BoxeR and Nal_rA last faced each other competitively during the Bush administration, and Blizzard is betting their rematch at BlizzCon 2026 still means something. The company has revealed four Legacy Match showmatches for the Classic Cup, spanning StarCraft: Remastered, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm and Warcraft III, under emcees Nick "Tasteless" Plott and Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski.
The matches, and why each one still carries weight
StarCraft: Remastered brings back BoxeR vs. Nal_rA, who met 11 times in Premier competition between 2003 and 2007 with Nal_rA winning eight. Both were inducted into the Korean Esports Hall of Fame in 2012, BoxeR as one of the most influential figures in esports history and Nal_rA as the era's dominant Protoss player.
StarCraft II pairs IdrA vs. MC, a Wings of Liberty-era rivalry whose MLG Columbus 2011 matches helped build SC2's international audience outside Korea. Heroes of the Storm brings Dignitas back against Gen.G in a rematch of the 2018 HGC Finals, which Gen.G won. Warcraft III closes it out with ToD vs. TeD, eight combined Tier 1 titles between 2005 and 2012 and a 4-1-1 head-to-head lead for TeD, including a win at ESWC 2008. Blizzard says more Entertainment Matches will be announced before the show.
The rest of BlizzCon's competitive calendar
The Overwatch World Cup Group Stage runs August 20-23 in Busan with the top 16 teams competing for eight BlizzCon finals spots. World of Warcraft's AWC and MDI programs already have their top six and top four teams qualified for a combined $600,000 Grand Finals prize pool at BlizzCon. Hearthstone Masters Tour has filled eight of 16 World Championship spots, with three more decided at the Summer Season from July 31 to August 2.
Names like BoxeR and Nal_rA pull viewers who stopped following competitive StarCraft a decade ago purely on reputation, no current player really carries that same weight. IdrA vs. MC does the same job for a slightly younger audience that came in through Wings of Liberty. BlizzCon 2026 runs September 12-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with a livestream available for anyone not attending in person.
