The first stage of the qualifiers will begin this weekend, 11th-12th July, with two sets of preliminaries going on simultaneously. The first will contain 24 so-called "Amateur players", in other words players who have yet to obtain the prior gaming license.

The 24 players are a mix of unknowns, second tier Korean players such as Dong Hwan 'viOlet' Kim and Jong Seok 'ReprisaL' Lee, as well as a handful of experienced competitors such as WC3L XV's MVP Hyo Sub 'FoCuS' Eom and Korean legend Sung Yeon 'Myth' Kim.

These 24 players will compete in a group stage to round them down to 16 players, after which they will enter into the playoffs where the top seven will qualify for WCG Korea Grand Final. The full list of the 24 participants has not been 100% confirmed, so SK Gaming will wait before providing the entire list.

The other qualifier is for those who already hold the pro-gaming license, this qualifier has only nine players. The nine players - which include June 'Lyn' Park,Dae Hui 'FoV' Cho and Sung Sik 'ReminD' Kim - will play round-robin format, with the worst player being eliminated and the other eight progressing to the WCG Korea Grand Final.



The WCG 2008 silver medalist Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang receives auto-berth to the national finals, where he will join the seven from the amateur category and eight from the pro gamer category to make up 16 players in total.

Korean Progaming License

As Starcraft is Korea's main pro-gaming sport, its Kespa rankings are used to determine if a player can be awarded a pro-gaming license or not.

Due to there being no Kespa endorsed tournaments at the moment, apart from the WCG Grand Final, the 24 players in the amateur category have no way to jump into the pro gamer category. Although given the fact no Korean has ever won the WCG, obtaining a pro gamer license for some is impossible.

If a player does not hold a pro gaming license, any prize money won on Korean soil will be subject to 22.2% in tax, compared to only 3.3% for those with a pro gaming license. However, until Kespa develops a relationship with a Warcraft cup such as Zotac or Incup, the likes of FoCuS, Space and ViOlet will remain in the amateur category.