Waxangel or mensrea

i can help some, here's some text from wax's article on the now nonexistent halpmeh.com...wax just went to sleep, but all these old articles should be getting posted in the articles section of teamliquid.net shortly...no pictures obviously, and some things were links to other articles and won't quite make sense...the meat of it is all there tho...

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Ongamenet Starleague by WaxAngel

The original televised Starcraft tournament. Without a doubt, the most important Starcraft tourney in Korea. Despite the fact that the KPGA Starleague has a roster with the same pro gamers, and WCG being held on a global scale, Ongamenet remains the most well known and popular. The Starleague is usually distinguished by the sponsor behind it. It's referred to as the *sponsor* (e.g. NATE, Hanbitsoft) Starleague by Ongamenet and the viewers.

Being the first game television channel in Korea, Ongamenet has much more experience than their competitors. Their experienced staff has polished the Starleague look continously, and is much more neat and professional than its competitors. And the simple fact that it is the first televised tournament has created a solid image that it is the best.

Thus, Ongamenet is the most direct road to fame. Slayers_`Boxer`, previously known among the more involved fans, rocketed to stardom with his explosive Ongamenet debut. His 2 Ongamenet wins now make him an automatic favorite for any other tournament. Players like Grrr... and HOT-Forever were still invited to tournaments and followed closely by Starcraft fans during their slumps, because of their amazing finals games in the Starleague. Without huge changes by their competitors, it looks like Ongamenet will always be leading the pack.

The Starleague is broadcast live from Megawebstation. Megawebstation is a large PC room in the Coex mall in Seoul, Korea. There is a small stage where the players play their games. The announcers are in a separate room so the players cannot hear them. The players bring their own mice, and sometimes keyboards. The computers and monitors are fixed, however. Seats are incredibly hard to get, arriving a few hours early is a must. For those who cannot get a good seat, there are several large screens inside Megawebstation where people can watch. They are placed so the progamers cannot see them.

The time of the broadcast is 8:00pm Seoul time on Fridays. It is shown on the cable channel Ongamenet, Korea's first channel dedicated to only games. Each week 4+ games are played. It is 4 games a week before the semifinals, then the number of games varies as the games after that are best 2 of 3 or best 3 of 5.There are several re-runs each week, and video streams can be acquired via their official site www.ongamenet.com and www.gamemax.co.kr (for more info on how to view these video streams check out our VODs guide).

History of the Starleague

The first Starleague wasn't referred to as the "Starleague". It was the PKO '99 Korea Open. Also it wasn't actually televised on Ongamenet at first. It was on Tooniverse, Korea's cartoon channel. However, it is the same people who produced the PKO tourney that went on to manage and are still managing the current Starleagues.

Since the 2nd league the term "Starleague" has come into common usage, namely as the Hanaro Communications Tooniverse Starleague. The few game programs on Tooniverse were huge successes, so the parent company of Tooniverse decided to make a game channel, Ongamenet. The basic structure of the Starleague was finalized with the first one held on Ongamenet. Since then it has been a constant process of fine tuning.

The prize for the Starleague has varied, but for the most recent tourney 1st place received 20,000,000 won which translates to roughly $16,500 USD.

One of the highlights of the Starleague are the unique maps that are made for it. Despite balance issues, the maps make for new strategies and interesting games. It has since been common for other tournaments to make their own maps as well. Maps are usually made by a small circle inside Ongamenet. However, there was one public map making contest held by Ongamenet, which resulted in the famous (infamous?) map known as Hall of Valhalla. The maker of the map, Kim Jin Tae has since then been called upon by Ongamenet to make more maps. There are 4 maps for each Starleague, maps usually being used for 2 Starleagues. Maps are often modified between Starleagues to tweak balance or make the games more interesting. Previously called "Neo" versions of a map, maps are now given version numbers. The competing progamers are given the maps a few weeks before they are released to the general public a few days before the start of the Starleague. You can download Starleague maps in our downloads section.

Ongamenet Starleague (continued...) by WaxAngel

Structure of the Starleague Tournament

The Starleague is composed of the 16 players who have passed through the grueling preliminary rounds. The preliminaries are held at Megawebstation as well. Previously, the preliminaries were huge 100+ man tournaments between invited progamers. Many progamers were quoted as saying that the preliminaries were harder than the Starleague itself.

Upsets were a common occurrence, with players like HOT-Forever and TheMarine denied entrance for several consecutive Starleagues. Although this did let relatively unknown progamers become known to the public, it often frustrated viewers to see their favorite progamers missing from the Starleague. So in order to make things more interesting, and perhaps to give the top stars a little edge, Ongamenet adopted it's current system of the 'Challenge League' under the main Starleague.

Once the final 16 players are selected, they are divided into 4 groups. It in uncertain how the 16 players will be grouped in the next Starleague, as this is the first time the Challenge League system has been used. Each player in a group plays each of the other players once. The maps used for each game are decided using a special viewer submitted system. The system allows for the progamers to play each map as equally as possible. The system continues into the quarterfinals as well.

After all the games have been played, the 2 players from each group who have the best records advance to the next round. When players are tied, the player who had won the game between the two is ranked higher. When there are 3 players tied, they must play an additional round of games. The 3 players play 1 game a piece against each other, and they are ranked by their standings in the additional games. If the players tie in the additional games, they must play more additional games which are held in the same way again until they do not tie.

The quarterfinals are held in the same way as the round of 16. Two groups of 4 are made, with the groupings done by rank in the first round. Two 1st place finishers and two 2nd place finishers are placed in each group. Players who were in the same group in the 1st round cannot be placed into the same group in the 2nd round.

Semifinals changes to a best of 3 match. The 1st place player from a quarterfinal group plays the 2nd place player from the other group, and 1st place player from the other group does the same. The maps here are chosen at random and no map is used twice.The games to decide 3rd and 4th place are held at Ongamenet. These too are best 2 of 3. The finals are held at Jang Choong Stadium, an indoor stadium easily holding more than 5000. Entrance is free, provided you have printed a ticket that is on the official website. Since it is free, going a few hours early is not a bad idea.

Finals are best 3 of 5, the maps being picked at random. Each map is used once, with 1 map being used twice. The repeated map often decides the winner. On the front stage, there are 2 large box like constructions with viewports. The players go inside these booths to play their games. The boxes are not completely soundproof, but wearing headphones cancels out any sound that gets inside.

Fans happily bring large banners and signs to cheer on their favorite progamer. "Dropship, lost in the storm." (Boxer vs Yellow), signs with the chinese characters for bamboo and wind (V-Gundam vs Yellow) easily come to mind. The fans are enthuisiastic about cheering, creating a huge racket after a dramatic moment, such as a dropship barely landing in the enemy's base after a perilous flight through hostile skies. The stress and tension of being looked on by so many people can hamper pro gamers greatly. The ability to stay cool has often been stated as a required progamer trait, alongside pure Starcraft skill.

When it's all done and over, the players are presented with a trophy, flowers, and of course, a huge check. After a few weeks of re-runs and preparation, the progamers are ready again for a new Starleague.

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-angel

Waxangel or mensrea

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