EPT
What are Proleagues?
Crowdfunded competitions between teams of BW pros
When do they happen?
Every night when there are enough players who are willing to play (even during ASL nights). If there are a lot of players available, multiple proleagues are run concurrently (as many as 3 per night). If there are not enough players, no proleagues will open.
Rough start time is late evening in Korea and usually goes well past midnight KST.
Are there different types of Proleagues?
There is a rough split between the top "major proleague," the 2nd level "K league" and the lower "moonlight proleague" - but the boundaries are not well defined and there are a lot of hybrid proleagues
In the past there was a big funding gap between the major proleague and the K league, but these days funding tends to be more level (on some days K league is funded better than the major proleague happening on the same day)
How are these organized?
A player will "open" a Proleague, and then invite other players to join, usually eight players in total (occasionally 6 players and rarely 10). Players are not invited in advance, invites are mostly based on who is streaming at the time.
How are these funded?
The player "opening" the Proleague usually has already been given some base funding by their viewers (it is not a good look to open a Proleague without having some money lined up already). Once all the participants are invited, there is a fundraising period of several minutes where each player appeals (or begs) for donations on their stream.
Each player is expected to bring back at least 300 star balloons per winner - so for a 4v4 Proleague, each player will need to raise a total of at least 1200 star balloons (300 star balloons X 4 winners) in funding. (Very roughly 100 star balloons = $10USD)
If a player can't reach the expected star balloon amount through viewer funding, they will simply put up their own money so they can participate.
How are teams picked?
major proleague - players are supposed to be the best so teams are usually picked on 자연 사다리 (literally "natural ladder") system - all players are in 1 pool and are divided completely randomly
K league - more emphasis on balance, even at the invitation stage the organizer tries to avoid inviting anyone too strong or weak unless they have someone else they balance out with. Most of the time they will pick 2 players who are relatively well balanced to serve as captains and then the rest of the teams are picked taking turns (뽑기 "selecting" system).
Of course there are a lot of hybrid arrangements depending on the personnel, if major proleague has 2 members who are perceived as weaker than the rest, they sometimes separate those 2 players and then randomly divide the rest. If there's only one player that's super strong in K League, they will usually let the other team pick the next 2 strongest to try to balance it out.
What is the competition format?
A team needs to win 2 out of 3 sets to win the Proleague
1st set is always an "entry" proleague best 4 out of 7 games. Each team simultaneously puts out an entry of their 4 players, which are the matchups for the first four games of the set. For Game 5 (if needed) each team uses an online program to randomly choose a player to play. For Game 6 (if needed) each team uses the online program to choose randomly among the 3 players that did not play in Game 5. Game 7 (if needed) is back to using the online program to choose randomly among the 4 players. The map pool is predetermined but the order is randomly chosen after the first 4 matchups are already set.
2nd set has some variation. The major proleague usually does a winner's league as the 2nd set. The K League usually just repeats the same format as the 1st set. Occasionally you will see a loser's league format.
The 3rd set (if necessary) is a single winner-takes-all Super Ace match where each team randomly picks their Ace. In Proleagues where there may be some balance issues, there may be bans permitted to avoid an unbalanced Super Ace match. K league sometimes has the worst performing player for each team come out in the Super Ace match - the Narak ("hell") matchup
The winning team wins all the star balloons raised, the losing team gets nothing.
How do I watch?
Check the live streams around late evening in Korea, and look for stream titles that have "4:4" or "프로리그" (Proleague)
While one teammate is playing, the other 3 teammates observe the game and discuss/cheer/ridicule in a discord call
You have up to 8 POV to choose from in each Proleague. These days, the highest fundraisers are given the observer slots where you can see the supply and resource counts. Some players are great streamers who put in a good effort to show the score and who is playing (sometimes even in English), others don't really care. Try out a couple of players and see whose observing style you like, or check out the FPV of the current player.
Purpose of this thread
This thread is meant to serve as a place for everything related to these daily proleagues. This includes posting the notifications when the proleague starts, discussing the games live as they happen, and collecting the results and VODs after they finish.
Additional content might include making it easier for someone to post the spoiler-free VODs to the Small VOD Thread, calculating the various statistics (player, race, map win percentage), adding the matches to the Liquipedia, etc.
Useful resources
Mini's archive - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBuuRmyub6YoJyoJpJfCvMN5Ra1OTqrkQ
History
+ Show Spoiler [January 2023] +
Jan 01 2023 - 
Royal 
hero Rush 
Mini vs Soma Soulkey Snow Shuttle
Jan 02 2023 -Bisu Royal hero Mini vs Light Queen Best Action
Jan 03 2023 -Bisu Snow hero Mini vs Queen Soma Royal Shuttle
Jan 04 2023 -Shuttle Snow Mini vs hero Royal JyJ
Jan 05 2023 -Light Royal Bisu Sharp vs Soma Best hero Mini
Jan 06 2023 -Queen Best Jaedong YSC vs Sharp Rush free Alone
Jan 07 2023 -Mini Shuttle Sharp PianO vs Snow Jaedong EffOrt Motive
Jan 08 2023 -Mini Snow Rush Royal vs Best Bisu Light Soma
Jan 08 2023 (K-League) -EffOrt JyJ PianO Killer vs Jaedong Mong Stork YSC
Jan 09 2023 (K-League) -EffOrt Stork BarrackS PianO vs Shuttle Sharp ggaemo YSC
Jan 10 2023 -Queen Jaedong Royal Mong vs Soma Best Rush Stork
Jan 11 2023 (K-League) -EffOrt free Sharp YSC vs Jaedong JyJ Killer ggaemo
Jan 12 2023 -Queen Royal Soma Mini vs hero Rush Bisu Shuttle
Jan 13 2023 -Light Rush Snow Soma vs Royal Best Mini Queen
Jan 14 2023 -Soma Best Mini Shuttle vs hero Light Rush JyJ
Jan 16 2023 -Queen hero Best Rush vs Soma Mini Shuttle Royal
Jan 16 2023 (K-League) -EffOrt JyJ Motive Hyuk vs Sharp Stork YSC PianO
Jan 17 2023 -Queen Soma Rush free vs hero Best Shuttle Sharp
Jan 18 2023 (STX vs SKT) -hero Mini Shuttle Calm vs Bisu Best sSak ParalyzE
Jan 18 2023 -Snow Rush sSak vs Soma Mini Shuttle
Jan 18 2023 (K-League) -EffOrt Jaedong Stork PianO vs JyJ Sharp YSC Killer
Jan 19 2023 -ZerO Royal Shuttle Stork vs Soma hero Light Bisu
Jan 19 2023 (wG Clan vs Guest) -Snow Rush Sharp Shine vs Best Mini Mind EffOrt
Jan 20 2023 -Mini Best Shuttle Mong vs Soma Jaedong Rain Rush
Jan 21 2023 (K-League) -EffOrt Shuttle Stork YSC vs Jaedong Sharp JyJ Mind
Jan 23 2023 (K-League) -BarrackS Mind Dear TY vs Stork YSC HyuN Calm
Jan 24 2023 (K-League) -Sharp EffOrt Stork PianO vs Jaedong Rain Mong Motive
Jan 24 2023 -Royal Snow Bisu Soma vs Rush Mini Best hero
Jan 25 2023 -Royal Mini Bisu hero vs Rush Best Queen Soma
Jan 26 2023 -Royal Queen Bisu Shuttle vs Rush Soma Mini Sharp
Jan 27 2023 -Rush Soma Jaedong Sharp vs Royal Stork Mini Shuttle
Jan 29 2023 (K-League) -Best Mong PianO Shine vs EffOrt BarrackS Stork Dear
Jan 29 2023 -Snow Royal Sharp Soma vs Shuttle hero Soulkey Action
Jan 30 2023 -Best Shuttle Queen Soma vs Light Rush Royal hero
Jan 31 2023 -Snow Shuttle Royal Soulkey vs Rain Rush Queen Soma
Royal hero Rush Mini vs Soma Soulkey Snow ShuttleJan 02 2023 -
Bisu Royal hero Mini vs Light Queen Best ActionJan 03 2023 -
Bisu Snow hero Mini vs Queen Soma Royal ShuttleJan 04 2023 -
Shuttle Snow Mini vs hero Royal JyJJan 05 2023 -
Light Royal Bisu Sharp vs Soma Best hero MiniJan 06 2023 -
Queen Best Jaedong YSC vs Sharp Rush free AloneJan 07 2023 -
Mini Shuttle Sharp PianO vs Snow Jaedong EffOrt MotiveJan 08 2023 -
Mini Snow Rush Royal vs Best Bisu Light SomaJan 08 2023 (K-League) -
EffOrt JyJ PianO Killer vs Jaedong Mong Stork YSCJan 09 2023 (K-League) -
EffOrt Stork BarrackS PianO vs Shuttle Sharp ggaemo YSCJan 10 2023 -
Queen Jaedong Royal Mong vs Soma Best Rush StorkJan 11 2023 (K-League) -
EffOrt free Sharp YSC vs Jaedong JyJ Killer ggaemoJan 12 2023 -
Queen Royal Soma Mini vs hero Rush Bisu ShuttleJan 13 2023 -
Light Rush Snow Soma vs Royal Best Mini QueenJan 14 2023 -
Soma Best Mini Shuttle vs hero Light Rush JyJJan 16 2023 -
Queen hero Best Rush vs Soma Mini Shuttle RoyalJan 16 2023 (K-League) -
EffOrt JyJ Motive Hyuk vs Sharp Stork YSC PianOJan 17 2023 -
Queen Soma Rush free vs hero Best Shuttle SharpJan 18 2023 (STX vs SKT) -
hero Mini Shuttle Calm vs Bisu Best sSak ParalyzEJan 18 2023 -
Snow Rush sSak vs Soma Mini ShuttleJan 18 2023 (K-League) -
EffOrt Jaedong Stork PianO vs JyJ Sharp YSC KillerJan 19 2023 -
ZerO Royal Shuttle Stork vs Soma hero Light BisuJan 19 2023 (wG Clan vs Guest) -
Snow Rush Sharp Shine vs Best Mini Mind EffOrtJan 20 2023 -
Mini Best Shuttle Mong vs Soma Jaedong Rain RushJan 21 2023 (K-League) -
EffOrt Shuttle Stork YSC vs Jaedong Sharp JyJ MindJan 23 2023 (K-League) -
BarrackS Mind Dear TY vs Stork YSC HyuN CalmJan 24 2023 (K-League) -
Sharp EffOrt Stork PianO vs Jaedong Rain Mong MotiveJan 24 2023 -
Royal Snow Bisu Soma vs Rush Mini Best heroJan 25 2023 -
Royal Mini Bisu hero vs Rush Best Queen SomaJan 26 2023 -
Royal Queen Bisu Shuttle vs Rush Soma Mini SharpJan 27 2023 -
Rush Soma Jaedong Sharp vs Royal Stork Mini ShuttleJan 29 2023 (K-League) -
Best Mong PianO Shine vs EffOrt BarrackS Stork DearJan 29 2023 -
Snow Royal Sharp Soma vs Shuttle hero Soulkey ActionJan 30 2023 -
Best Shuttle Queen Soma vs Light Rush Royal heroJan 31 2023 -
Snow Shuttle Royal Soulkey vs Rain Rush Queen SomaFeb 01 2023 -
Snow Bisu Queen hero vs Best Light Rush SomaFeb 01 2023 (K-League) -
Shuttle free ParalyzE Jaedong vs Sharp TY Ample HyukFeb 02 2023 -
Mini Royal Soma hero vs Bisu Shuttle Rush JaedongFeb 02 2023 -
Snow Best Mong Queen vs Stork Sharp Soulkey EffOrtFeb 03 2023 -
Snow Best Rush Soma vs Shuttle Light Royal heroFeb 04 2023 -
Bisu Best hero Shine vs Mini Rush Light JyJFeb 05 2023 -
Mini Snow Rush Shine vs Bisu Best Light SomaFeb 06 2023 -
Mini Sharp Queen Jaedong vs Best Rush Mind SomaFeb 07 2023 -
Mini Snow Sharp Queen vs Royal Soma Jaedong heroFeb 08 2023 -
Rush Royal Queen Jaedong Soma vs Snow Mini Best Sharp hero
Hero
Rush
