Korean Premier Tournaments

Korean Leagues

StarCraft, as a professional eSport, has had many leagues. Remembered are the individual leagues OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) and MBCGame StarCraft League (MSL), and the Proleague team league. Promoted and organized by the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) and Blizzard Entertainment.

In 2012, with the appearance of StarCraft II, the television channels and their leagues, including OSL and MSL, discontinued the activities of Brood War, thus changing the scene significantly, doing something more amateurish. This era, which was started by SonicTV BJ Starleague (SSL) and SOSPA Ranking Tournament (SRT) came to fill part of the void left by the departure of OSL and MSL, these events allowed the community to continue cheering on their (now ex) favorite progamers.

Although several of Brood War's most adored players left for StarCraft II, many would soon return to the game we love, joining the new names that emerged.

With the advent of popular video streaming networks like AfreecaTV, online broadcasters also hosted cash prize tournaments, including the Sbenu All-Stars Tournament, LoveTV Starleague, 41 Starleague, and BCTV Starleague. There was also an attempt to revive the team leagues with SOSPA King of the Hill Proleague.

Currently ASL through AfreecaTV, owns the two most important leagues at the individual and team level. Those who have come to revive the scene with very high audience levels.

OSL

The OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) was the most prestigious individual league in Korea. It was organized and broadcasted by OnGameNet. NaDa, July, Jaedong, and Flash have all won this league thrice, earning them a Golden Mouse. The last Broodwar Starleague occurred in 2012. The tournament switched over to Starcraft II briefly (2 OSLs) before being disbanded by OGN.

MSL

The MBCGame StarCraft League StarCraft League (MSL) was the Starleague's younger brother. Although less prestigious, the MSL was still well attended as well as endowed with high-level play. Famous title winners include the Golden Badge holders — NaDa, iloveoov, sAviOr, Bisu and Flash. The last MSL occurred in 2011. The disbandment of MBCGame channel on February 1, 2012 signaled the end of the MBCGame StarCraft League.

WCG

The World Cyber Games (WCG) was the largest international tournament. Many countries around the world had their own preliminaries where they then sent a selected number of players to the World Finals. The last Brood War WCG happened in 2010.

Proleague

The Proleague was a joint venture between MBC, OGN, KeSPA and IEG. It was a tournament in which the Professional StarCraft teams competed, and generally lasted a whole year. KeSPA considered it the most important competition.

BlizzCon

BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo universes. Some of the best Korean and foreign players were invited to play one another in 1v1 matches. While BlizzCon is commonly held in Anaheim/Los Angeles, California, United States, WWI was held in other countries such as South Korea and France.

GOMTV Classic

The GOMTV Classic began in 2008 after the success of the GOM Star Invitational. The GOMTV Classic catered to the foreign community by broadcasting the tournament online and contracting English caster Nick “Tasteless” Plott. The GOMTV Classic ran for 3 seasons.

SonicTV BJ Starleague

The SonicTV BJ Starleague (SSL) was a semi-annual StarCraft tournament broadcast on AfreecaTV by SonicTV. SonicTV was run by an individual from South Korea, the channel ran various events and competitions related to StarCraft. With the first Starleague held in 2010, SSL was not a new creation, but it wasn't until recently that it gained much focus on the foreign scene as both OSL and MSL stopped broadcasting Brood War .

ASL

The AfreecaTV StarCraft League Remastered (ASL) is the series of offline premier tournaments organized and broadcast live on AfreecaTV. In 2015 was co-organized by Kongdoo and streamed on HungryApp.

KSL

The Korea StarCraft League (KSL) was a series of offline tournaments, organized by Blizzard in celebration of the 20th anniversary of StarCraft.

Related Articles

• Portal:Progaming
• Maps Currently Used in Leagues