Following a full week of intense Challenger League matches, WCS America Premier League is returning this week with the round of 16 group stage. After making it through the round of 32, the remaining players have been split into four groups of four, and will travel to the Major League Gaming studios in New York City to compete face-to-face. The groups will once again be played out in dual tournament style, with MLG bringing you every minute of this top-level StarCraft II action.

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A different group will be showcased each day from Monday, May 20 to Thursday, May 23. MLG shoutcasters Nick ‘Axslav’ Ranish and Alex ‘Axeltoss’ Rodriguez will cast on the official WCS America stream every day at 3:00 p.m. PDT to see which players will advance to the eight-person WCS America Premier League Regional Finals. Pop some popcorn, get comfortable, and catch all of the WCS Premier action at the official WCS Twitch.tv stream.

In case you’re looking for more World Championship Series StarCraft II competition this week, WCS Korea Premier League rolls on with the semifinals, hosted by GOMTV, as well as the WCS Europe Challenger League, hosted by the Electronic Sports League. To stay up to date on exact show times for each region and the Blizzcon Finals point standings, plenty of details can be found here.

UPDATED AND CURRENT AS OF: MONDAY, MAY 20

Now that Season 1 of 2013 World Championship Series competition is well under way in Europe, Korea, and America, tons of epic StarCraft II games are being played. With three ongoing regional competitions, a variety of broadcast dates and times, and hundreds of players earning WCS Points at events around the world, we understand that keeping up with the WCS can seem overwhelming. To help you keep everything straight, we put together a broadcast schedule and WCS point leaderboard that will be updated on a weekly basis.

WCS 2013 Global Broadcast Schedule

Below, you'll find a detailed World Championship Series broadcast schedule that you can refer back to any time you need a quick refresher on which matches will be played in the days to come. Furthermore, we're very excited to share that starting on Tuesday, April 29, the World Championship Series will offer three days a week of ‘round the clock live StarCraft II eSports action for your viewing pleasure. Tune in here at any of the dates and times listed below to catch top StarCraft II players from around the world locking horns for points, prizes, and pride.

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(On Wednesday, May 22 GomTV will broadcast the WCS Korea Premier League Season Final consolation matches. During these matches, Shin ‘RorO’ No Yeol will take on Won ‘PartinG’ Lee Sak, and Hwang ‘KangHo’ Kang Ho will square off against Choi ‘Bomber’ Ji Sung to determine who among them will fill the two remaining seats for WCS Korea at the cross-region Season Finals held next month.)

Though we will be regularly updating the above schedule, feel free to stop by the GomTV, ESL, and MLG websites as well for broadcast dates and times even farther down the road for WCS Korea, Europe, and America, respectively.

WCS 2013 Point Leaderboard

The leaderboard below will help you keep tabs on all of the top WCS point earners throughout the year. Be sure to check in often to follow along with your favorite players as they compete to earn slots at the 2013 WCS Global Finals, to be held at BlizzCon this November.

For a comprehensive look at all the players who have earned WCS points this year, check out the awesome Liquipedia WCS Standings page put together by our friends at TeamLiquid.net. If you’d like more information on the format, prizing, or point structure for this year's World Championship Series, you can find all the details here.

SHOUTcraft America kicked off earlier this month with the goal of giving homegrown heroes from the Americas an opportunity to show off their StarCraft II mettle in a 16-slot, region-locked tournament. Competition began a few weeks ago with qualification based on Grandmaster standings. Players battled to against one another on the ladder to achieve top ranking in Grandmaster league before the end of 2013 Ladder Season 2. The top 16 ranked players on the North American Grandmaster ladder who could provide proof of residence from any North or South American country were then invited to compete in the round of 16 group stage. Once the season rolled on May 1st, those who earned a seat at the tournament were divided into four four-player groups and SHOUTcraft America began.

The round of 16 group stage reached its frenzied conclusion just a short time ago, and the bracket stage is set to begin tomorrow morning as the eight surviving players duke it out in the playoffs for their share in the $10,000 prize pool, and the chance to declare themselves the number one StarCraft II player residing in the American region. One round from the playoff bracket will be played each day until a victor is decided, and you can find the broadcast schedule listed below.

Broadcast Details:

• The quarterfinals take place Saturday, May 18 at 11 a.m. PDT.

• The semifinals take place Sunday, May 19 at 11 a.m. PDT.

• The finals take place Tuesday, May 21 at 12 p.m. PDT.

Tune in here at the above dates and times to join John 'TotalBiscuit' Bain and Greg 'IdrA' Fields as they cast all of Saturday's quarterfinal action. Additionally, Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott will co-cast alongside TotalBiscuit during Sunday’s semifinals. The two finalists will compete in the finals live from the Major League Gaming's studios in New York City. Preceding Tuesday's WCS America Premier League broadcast, TotalBiscuit and Nick 'Axslav' Ranish will commentate every nail-biting SHOUTcraft America game in the best-of-seven final match as the players grapple to be crowned champion.

Those of you who missed the round of 16, or simply wish to give the games another watch, can access all past and future SHOUTcraft America VODs here. If you'd like more information on the event, head over to the official SHOUTcraft website.

The next StarCraft short story is here! Transform and roll out with a fighting craft that embodies terran adaptability like few others: the Viking.

Erik Snabb did his time in the corps, but he got smart and traded in his wings while he still could. Going from being a fighter ace to being a loving husband and father took some getting used to, but Erik is handling it well… until the zerg threaten his home and his family once again.

Check out Lost Vikings now, and make sure to download this week’s short story wallpaper! And in case you missed any of the previous short stories, click the links below to read them now: