In celebration of the 20th anniversary of StarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment is launching the Korea StarCraft League (KSL). This StarCraft: Remastered competition is open to all players and designed to provide the ultimate fan experience.
“Korea StarCraft League represents Blizzard’s commitment to StarCraft and its fans all over the world, who continue playing, watching, and enjoying the game. We are thrilled to announce a brand new StarCraft league based out of Seoul, a city that lives and breathes esports,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Last year, we upgraded the classic strategy game with StarCraft: Remastered, and this year, we look forward to the best players in the world competing in the KSL.”
According to Blizzard Korea's Kook Ki-bong (TheBOy), this will not clash/replace the ASL and serves as an additional tournament for SC:R players in Korea. This is backed up with broadcast times being on Thursday and Friday nights.
WTF?!!!! Is that real? 80,000,000 WON?! That's over $70,000 USD!!!!! This is gonna be insane in Korea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On June 15 2018 15:12 Golgotha wrote: WTF?!!!! Is that real? 80,000,000 WON?! That's over $70,000 USD!!!!! This is gonna be insane in Korea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. KSL will be held twice a year. 2. Total prize pool for the entire year surmounts to ₩160,000,000 (₩80,000,000 per season is almost OGN StarLeague level) 3. Best-of-seven format for the semi-finals and finals
Great news. Hopefully this will spark some much needed motivation for the ex-professionals, and maybe even the influx of new talent.
Blizzard, thank you so much for this. You have redeemed yourself in my humble opinion. I just think it's a shame Bisu isn't around to compete at this time. Also, I hope this makes FanTaSy reconsider his choice to play SC2 fresh out of the army. I like how the tournament is open to all players so even foreigners have a chance to win. Good luck to everyone that plays!
On June 15 2018 15:32 tankgirl wrote: The decision to host on Twitch rather than Afreeca will hopefully increase awareness and boost interest in the game!! Good choice by Blizz
Ah shit. There always has to be a catch. Hopefully there won't be too much bullshit politics between the parties involved leading to the destabilization of the current ecosystem.
Wow what's even more perfect is this will be held twice a year and be a backup for ASL! And games on Thursday and Friday. So that's potentially 4 nights of Starcraft per week!!!
Online Qualifiers June 28 - June 29, 2018 (KST) Map pool: FS,Gladiator,Polaris Rhapsody most ex-pros have seed, so they dont need to participate in this preliminary.( by K.H.J)
On-site Qualifiers Top 256 players play face to face with the top 16 players moving on to the group stage. Onsite Qualifiers: July 1, 2018 (KST) Bo3, Bo5(Final) Map pool: FS, CB, Gladiator, Polaris Rhapsody and Fortress SE
Ro16 Format: Double Elimination, Best of 5 Schedule: July 19 - August 17 (Every Thursday and Friday, 7:00 PM KST)
Ro8 Format: Single Elimination, Best of 5 Schedule: August 23 (Thu) - 24 (Fri), 7:00 PM KST
Ro4 Format: Single Elimination, Best of 7 Schedule: August 30 (Thu) - 31 (Fri), 7:00 PM KST
Final Format: Single Elimination, Best of 7 Schedule: September 8 (Sat), 7:00 PM KST