Preparing For The StarCraft 2 Tournament Scene - Without SC2 Beta

If you don't already know about it many people have started to prepare for the StarCraft 2 tournament scene. Some people have quit their jobs, others have been practicing heavily on the StarCraft 2 beta as if it was their job, and others have been looking for a way to prepare but are stuck without a key. For those of you in the latter situation, there is a solution for you which might help you get very good practice until the StarCraft 2 beta turns to open beta or until you get that lucky email telling you that you are accepted into the closed beta. Play amongst the pro's in the original StarCraft! It can also prove to be useful for those who are interested in StarCraft 2 but haven't played the original at all. Instead of going out and buying it while the sequel is on the verge of release, download it and practice for free amongst the very best!

An organization known as the International Cyber Cup is trying to enhance the competitive scene for competitive blizzard games (outside of World of Warcraft) by hosting their own private servers to compete on, complete with an anti-hack tool and a ladder system that allows you to be ranked amongst the pros. Many from all over the world have started to compete and the organization has run 11 successful seasons, growing with popularity for each season. Many of those who are stuck in the situation of no beta access have turned to the iCCup to practice and for many reasons.

The best part of the iCCup private servers for the competitive scene is that you can play StarCraft: Brood Wars for free. The organization allows you to download the client (the original StarCraft and it's expansion - StarCraft: Brood Wars) from their site and provides step by step instructions on how to properly set up access to their private servers. If you are interested in trying it, just follow the steps below:

1.1. Getting the latest version
To play on our server you will need a StarCraft: BroodWar 1.16.1 client. If you don't have one, you can download it from our FTP. Note: You won't be able join official servers. We strictly recommend you to buy a licese copy.

1.2. Adding our server to server list
You will need to add our server to your server list to start playing. You can do it in two ways:
1) download an auto-reg file. Note: this will overwrite your current server list.
2) download Anti-Hack Launcher and run it, it will be added automaitcly in you registry.

1.3. Game account registration
You will need to fill this form to register your nickname. It is allowed to use only roman letters and numbers in any form field. Nickname length shouldn't be lager 14 symbols. Please, specify your real e-mail address. You won't be able to retrieve a password with non-existing e-mail address. You should also accept a basic rules of our server. And Ladder rules.

1.4. Playing on our server
Our server have a ladder-based system. To play ladder games you should set game type to «one on one» for 1x1 games or «top vs bottom» for 2x2 games. It is not allowed to play ladder games on non-official iCCup maps. You need download the latest mappack.

If reading and following instructions step by step isn't your thing, then you can hit up the following YouTube video explaining the same steps while showing you what to do step by step simultaneously:

If you are interested, right now is the best time to install the client and get ready because iCCup's 12th Season is about to start (In the next 1-2 days as mentioned on their site) for StarCraft. Just a heads up to anyone who might be having trouble connecting as of right now; in between seasons they take their private server down (so don't panic thinking it isn't working) and when the new seasons starts you will be able to practice away!

As for those of you who don't find interest in playing the original StarCraft competitively again and rather wait for the upgraded, StarCraft 2. There is a crack out there that lets you play the StarCraft 2 beta vs AI (you won't be able to play with friends but you can play vs bots.) MGN will cover how to do that soon, so stay tuned. Don't forget to leave thoughts and comments to discuss iCCup's ladder or any StarCraft related news below!