The group selection for the upcoming MBCGame Starleague season takes place on March 25th and, despite a star studded field, no definite sponsor has been found. Thirty-two Starcraft players, including the top four KeSPA ranked players (Jaedong, FlaSh, Calm and ZerO), are set to participate in this season.

Statement From MBCGame:
"We do not have a definite sponsor yet, but we are still in conference with a potential sponsor. We believe to be able to announce it soon"

Source: GosuGamers

Participating Players:
Jaedong
Flash  
Kal
Kwanro
Hwasin 
BeSt

The TeamLiquid Arena is back after a short break during the TeamLiquid Starleague. The TeamLiquid Arena event allows players ranked between D and C+ on iCCup.com the chance to take on a well known player from the Starcraft scene. After each game, a handicap picked randomly from a predetermined pool, is given to the professional and stacks with other handicaps.

 Oystein will feature as the promiment player for this edition of the arena. As he is known for racepicking, the handicaps applied will vary based on the race that he plays in any given game. Oystein will take on challengers on March 14th at 21:00 GMT. This event is to be broadcast by  iCCup.Raelcun.

Links:
Source: iCCup
Stream: Livestream
Original Post: TeamLiquid
Arena Overview: TeamLiquid
 

The time has come for non-professional Starcraft players to prove themselves worthy to represent the fnatic tag in the Rookie Draft. The first stage of the process is a ladder which begins today at 11:00 GMT. This ladder will run until February 28th and players may participate in as many games as they like. The top sixteen players will earn a group place based on their finishing position in the ladder. Click 'Read More' for a detailed breakdown of the group stage.

Top 16 players from ladder need to provide the following:
FnaticMSI Rookie Draft ID
Contact Email
MSN / AIM / ICQ contact
First Name / Last Name
Phone # (both home and cell if possible)
Full Username ID (without clan tag / team)
Race (list match-ups, if specific)
Pictures (1 or 2 good quality profile pictures will be used for broadcasts only)

Source: fnatic

FnaticMSI, in association with iCCup, present the Starcraft Rookie Draft. This is a chance for four non-professional players to play under the fnatic tag and win prizes such as a Starcraft 2 beta key, Steelseries gear and "limited" LAN support. There are a number of stages associated with the overall process. Firstly, players will compete in a ladder lasting ten days. Players are entitled to play as many games as they wish but there are rules governing this stage that must be adhered to. The top sixteen players will progress into a group stage in which the players will be divided into two groups. This group stage will take a best-of-three format.

The top four players from each group are entitled to progress further in the competition. The playoff stage will be played as a best-of-five. Four players from the final eight will be chosen to represent fnaticMSI for Starcraft. It must be observed that the players selected are not necessarily those that win or take the top four positions, although this does put you in a better position. It has been outlined that any four of the top eight could be chosen based on potential, mentality & in-game skill. 

Statement from Elroy 'Noname' Pinto (General Manager of FnaticMSI):
"Today's the next step in our company's growth, while we have had Game Idols in the past it's time we announce our first Rookie Draft for StarCraft. The idea behind the Rookie Draft is to pick up young, amateur but talented players who have the hunger and the mentality to become professionals of tomorrow".

Schedule:
February 18th - Ladder start
February 28th - Ladder end
March 5th, 6th, 7th - Group A games
March 12th, 13th, 14th - Group B games
March 21st - Round of 8 Games
March 28th - Semi-Finals & Grand Finals
April 2nd - new FnaticMSI.SC is unveiled

Links:
Source: fnatic
Rules

iCCup.com has announced a second Starcraft tournament (February 20th at 01:00 GMT) open to all A and B rank players. Players who have a minimum of 6,000 points up to a maximum of 20,000 points are eligible to participate. Up to 64 players will participate with prizes dependent on the number of signups. Matches from this tournament will be streamed with commentary from iCCup.Raelcun, iCCup.Kenny and PsyonicReaver.

Map Schedule:
Round 1 [BO1] — Fighting Spirit
Round 2 [BO1] — Destination
Round 3 [BO1] — Heartbreak Ridge
Round 4 [BO3] — Match Point
Round 5 [BO3] — Outsider
Round 6 [BO5] — Tornado

Schedule:
Check-in starts 1 hour before the tournament
USA (17:00 PST Friday February 19th)
USA (20:00 EST Friday February 19th)
Korea (10:00 KST Saturday February 20th)
Europe (01:00 GMT Saturday February 20th)

Links:
Source: iCCup
Stream: JustinTV

Aspiring Starcraft video analysts can rejoice with the release of a new tool; BWAPI. This tool allows spectators to watch a replay and maximise the learning potential with a variety of commands, statistics and more. To view a demo of the tool in action, one is available on YouTube. TeamLiquid has compiled a mine of information relating to this new release so that replay viewers can gain an abundance of knowledge from each replay.

Links:
Direct Download
YouTube Video
TeamLiquid Guide
 

The first round of the Starcraft WGTour Clan League gets underway today. This is the 23rd season of the league with ten teams taking part in Division 1. The opening week sees the four new additions to the Division avoid each other as they start their challenge against experienced heads at this level. As in all seasons, a match is made up of four 1v1's and one 2v2. Results are being posted and can be tracked by clicking 'Match Details'.

Week 1 Fixtures:
Pandemic vs osR~ (Match Details)
LatinGamers vs NrT (Match Details)
BW- vs ToT (Match Details)
mTw vs =iG= (Match Details)
EG vs mouz (Match Details)

Links:
Source: GosuGamers
Homepage: WGTour
Season Fixtures

Kim Hyung Joon, a Korean pop sensation with SS501, is about to enter the world of professional gaming. MBC have set up a challenge and a show in which he will try to develop his skills and gain a professional license. The first episode is available now and looks at the trials that are to face him in the days ahead. He is given less than a month to practice for a tournament in which he will attempt to gain his professional gaming license. He is also given a stern test on his first day to see where his standard lies. Despite having five years of play under his belt, he still has much to learn.

The first episode is available on TeamLiquid with Episode 2 coming soon.If you want to keep the surprise, ignore the Episode Summaries.

Source: TeamLiquid
 

iCCup has announced a Starcraft Open Cup for players of ranks A and B. Signups are currently open with the first match kicking off at 01:00 GMT on February 6th. There are 64 player slots available. The pay in amount is 50 while the payout will be determined by the number of participants. Matches are to be streamed on iCCup.Cold's LiveStream Channel. Matches may be shoutcasted by iCCup.Raelcun but this is undecided.

Prizes:
For 16 signups: Pay In - 50. Prizes: 800/600/400/400
For 32 signups: Pay In - 50. Prizes: 1000/750/500/500
For 64 signups: Pay In - 50. Prizes: 1200/900/600/600

Mappool:
Round 1 [BO1] — Matchpoint
Round 2 [BO1] — Destination
Round 3 [BO1] —  Heartbreak Ridge
Round 4 [BO3] — Tornado
Round 5 [BO3] — Moonglaive
Round 6 [BO5] — Fighting Spirit

Links:
Source: iCCup
Sign up: iCCup
Steam: LiveStream

mousesports are to host a special event for their second event on their new Livestream channel. An internal RaceWar featuring the mousesports Starcraft players (Dreiven, Sziky and Strelok) will go live on January 31st at 17:00 GMT. All three races will battle it out until just one stands victorious. The matches will be played in a Best-of-Two system which means that there will be six games to look forward to. To make things even more interesting, the brand new ProLeagueMaps from Korea are to be used. These maps are not well known and are rarely played outside of Korea.

Schedule:
Matchup1:
Strelok (Terran) vs Sziky (Zerg)
Map1: Neo Moon Glaive
Map2: El Niño

Matchup2:
Strelok (Terran) vs Dreiven (Protoss)
Map1: Judgement Day
Map2: Odd-Eye

Matchup3:
Sziky (Zerg) vs Dreiven (Protoss)
Map1: Eye of the Storm
Map2: Match Point

Links:
Broadcast: mousesports Livestream Channel
Source: mousesports