EPTLol JK I'm not that eccentric.
Anyway, I am here to discuss the teamleague vs solo league (IE GSL v GSTL as the basis, though many solo and team leagues differ in how you advance) formatting and which is better for eSports.
I ask because, well, I am interested in the sustainable future of Sc2 proscene. There will always be both styles of the league, even ten years from now when we're playing the LotV expand, so it isn't what league should be taken more seriously, but more of how to introduce more people into an addictive eSports machine.
As it currently stands, the majority of sc2 watchers watch Streams and the major event of the weekend, which almost always is an individual league format. This is a great format for power-ranking our top players as we see them in BoX format head-to-head with the best of the best, no doubt. Marine King, Polt, Stephano, NesTea, and so many others get directly power-ranked off of their results in GSL, MLG, and other tournaments. However, most of the time Teamleagues aren't as hyped up. Mainly because it is hard to keep a team together when solo league LANs are so important to keeping a player financially stable, so unless the pro-teams start commissioning players and huge LANs arise for TL format only (so very unlikely for both) there isn't as much incentive for players to play TL lans rather than go and play solo LANs and earn some money.
Now for us viewers, it is flipping awesome to watch major tournaments. Period! Now the question is, which is more fun to see? The volatile Teamleagues with counter-picking, planning, "out of game" strategy, and seeing more than the Code S/top code a players on the mainstage. Personally, I enjoy the formatting better but we also suffer the consequence of not being able to see as many matches or not see as many matches on demand. GSL/TL works EXTREMELY well for TL because you expect only a few matches a week (or one a day max) since a bo9 with breaks can run three hours and makes it difficult to play live and LAN.
At the same time, being able to see the dream matchups in late stages of major tourneys (hey, I'm watching IPL right now) is a lot of fun and also a lot of fun to watch the open bracket when there are four streams being casted simultaneously. Action is EVERYWHERE to be seen and there are more storylines to follow. However in MLG weekends, it is just that, a weekend! There isn't really time for player storylines to develop unless there is a significant history (Polt v Stephano, MKP v MC, etc) Thus I think GSL solo league format is still strongest solo league formatting for a playerbase (as well as the quality of games too).
Speaking of game quality, that is something that you lose in GSTL and all team league formats. It is almost like Ladder when you're playing a Code B player with not a lot of outside showings and even the ace matches are relatively volatile because there is no game two to win, so many players change their persona for TL format.
I ask because I am a watcher of sc2 but am still semi-aware of brood war when it pops up in the community (such as the end of the last SPL) and all I really hear are team league formats. I am curious about what made teamleagues stronger in the late-BW and weaker in early sc2.
