Starcraft 2 Betting – Your Guide for eSports
The rise of eSports, professionally played video games doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon, with its popularity and its prizes ever increasing. One of the most successful eSports is StarCraft 2, a strategy game with a passionate following.
Here at Mobile Wins, we don’t only offer the best eSports bets, but we’ll take the time to explain everything you need to know about each game. In this guide to Starcraft 2 betting, we are going to look back at the history of the game, and see how what began as a humble video game has become a phenomenon with prestigious competitions. We’ll also answer all the questions you may have on Starcraft 2 betting.
About the game
But before we can focus on the professional tournaments and StarCraft 2 betting markets, it would be helpful to have a reminder of what StarCraft is.
StarCraft 2 is a real-time strategy (RTS) game. Players build a base, train an army and try to defeat the other player. Each player chooses one of three races to play: Terran, Protoss or Zerg. StarCraft 2 features a Korean circuit (GSL) and an international circuit (WCS). Players gather points in their circuits to qualify for the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon.
The original StarCraft game was released way back in 1998, so long ago that it was only originally available on Microsoft Windows. However, there is no doubt that it was a game ahead of its time. In fact, the game recently became free-to-play, so you may want to take a look.
The game focuses on the struggle between three species as they seek to dominate a distant region of the Milky Way galaxy. The groups are:
- Terran: Originally human outcasts from Earth. Terrans fight for their survival in the galaxy. Terran players often use a “bio” or “mech” army. Bio armies primarily consist of soldiers trained from Barracks, while mech armies use armored vehicles from Factories.
- Protoss: A high tech alien race. The Protoss are prideful and use their technology and psionic powers to wipe out their enemies. Protoss players rely on well timed attacks or highly advanced and expensive armies.
- Zerg: A biologically advanced alien race of giant insect-like creatures. The Zerg are nicknamed “The Swarm” for their mass assaults, overwhelming their foes. Zerg players swarm their opponents with superior numbers of cheap units.
The battle between these three species is what’s at the very heart of the StarCraft video games and the StarCraft professional competitions.
Gameplay in StarCraft 2. Source: XelQron via Facebook.
Players are required to discover their surroundings in a detailed map, and must seek out certain resources if they are to survive. Each player tries to destroy the enemy’s base whilst defending their own. They must also decide which military units will serve them best in their attempt at conquest. Each unit has different abilities, making it a difficult decision to choose a path to glory.
StarCraft 2 is the sequel to one of the oldest eSports, StarCraft: Brood War. The first version of StarCraft 2, Wings of Liberty, aired in 2010. The game popularised livestreaming on JustinTV, which later became Twitch. In 2013, the expansion Heart of the Swarm aired, followed by Legacy of the Void in 2015. Both expansions brought drastic changes to the game, including new units, mechanics and balance changes. Legacy of the Void is the current and final edition.
StarCraft 2 matched the roaring success of the original game. The storyline carries on the struggle for dominance between the three species, and has now become the focus for almost all professional StarCraft competitions. The game is still going strong in 2024 and shows no signs of slowing down!
There are many reasons why we love StarCraft, but the biggest is definitely the three species, each of which offers rich history and unique characteristics. This guarantees that players have to make difficult tactical decisions when choosing their species and which military units to use in their quest for victory. These tough decisions make it equally challenging for viewers to predict what will happen, something we will explore later when we look more into StarCraft 2 betting.
StarCraft competitions
This diversity in playable races is one of the reasons why StarCraft is so great to play (or watch, or bet on) in competitions, and why it is so popular with us here at Mobile Wins eSports betting.
Each year sees a StarCraft 2 World Championship Series, showing just how popular the game has become across the globe. The 2016 World Championsip Series Global Playoffs saw the world’s elite battle to be crowned champion, with ByuN from South Korea ultimately defeating fellow countryman Dark to claim the gold medal.
The tournament circuit is split in two leagues: WCS Korea and the international WCS Circuit. Korea has the most competitive, high level tournaments. Its biggest tournament series is the GSL. WCS features all players outside of Korea in international tournaments. Korean residents can’t compete here. The biggest Circuit tournaments series are DreamHack and IEM. 8 players with the most points in each league advance to the Global Finals at BlizzCon. They battle for 280.000 dollar and the title of world champion.
The South Korean Proleague, although recently disbanded, featured seven leading teams and was last won by Jin Air Green Wings. In fact, South Korea is the country where many of the world’s finest StarCraft 2 gamers call home.
‘Bomber’ participates in the 2014 World Championship Series. Source: StarCraft via Facebook.
The Global StarCraft 2 League is hosted by South Korea and offers a long and tough format for players. With matches streamed on Korean television and thousands of dollars in prize money at stake, StarCraft 2 is just as intense and exciting as any other eSport out there.
The player known as Mvp is widely considered one of the greatest players of all time and was part of a team known as Incredible Miracle. With several titles to his name, Mvp reached career earnings of over $300,000. Your goal when betting on StarCraft 2 is to find such top notch players and bet on them while they’re still fairly new and are likely to pay out more.
Famous StarCraft 2 players
Maru
Terran player Maru is the number one ranked StarCraft 2 player in South-Korea. He is the favorite at any tournament and might become the best StarCraft 2 player of all time. Maru won all three GSL events in 2018, an unrivaled feat. His streak only ended after his fourth GSL win in 2019. He is known for his fast multitasking skills, managing units all around the map.
Serral
Zerg player Serral is the best player from the West and reigning World Champion. Serral dominated the western scene, winning all four WCS Circuit events in 2018. He also had success in South-Korea, as Serral defeated Stats to win the 2018 GSL vs The World event. Serral capped his year off by becoming the first not-Korean StarCraft World Champion ever, a truly historic feat.
IdrA
Although IdrA left the StarCraft scene in 2013, his legacy and notoriety remains to this day. The most infamous player in StarCraft history, IdrA had as many haters as he had fans. In-game, he was known for his prowess in playing long macro games. This caused him to become the target of many early-game all-ins. IdrA was known to rage over such “cheap” strategies and often displayed poor etiquette. His habit of trash talking, complaining about game balance and prematurely leaving games made him one of the most controversial players in eSports. IdrA was removed from his team Evil Geniuses in 2013 for his increasing toxic behaviour and subsequently quit the game.
StarCraft 2 betting 2024
StarCraft’s popularity means that its availability in betting markets was always just a matter of time. There is no better place to bet on StarCraft 2 competitions than with us at Mobile Wins. It’s a rather complicated game to master, but this also means that there are great opportunities for profit by taking part in StarCraft 2 betting.
For example, the three species of the game are so well balanced that there isn’t a clear favorite, each player seems to have their own. Therefore, you will need to look at specific players and consider their form. As in all sports, sometimes teams and players can experience tough runs, and these runs are rarely easy to break. This is very true in StarCraft 2, and if a player’s confidence is low then they can struggle in the unforgiving gameplay.
Another factor to consider is how each player has fared in previous matchups. In the sport of tennis, players often have unexpectedly high levels of success against certain players, and struggle against others every time they meet. Sometimes certain players are particularly good at exploiting another player’s weakness. It does not necessarily mean that one player is better than the other, but rather that it is a favourable matchup. The same applies to this eSport, and is an important factor when considering StarCraft 2 betting.
StarCraft’s legacy is clear, from the substantial prizes at tournaments to the global access to StarCraft 2 betting. The creators of the game in the late 1990s could never have imagined the global appeal that the game would have, yet they have produced one of the world’s leading games. But don’t just take our word for it. IGN called the original StarCraft game “one of the best, if not the best, real-time strategy games ever created.” This is why it has become such a successful eSport, and why people in Korea watch it even on the television – maybe other countries will soon follow.
Bets
- Match winner. Predict the winner of the match series out of the two players.
- Map winner. Which player will take which map?
Top 5 highlights
- Hallucinated Void Rays (IdrA versus HuK at MLG Dallas)
- The Ultimate Battle of Micro (HuK versus NaNiwa at MLG Winter Championships)
- MarineKing Splitting Marines (MarineKing versus Life at Iron Squid 2)
- The West versus Korea (Scarlett versus Bomber at Red Bull Battlegrounds)
- Battlecruiser Archon Toilet (Mvp versus Squirtle at GSL 2012 Season 2 finals)
Bonus highlight: Serral become the first western StarCraft World Champion
As we mentioned above, confidence can be so important in the world of eSports where the smallest decisions can be the difference between victory and defeat. There is no clear path to victory, which is part of what makes it so compelling for players, punters and viewers alike.
All this is what makes this eSport so exciting and gives it such a potential for great returns on your bets, especially if you choose to bet with us here at Mobile Wins. Join us today to gain access to all of the best betting markets on StarCraft 2 and a wide range of other eSports, including Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Hearthstone.
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