more here: Sonic's message

This is interesting: Blizzard will help by promoting SSL9 through their official homepage and SNS.
"~SSL9 afreeca broadcasts will reach the entire world and are also a hot issue in the world's most famous foreign community TeamLiquid.^^"

Commentary for SSL9: Kim Carry + Lee Seung Won (doesn't actually state Sonic as a commentator, but I doubt he wouldn't)

SSL8 Finals - Kim Carry, Sonic & Lee Seung Won, photo by Kimbilly

Other details: Some kind of HD support for SSL9 will be provided by Afreeca.
Ro32 onwards will be offline, free admissions for viewers in the studio.
There will be 2 "interview girls" at the offline, Sonic's version of stargirls.
A lot else will be different from SSL8 (like these item giveaways at the studio).

Final message: "StarCraft: Brood War is still a loved game. As the famous foreign baseball player Yogi Berra said "The game isn't over until it's over." - in that spirit, the StarCraft transmision did not stop although it was only through online means. I believe the transmition can continue until the very end.

I think Brood War's competition and popularity will be alive after 10 years as well. The tradition of Korean Brood War can still stand strong. I will do my best to make it happen. [Sonic refers to BW as similar to Baduk/Go, a board game that is very famous in Korea.]

We look forward to seeing you all at the offline group selection ceremony. Please cheer on us heartily and come visit the studio. Thank you."

More info including schedule, players etc. here: 9th Sonic StarLeague info or + Show Spoiler [here] +

Schedule - not final
Group Selection Ceremony
2014 1/4 - location TBD - 300~400 seats

Round of 32
1/10 Ro32 Group A - 1/11 Ro32 Group B
1/17 Ro32 Group C - 1/18 Ro32 Group D
1/24 Ro32 Group E - 1/25 Ro32 Group F
1/31 Ro32 Group G - 2/01 Ro32 Group H

Round of 16
2/07 Ro16 Group A - 2/08 Ro16 Group B
2/14 Ro16 Group C - 2/15 Ro16 Group D

Round of 8
2/21 Ro8 Groups A, B - 2/22 Ro8 Groups C, D

Round of 4
2/28 Ro4 Groups A, B

Grand Finals
3/01 Saturday 7PM KST - location TBD - 2100~3500 seats

Live casts from SonicTV Studio at 7PM KST Friday/Saturday.
That's 2 hours earlier than the currently ongoing Sonic ProLeague casts.
Player FPVs will probably only be available on 50 inch screens at the studio.

Players - not final
The Triumph of War: Terran
(T)

Mind

PianO
Midas
(T)

Sea

Shinee

Victory after Victory: Protoss
JangBi
(P)

Pusan

Overcome All: Zerg
(Z)

Killer

Great

ZerO

Terror
FengZi Chinese #1 ranked Zerg invited to the offline at SonicTV expenses
(Z)

Cola

Prizepool
1st place ~$14.000
2nd place: ~$4.700
3rd place: ~$1.900
(8th SSL was $4.600, $2.760, $1.840, $920)

Sources: SSL9 entry, sponsorship

DiMano

Korea (South)2066 Posts

December 14 2013 18:21 GMT

This is event is made from love to the game it is so amazing and all this atmosphere remembers OSL and MSL so much I just can not describe how good this event is. This event just has everything that a StarCraft fan needs - the true StarCraft atmosphere which made me watch korean StarCraft nonstop, korean commentators whose passion makes me forget all my problems and insanely talanted players who train so hard and just can not live without StarCraft which make a fan of EVERY players unlike other sports.

McRatyn

Poland901 Posts

December 14 2013 18:28 GMT

Love Blizzard or hate it, I think it's nice from them.

It's like with this grumpy uncle that you hate, but once you see him after a long time and he's nice and brings presents then everithing's cool and you get along.

ne4aJIb

Russian Federation3209 Posts

December 14 2013 18:28 GMT

Bisu vs Jangbi final

Xiphos

Canada7507 Posts

December 14 2013 18:39 GMT

Let's hope that they make some interesting intro with those players and have OGN level of zoom cameras.

emanresU

Germany393 Posts

December 14 2013 18:42 GMT

Aaaaaw yiss gogogo Bisu~~

Arceus

Vietnam8333 Posts

December 14 2013 18:47 GMT

studio check Bisu check stargirls check kim carry check lots of cash check omg

zerious

Canada3803 Posts

December 14 2013 18:54 GMT

Blizzard slowly realizing that SC2 is a lost cause in Korea

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

December 14 2013 19:03 GMT

Midas returns to BW after getting nerfed in DotA2.

<3 Midas

Falling

Canada11359 Posts

December 14 2013 19:11 GMT

#10

This is great news. It truly is a testament to all the hard work Sonic has done. Thank you Blizzard for recognizing it as this is the sort of support they can provide (besides fixing the port-forwarding issues.) Long live BW!

On December 15 2013 03:54 zerious wrote:
Blizzard slowly realizing that SC2 is a lost cause in Korea

Supporting multiple games isn't mutually exclusive you know.

looknohands119

United States815 Posts

December 14 2013 19:13 GMT

#11

So sick. Glad to see Blizzard beginning to support BroodWar. It would be really cool if BroodWar and Starcraft 2 someday had a joint league where the games were run side by side.

Gamegene

United States8308 Posts

December 14 2013 19:33 GMT

#12

On December 15 2013 04:13 looknohands119 wrote:
So sick. Glad to see Blizzard beginning to support BroodWar. It would be really cool if BroodWar and Starcraft 2 someday had a joint league where the games were run side by side.

no.nonononono.

we already had that and it was awful.

ooDi

Canada170 Posts

December 14 2013 19:38 GMT

#13

wow. the prize pool is actually making me think BW is back in shape

amazingxkcd

GRAND OLD AMERICA16375 Posts

December 14 2013 19:42 GMT

#14

We had that. Let's never go back to that shithole again.

Disregard

China10252 Posts

December 14 2013 19:49 GMT

#15

Not enough strong Terran these days

jubil

United States2602 Posts

December 14 2013 19:56 GMT

#16

On December 15 2013 04:33 Gamegene wrote:

Show nested quote +

no.nonononono.

we already had that and it was awful.

I dunno, I actually enjoyed the hybrid proleague season. With a few changes I think it could have been successful - most importantly ditching the rule that players alternate between games, and maybe alternating the ace matches between the games. Could have had actual quality SC2 and Broodwar side by side.

Regardless, it's really cool to see such passion coming together to support Broodwar.

ImbaTosS

United Kingdom1689 Posts

December 14 2013 19:58 GMT

#17

On December 15 2013 04:49 Disregard wrote:
Not enough strong Terran these days

Sea, Mind, Hiya, Ssak

Hesmyrr

Canada5776 Posts

December 14 2013 20:02 GMT

#18

On December 15 2013 04:56 jubil wrote:

Show nested quote +

Or better yet, they could just split the hybrid proleague season into two separate proleagues that do not have conflicting time slots. I do not believe hybrid format brings nothing advantageous to the table unfortunately.

Harem

United States11390 Posts

December 14 2013 20:19 GMT

#19

On December 15 2013 04:49 Disregard wrote:
Not enough strong Terran these days

What are you talking about? If anything, it's zerg lol. (Light didnt even enter this either btw)

Great rarely plays, Kwanro just says ssibal a lot on stream, I think s2 might be inactive cause havent seen him lately after he used to play all day beforehand. All the other zergs bar Killer will lose to first terran that they meet.

Zero has also been incredibly disappointing and depressing. People expecting him to do well based off name value are sorely deluded. His ZvP is still decent but losing to someone who splits playtime between LoL and BW doesn't help matters. (Brave) Zero is also fucked if he meets another zerg ie getting stomped 3-0 by Hero's mediocre zvz. (that loses to sziky)

So, it's basically just Killer (and hoping he gets over recent zvp issues and starts to really practice and not take more random breaks) and maybe hoping that Zero gets a lucky string of Protoss but then he'd lose to Killer. Stylistically, Zero seems to match up better to Bisu though. However, Killer did finally beat Bisu in a bo3 the other day. (after losing 0-2 to pure and going 1-1 vs Jaehoon.)

Jaaaaasper

United States10225 Posts

December 14 2013 20:28 GMT

#20

Jesus thats a pretty stacked lineup, this looks amazing. I bet it triples sc2 for live attendance as well. I can't wait. Will Sayle do a English version for those who prefer that kind of thing?