centers on the Terran race, following the character Jim Raynor, a mercenary at the head of the rebel group Raynor's Raiders who is trying to raise funds through missions. The game contains various missions with unique features. In single-player games, missions are highly customizable and are featured in the StarCraft II Community Zone.

Among the missions, players can choose units, bases, and upgrades that are not available in multiplayer missions. Wings of Liberty it features approximately the same number of units as the first StarCraft. Some units from the original game return with new upgrades and abilities. Other units were replaced or removed entirely. Other changes to the unit's design were inspired by story events in StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War .

Heart of the Swarm , in turn, focuses on the Zerg race and contains role-playing elements. The character Sarah Kerrigan is the center of the plot. The episode features 20 missions (plus seven evolution missions that allow the player to upgrade their units) and continues from Wings of Liberty .

Legacy of the Void , ultimately focuses on the Protoss, with the character Artanis as the central figure. In the plot, he is trying to gather Tribes of Protoss to fight Amon, a fallen XEL'naga who wishes to reshape the universe in his image. The campaign concludes the events of the Starcraft II trilogy.

The story of StarCraft II begins four years after the events of Brood War , bringing some characters already known to players, such as Kerrigan, Raynor and Artanis. New characters are also introduced into the narrative. Throughout the game, players will visit locations already visited in the original game, as well as new scenarios.

At the end of Brood War , Sarah Kerrigan and the Zerg under her command become the dominant race in the Koprulu Sector. Kerrigan retreats to Char, even though she has enough power to defeat any resistance in the sector. However, during the four years between Brood War and Wings of Liberty , the character is not seen by any other characters and her whereabouts are unknown.

The Dominion, commanded by Arcturus Mengsk, is the dominant Terran power in the Koprulu Sector once again. With the wars over, his military forces dwindle and he focuses on hunting down rebel groups operating against his rule. One of these rebel groups is led by Jim Raynor and becomes known as Raynor's Raiders. It is from there that the story of Wings of Liberty it begins.

StarCraft came to be seen as an e-sport after the success of the original game in South Korea. There, players gathered in lan-houses and played competitively every day. They used their own servers, which allowed them more speed and control over the game.

In this way, their skill levels rose day by day and their competitions also gathered a large number of spectators. The success of the game in Korea was tremendous and unexpected, and it endured for all the years that awaited the continuation of the franchise. After the release of StarCraft 2, the scene of professional players around the world quickly flourished, but especially in Korea, filling stadiums with spectators and distributing prizes in the millions of dollars in the fiercest competitions.

Modeling a video game so that it can be classified as an e-sport is quite a challenge. To become a successful competitive e-sport, it must first be interesting to the viewer. That is, the game should show its viewers a good perspective of what is happening during the integrity of the match. Second, the game must be interesting to players, which means it must present enough challenges to keep even the most talented players engaged.

Games like StarCraft, from the genre of real-time strategy , have gradually lost the interest of gamers in recent years, after the rise of games of the MOBA genre ( multiplayer online battle arena ). In these, teams of professionals compete against each other, balancing teamwork and cooperation towards an ultimate goal, making the game more entertaining to players and spectators.

Wings of Liberty it was, since its launch, considered an e-sport, since professional competitions were soon created around the game. He was a hit with both players and spectators. During the first year after its release, players were still creating skills and styles and familiarizing themselves with the possibilities of the game. Thus, professional competitions became quite surprising and fun to follow, making online betting sites markets around the world to provide bets on StarCraft 2 .

However, its success waned in the following years, and even with the release of the expansions, StarCraft II's audience was never the same. It can be said that this happened for several reasons, the main two being:

Knowing that the game still has potential as a competitive e-sport and loyal fans, Blizzard made a difficult decision last year, making StarCraft II free-to-play (free). The multiplayer game modes that were recently included in the game also corroborate the developer's efforts to bring the game closer to its target audience.

While making it free can be seen as a sign that the franchise is nearing the end of its years of relevance, this is also an interesting strategy. Making the game free can make it more attractive to new players and insert it into markets that it did not reach before.

In New Zealand, this could slowly mean a new rise for StarCraft II. New Zealand players have even risen to prominence on the world stage in recent years. 20-year-old Diego “Kelazhur” Schwimer is the current StarCraft II America's Cup champion and perhaps the national player with the most international prominence.

As we mentioned, StarCraft 2 offers a slightly different experience from the most popular esports at the moment. The game is difficult to master and it takes practice and constancy to learn it.

Unlike the most famous e-sports, such as CS:GO , in StarCraft players play individually, without a team. This means that the whole match depends only on one player, and they are extremely competitive. For bettors, this can mean fewer variables when predicting the outcome of a bet. However, there are other details of the game that you should know before betting.

It is true that you do not have to play StarCraft to bet on the Professional Championships, but we strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with the game universe before placing your bets, and the best way to familiarize yourself is by actively playing the game. In this sense, your chances of profiting increase exponentially when you know what is happening in the match.

So, most of those who do bets on StarCraft 2 they are also avid gamers of the game. They religiously follow the championships and the most outstanding players, watching the matches online and talking to other fans about the moves. Below we cover the main topics you need to keep in mind before you start betting. We also recommend reading our detailed guide on how to bet on esports in case you are a beginner in the subject.

We do not recommend placing a bet if you do not understand the e-sport or sport you are betting on. Here, no New ZealandCasinos , we encourage conscious betting tests, which should be done only when you understand the predicted risks, know the game in question and have enough information to form a guess about the outcome.

In the case of StarCraft 2, it can be a little more complicated to find out about players, events and matches. The game is little spread in New Zealand (compared to other esports and traditional sports), and this is reflected in the amount of content that is produced and published about it.

With traditional sports such as football and more widespread esports such as League of Legends, the amount of information, data and statistics you find on the internet can make your betting a lot easier. It is not for nothing that bettors conduct their research every day and stay informed about the championships. This small action most often means the difference between a winning bet and a losing bet.

In Portuguese, the number of information is more scarce. Most of the resources you'll find are in English, and we've also listed a number of pages in this guide that you can follow to keep up with in-game news and improve your StarCraft 2 betting.

Below, see our list of essential factors to know before making your bets on StarCraft 2 :

Available StarCraft 2 betting odds and markets vary depending on the site you choose. Some sites are more comprehensive and offer a larger number of bets. Others may offer more advantageous odds, and then the bettor will know how to compare them and choose the company that gives him the greatest profit potential.

In any type of eSports betting or sports betting, the odds are intended to determine the probability that the team have of winning the match. The odds also determine your profit potential. Therefore, knowing how to interpret them is very important and we have already explained them in depth in the complete guide to e-sports .

Summarizing the odds, we can say that high odds (such as 2.5) generate a higher profit than low odds (such as 1.0). However, high odds mean a low probability that the team will win the match, which means a riskier bet. Although low odds pay less, they represent a bet with little risk and thus safer.

As for the StarCraft 2 betting markets available, they come in smaller amounts than traditional sports markets. Classic bet types such as “match winner” and “tournament winner” are the most common.

Take a look at the bets you'll be able to place on StarCraft 2 matches:

Matches can be followed on two channels streaming free. The first of them is the largest streamer of the world's e-sports, called Twitch.tv. in addition to StarCraft II matches, you can find several other esports and the largest coverage of events available today.

The second is YouTube, which also offers streaming of matches and full matches. In both, the games are usually narrated and commented on by invited experts and it is possible to chat with the other spectators through a chat window.

Live betting consists of placing a bet during the match. In this sense, those who follow the streaming of the championships can place bets during the course of the game. However, not all sites offer this type of BET. Check out our reviews of the esports sites in the Home menu to find out which ones offer this tool.

A new ZealandCasinos team it is constantly testing and evaluating online betting sites. And that's why we produce detailed reviews on each of them. In them, you get to know what we discovered and how was the experience we got on the site.

Our reviews are completely unbiased and honest. At the end of them, we analyze our experience and rate the site, comparing it to others that we have already evaluated. Based on the final grade, we've ranked the best (and worst) sites to place bets on since New Zealand.

Check them out below sites we review and recommend to do bets on StarCraft 2 . In them, you will find betting bonuses , Portuguese content and flexible payment methods. To read our reviews, click below on "Read the review” or click on "Use bonus" to be directed directly to the site!

StarCraft II pro competitions were already down before the release of Legacy of the Void , in 2015. The StarCraft 2 World Championship (WCS), organized by Blizzard every year, changed format in the same year, moving from a league to a circuit, covering more time within the calendar. Even so, the number of spectators did not stop falling.

In 2017, however, with the introduction of War Chest as a crowdfunding (which calls for investment from the viewers themselves) and the transition to encompass the multiplayer mode and the free-to-play model ( free-to-play ), e-sport has seen a growth of interest among players and spectators.

WCS competitions remain, to this day, the largest tournaments organized around e-sport. Only the best players are invited to participate. But there are also some large parallel tournaments that bring together various esports, such as the Intel Extreme Masters.

The calendar of events is always updated on the homepage of the official website of the game.

The StarCraft II World Championship is an event that takes place throughout the year. Players from all over the world can qualify and reach the finals, demonstrating their skills in matches that are broadcast around the world.

To participate, competitors must first accumulate points within one of the two divisions of the tournament: WCS South Korea or WCS Circuit. The WCS South Korea is only open to residents of the country, while the WCS Circuit is for the rest of the world. The division of the tournaments was Blizzard's decision in the face of the fact that only South Koreans were reaching the finals of the world tournament, which discouraged players and spectators from the rest of the world. To get around this problem, the division of the championship into two was necessary.

Players ' points, called WCS Points, can be seen in the WCS Standings. At the end of each year, the top eight players in each tournament compete for a final prize pool of over $ 500,000. Together, the WCS Circuit and the WCS South Korea pool a prize pool of two million dollars.

• Official Blizzard news : Check here the official news about the game in English.
• Official WCS calendar: follow the WCS tournament schedule on the official game website and don't miss any chance to bet! This is the most reliable source to find official and up-to-date dates of ongoing competitions.
• Official Twitter : Check out first-hand News and interact with the game team by following their official Twitter profile.
• Official YouTube : Watch the most popular matches and plays from the latest events on the official StarCraft YouTube channel.
• Liquipedia.net: this is an English-language site with complete information about the game, even containing specific strategies for each campaign, calendar of world events and a lot of informative content for those who are just starting to play now. For bettors, the site is also useful because it gathers some statistics from the events, such as winning percentages of each player on each map, and information and news about professional players.

StarCraft II was one of the pioneering games in the esports scene. Its relevance and fanbase greatly diminished on the occasion of the emergence of other styles of play, which were gradually becoming more popular among spectators and players.

Even so, Blizzard's strategies to make StarCraft II and its competitions more widespread have had an effect. And betting on matches, when you are a fan of the game, makes the spectacle even more fun (and advantageous). Start now to place your bets on StarCraft 2 on the sites we recommend here and be part of hundreds of spectators who profit from the game!