The 2017 World Cup has reached its last stop in the global tour, arriving at BlizzCon 2017 in Anaheim, California to see which national team will come out victorious in the playoff finals. With BlizzCon just around the corner, we’ve compiled a viewer’s guide to get ready for this weekend’s action.
Teams
Thirty-two teams participated in this year’s tournament, with four groups of eight competing in group stages worldwide, namely at Shanghai, Sydney, Katowice, and Santa Monica. The top two from each group stage advanced to the playoffs at BlizzCon.
Two teams have made changes to their roster after qualifying for the playoffs. Sweden removed Reinforce in favor of snillo, and China was forced to make a drastic shuffle after most of their players ran into visa issues. All other teams have stuck to their lineups. The teams are:
Shanghai Group Stage
- Ou "Eileen" Yiliang (DPS)
- Huang "leave" Xin (DPS)
- Li "YaoYao" Haibo (Tank)
- Bian "Time" Yutao (Tank)
- Cao "YuanFang2" Jiale (Support)
- He "zhufanjun" Junjian (Support)
- Dylan "aKm" Bignet (DPS)
- Terence "SoOn" Tarlier (DPS)
- Jean-Louis "KnOxXx" Boyer (Tank)
- Nicolas "NiCO" Moret (Flex)
- Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson (Support)
- Michaël "winz" Bignet (Support)
Sydney Group Stage
- Jason "ieatuup" Ho (DPS)
- Ajay "Aetar" Umasankar (DPS)
- Ashley "Trill" Powell (Tank)
- Marcus "Kiki" Jacob (Flex)
- Andrew "Rqt" Haws (Support)
- Jordan "Gunba" Graham (Support)
- Kevyn "TviQ" Lindström (DPS)
- Simon "snillo" Ekström (DPS)
- Johan "CWoosH" Klingestedt (Tank)
- Tim "Manneten" Bylund (Flex)
- Sebastian "Zebbosai" Olsson (Support)
- Sebastian "chipshajen" Widlund (Support)
Katowice Group Stage
- Park "Saebyeolbe" Jong-yeol (DPS)
- Hwang "Fl0w3R" Yeon-ho (DPS)
- Kim "Mano" Dong-gyu (Tank)
- Kim "zunba" Joon-hyuk (Flex)
- Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong (Support)
- Yang "tobi" Jin-mo (Support)
- Brady "Agilities" Girardi (DPS)
- Lane "Surefour" Roberts (DPS)
- Félix "xQc" Lengyel (Tank)
- Liam "Mangachu" Campbell (Flex)
- Joe "Joemeister" Gramano (Support)
- Randal "Roolf" Stark (Support)
Santa Monica Group Stage
- Jacob "JAKE" Lyon (DPS)
- Jay "sinatraa" Won (DPS)
- Russell "FCTFCTN" Campbell (Tank)
- Matt "coolmatt69" Iorio (Flex)
- Adam "Adam" Eckel (Support)
- Shane "Rawkus" Flaherty (Support)
- Michael "MikeyA" Adams (DPS)
- Harrison "Kruise" Pond (DPS)
- Christopher "ChrisTFer" Graham (Tank)
- Eoghan "Smex" O'Neill (Flex)
- Isaac "Boombox" Charles (Support)
- Marcus "Realzx" Vining (Support)
Format
The playoffs will play out in a single elimination bracket (including a bronze medal match), with matches being best-of-fives and the grand finals being a best-of-seven.
The playoffs will also play on the current 1.16 patch, which notably has the changes made to Mercy and D.Va from the previous 1.15 patch.
Broadcast Team:
Desk
- Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
- James “Jamerson” Lee
Commentators
- Mitch “Uber” Leslie
- Matt “Mr.X” Morello
- Andrew “ZP” Rush
- Robert “hexagrams” Kirkbride
- Erik “DoA” Lonnquist
- Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles
Schedule
Friday 3rd November
- 15:15 EDT / 20:15 CEST / 4:15 KST - Quarterfinals: United Kingdom vs. Sweden
- 16:45 EDT / 21:45 CEST / 5:45 KST - Quarterfinals: Canada vs. Australia
- 17:15 EDT / 22:15 CEST / 6:15 KST - Quarterfinals: China vs. France
- 18:45 EDT / 23:45 CEST / 7:45 KST - Quarterfinals: South Korea vs. United States
- 21:15 EDT / 2:15 CEST / 10:15 KST - Semifinals #1
- 22:45 EDT / 3:45 CEST / 11:45 KST - Semifinals #2
Saturday 4th November
- 15:00 EDT / 20:00 CEST / 4:00 KST - Bronze Match
- 17:00 EDT / 22:00 CEST / 6:00 KST - Grand Final