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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 SHOUTcraft America 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.

Round of 32 group play came to an exciting conclusion last Friday for WCS Europe, eliminating 16 players from this season's Premier League competition in its wake. The 16 surviving competitors have been split into four four-player groups, and the Electronic Sports league is ready to unleash another salvo of frenzied Premier League action for your viewing pleasure.

A little over a week ago, we requested your help in testing a few proposed balance tweaks for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm by playing with each change on our new Balance Test Map. After reviewing your feedback, we're ready to move forward with a balance update.

Season 1 of 2013 World Championship Series Premier League competition has reached the round of 16 in Europe and America, while Korea is just a bit ahead in the round of 8. The League Regional Finals for each region are fast-approaching, and today, we’re pleased to reveal the exact dates for each of the upcoming Premier League Regional Finals events this season.

Our next StarCraft short story will take you aboard one of the protoss fleet’s most iconic and feared spaceships: the carrier.

Whether you play StarCraft II from home or on a stage in front of thousands of people, replays can be powerful tools for improving your game. Starting with Patch 2.0.8, replay files will contain much more information, and we'd like to share some of those details with you today.

Within, you'll find full patch notes for StarCraft II Patch 2.0.8, which brings a variety of bug fixes to the service.

We’ve seen a few players raise concerns about what Global Play means when we’re patching the game. With Patch 2.0.8 deploying very soon, we think this is a good time to talk more about situations you might find yourself in when one of the game environments is unavailable due to maintenance.