GSL S and A League and the Up/Down format revealed

2011 GSL Tour

Code S : 32 players ranked from 1~32
Code A : 32 players ranked from 33~64(4 recommended foreign players will be seeded, mainly winners of other worldwide tournaments)
Code B : 172 players that are not in Code S or Code A and are the top ranked players from the Diamond League in the Korean Battle.net server. (Foreign players can always compete in the Preliminary Rounds for Code A disregarding their ladder point.)
Interaction between Code A and Code S : Up and Down matches
Interaction between Code B and Code A : Preliminary Rounds for Code A

Point Ranking
- Every players start at 0 from the start of 2011.
- Points are given to players after each tournament depending on each players results
- Points are accumulated as the years go by, but for Blizzard Cup and World Championship only the points from that year are applied.

Leagues of 2011 GSL Tour
1. GSL Sponsorship League
2. Super Tournament
3. World Championship
4. GSTL(tentative name)
5. Blizzard Cup

1) GSL Sponsorship League (7 tournaments a year)

Code S
- Ro32 ~ Ro16 Group League
- The 32 highest ranking players of 2010 will be divided into 8 groups of 4.
- The players in each group will play one another and the 1st and 2nd place players will advance to Ro16. (The 3rd and 4th player will have to play in the ‘Up and Down Match’.)
- Ro8 ~ Finals Tournament (Ro8 : best of 3, Semifinals : best of 5, Finals : best of 7)
- One group will play each day.
- Players who advance to Ro16 will remain in Code S.
- The 16 players who fail to qualify for Ro16 will have to play in the ‘Up and Down Match’
- The group will be determined by a public lottery which will be held on the following Monday of each GSL Sponsorship League.

Code A
- Ro32 Full Tournament
- Ro32 ~Semifinals : Best of 3, Finals : Best of 7
- 4 recommended foreign players will be seeded(Mainly winners of other worldwide tournaments)
- If there are no recommended foreign players, more players will be brought in through the Preliminary Rounds for Code A.
- Players who advance to Ro8 will play in the ‘Up and Down Match’
- Players who advance to Ro16 will remain in Code A.
- Players who fail to qualify for Ro16 will have to go through the Preliminary Rounds for Code A.

Code B
- 172 players that are not in Code S or Code A and are the top ranked players from the Diamond League in the Korean Battle.net server. (Foreign players can always compete in the Preliminary Rounds for Code A disregarding their ladder point.)
- They will play in the Preliminary rounds for Code A.

Up and Down Matches
- Bottom 16 players from Code S and the top 8 players from Code A will compete.
- There will be 8 groups of 3. (2 Code S players and 1 Code A players per group.)
- Champion and the runner-up of the Code A tournament gets to pick their group, the rest of the groups will be randomly selected.
- The 3rd place player from the group league of Code S will play the Code A player in a best of 3 matches. (Winner will be in Code S.)
- The loser of the match will play the 4th place player from the group league of Code S in a best of 3 matches.
- So if you are the 4th place player of each group from the group league of Code S, you only have one opportunity to remain in Code S.

Preliminary Rounds for Code A
- Bottom 16 players of Code A, 172 players from Code B and 4 recommended foreign players will compete. (192 players tournament)
- The top 12 players from the tournament will compete in the following Code A tournament.
- Registration for the Preliminary Rounds for Code A will start a week before each Preliminary Rounds.

2) Super Tournament (1 tournament a year in May)
- Ro64 Full Tournament (Code S 32 + Code A 32)
- Only tournament of the year when all the players from Code S and A compete against each other.
- Same format as the GSL Pre-Season Tournaments.
- Ro64 ~ Ro16 : best of 3, Ro8 ~ Semifinals : best of 5, Finals : best of 7

3) World Championship (1 tournament a year in September) – Invitational
- We invite the best players from all around the world to compete in a Ro16 tournament.
- 2 players from North America, 2 from Europe, 2 from Taiwan, 2 from China and 8 players from Korea will compete.
- The Korean players will be the top 8 players of the point ranking accumulated up to that month.

4) GSTL (Global SC II Team League) - tentative name
- 8 teams will participate in the tournament
- 8 teams will be selected by the added points of their team members in Code S and Code A.
- Two teams will match up and two players from each team will play against each other one by one and the winner will continue playing while the loser gets replaced.
- Ro8 ~ Semifinals : first to reach 3 wins, Finals, first to reach 5 wins

5) Blizzard Cup (1 tournament a year in December) – Invitational
- The top 10 players of the point ranking of that year will play in a play-off type tournament.
- Day 1 : 10th place vs. 9th place, Day 2 : Winner vs. 8th place and so on.
- There will be 1 best of 7 matches a day

Prize money

Code S
Ro32(16 players) : 1,500,000won each
Ro16(8 players) : 2,000,000won each
Ro8(4 players) : 3,000,000won each
Semifinals(2 players) : 5,000,000won each
Runner-up : 20,000,000won
Champion : 50,000,000won

Code A
Ro32(16 players) : 200,000won each
Ro16(8 players) : 400,000won each
Ro8(4 players) : 600,000won each
Semifinals(2 players) : 800,000won each
Runner-up : 1,000,000won
Champion : 1,500,000won

Super Tournament
Ro32(16 players) : 1,000,000won each
Ro16(8 players) : 2,000,000won each
Ro8(4 players) : 5,000,000won each
Semifinals(2 players) : 10,000,000won each
Runner-up : 30,000,000won
Champion : 100,000,000won

World Championship
Ro16(8 players) : 3,000,000won each
Ro8(4 players) : 5,000,000won each
Semifinals(2 players) : 10,000,000won each
Runner-up : 15,000,000won
Champion : 30,000,000won

GSTL
Second Place : 5,000,000won
First Place : 10,000,000won

Blizzard Cup
10th place : 1,500,000won
9th place : 3,000,000won
8th place : 5,000,000won
7th place : 7,000,000won
6th place : 9,000,000won
5th place : 12,000,000won
4th place : 15,000,000won
3rd place : 20,000,000won
Runner-up : 30,000,000won
Champion : 50,000,000won

Hello everyone,

Yesterday the Code S players were divided into 8 groups of 4 by the group drawing. Now We will explain how the group league works. The 8 groups of Code S players will play in a ‘GOMtv League’ format. The ‘GOMtv League’ format can be defined as Full Group League + Double Elimination Format.

1. The ‘GOMtv League’ format consists of 3 Turns.
2. From the record up to Turn 2, player(s) with 2 wins advance into Ro16 / player(s) with 2 loses are disqualified.
3. If it is not determined up to Turn 2 the qualifiers and disqualifiers with the rank of the group is determined in Turn 3.
4. This allows every player to play one another so that we can have diverse matches and also makes the matches more competitive because you are disqualified with 2 loses. So it is a mixture of the Full Group League and the Double Elimination Format.

This is how each group is composed.
Code S has 8 groups of 4 players.

A B
C D

Rank 1~8 players from the previous tournament are each positioned in A by the group drawing.
Rank 9~16 players are each positioned in C by the group drawing.
Rank 17~32 players are positioned in B & D of each group by the group drawing.

The match up always start as A vs. B and C vs. D.

The biggest point in this format is that in the group of 4 players, you have to win against at least 2 players to advance.
It is different from a full league because there will be no tie breakers and every match will be a rank deciding match which will improve the player’s performance.

In typical group leagues, matches between players who are confirmed to be disqualified tend to be boring to watch. However the rank matters in the ‘GOMtv League’ format because the 4th player will only get one chance to remain in Code S through the ‘Up and Down Matches’ while the 3rd player gets two chances.

Here is an example of how the 'GOMtv League' works.

There is 4 players(A, B, C, D) in a group.

Turn 1 : A vs. B, C vs. D
* Let’s assume that players A and C wins.

Turn 2 : A(1W) vs. D(1L), B(1L) vs. C(1W)

* From here there 3 types of scenario can occur.

Case 1. Winners continue to win
A(2W), D(2L), B(2L), C(2W)

-> A, C advances to Ro16 / B, D drops to the ‘Up and Down Matches’. The rank from 1 to 4 will be decided after the match ups in turn 3. A vs. C , B vs. D

Case 2. Only 1 of the previous winners continue to win
A(2W), D(2L), B(1W 1L), C(1W 1L)

-> A is rank 1st of this group and D is rank 4th. Rank 2nd and 3rd will be decided after the match up in turn 3. B vs. C

Case 3. Every player get 1W 1L
A(1W 1L), D(1W 1L), B(1W 1L), C(1W 1L)
-> Turn 3 will be A vs. C, B vs. D. The winners of these match ups will advance into Ro16. Two players will be tied at 2W 1L and the other two at 1W 2L. So the rank from 1 to 4 will be decided by the record of who won the match up between the tied players.

Code S group list : http://www.gomtv.net/2010gslopens3/news/292

Code A
- Ro32 Full Tournament
- Ro32 ~ Ro16 : Single Game, Ro8 ~ Semifinals : Best of 3, Finals : Best of 7
- 4 recommended foreign players will be seeded(Mainly winners of other worldwide tournaments)
- If there are no recommended foreign players, more players will be brought in through the Preliminary Rounds for Code A.
- Players who advance to Ro8 will play in the ‘Up and Down Match’
- Players who advance to Ro16 will remain in Code A.
- Players who fail to qualify for Ro16 will have to go through the Preliminary Rounds for Code A.

Up and Down Matches
- Bottom 16 players from Code S and the top 8 players from Code A will compete.
- There will be 8 groups of 3. (2 Code S players and 1 Code A players per group.)
- Champion and the runner-up of the Code A tournament gets to pick their group, the rest of the groups will be randomly selected.
- The 3rd place player from the group league of Code S will play the Code A player in a best of 3 matches. (Winner will be in Code S.)
- The loser of the match will play the 4th place player from the group league of Code S in a best of 3 matches.
- So if you are the 4th place player of each group from the group league of Code S, you only have one opportunity to remain in Code S.