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The qualifiers for '2026 GSL Season 1' will be held on April 21st (Tue).
Details are as follows:
■ Participation Requirements
- Must be at least 12 years old.
- Must use your own StarCraft II Battle.net account (accounts belonging to family or friends are not permitted).
- Open to all Master/Grandmaster league players (Any Region).
- [Mandatory] Must have streamed on SOOP for at least 10 hours within the last 30 days.
■ Qualifier Information
- Application Period: Until April 19th (Sun), 23:59 [KST]
- Qualifier Date: April 21st (Tue) [KST]
- Location: Online
- Eligibility: Only players currently staying in Korea are eligible to participate in the GSL Qualifiers.
- Schedule: Individual match schedules will be sent via MMS and email on April 20th (Mon).
■ Match Format
- Format: Best of 3 (Bo3) / Double Elimination
- Advancement: A total of 12 players will advance to the main tournament.
- Top 4 players: Advance directly to the Round of 8.
- Next 8 players (5th–12th): Advance to the Round of 12.
- Maps
1st Set: Ruby Rock LE
2nd Set: Tourmaline LE
3rd Set: White Rabbit LE
■ Mandatory Obligations for Main Tournament Qualifiers
Players who advance to the main tournament are required to stream at least 10 hours of GSL-related content on SOOP.
Content Examples: GSL Co-streaming (Watch Parties), match reviews, feedback sessions, etc.
■ Application Form
Please fill out the form below accurately and send your application to gsl@sooplive.com
Full Name:
Date of Birth:
Country:
Phone Number:
KakaoTalk ID (For contact in Korea):
Battle.net Account (BattleTag):
Ladder Score (MMR):
SC2 Character Name:
Team:
Race:
Email Address:
SOOP ID:
For any questions, please feel free to contact us at gsl@sooplive.com
Thank you.
GSL
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WHATTT? Good old 1v1 GSL is back??? Yesssssssssssssss
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Welcome back, happy for the fans.
But I have to ask: Essentially, even if they do this entirely Online (not sure if they will), they still excluded all foreigners with the SOOP-Streaming thing, right?
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- [Mandatory] Must have streamed on SOOP for at least 10 hours within the last 30 days.
Players who advance to the main tournament are required to stream at least 10 hours of GSL-related content on SOOP.
Content Examples: GSL Co-streaming (Watch Parties), match reviews, feedback sessions, etc.
lol is this new?
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On April 15 2026 02:04 Balnazza wrote:
Welcome back, happy for the fans.
But I have to ask: Essentially, even if they do this entirely Online (not sure if they will), they still excluded all foreigners with the SOOP-Streaming thing, right?
they also have the rule
- Eligibility: Only players currently staying in Korea are eligible to participate in the GSL Qualifiers.
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Soop going crazy with the restrictions. These new ones plus "SOOP's regulations have changed, so full series VODs cannot be uploaded for 48 hours." for broodwar.
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On April 15 2026 02:54 Die4Ever wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2026 02:04 Balnazza wrote:
Welcome back, happy for the fans.
But I have to ask: Essentially, even if they do this entirely Online (not sure if they will), they still excluded all foreigners with the SOOP-Streaming thing, right? they also have the rule Show nested quote +- Eligibility: Only players currently staying in Korea are eligible to participate in the GSL Qualifiers.
That rule already existed no? Anyway, I don't really think that streaming in SOOP is really a "no foreigner" rule
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I think the living in korea rule was there for a while, maybe always. Makes sure you're available if they need to re schedule or something.
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you people whining about it being SOOP ONLY & encouraging SOOP are a huge part of the reason GSL is dead lol
SOOP is the damn company running the thing, and it had 800+ english viewers for the brood war group yesterday!!
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no creator?  wonder if he's going to the military soon
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Northern Ireland27355 Posts
On April 21 2026 18:58 BaiZhuZhu wrote:
you people whining about it being SOOP ONLY & encouraging SOOP are a huge part of the reason GSL is dead lol
SOOP is the damn company running the thing, and it had 800+ english viewers for the brood war group yesterday!!
It’s stupid to insist on such things in a game where foreign viewership way outweighs Korean domestic viewership, and largely always has.
Especially when they’re relying on foreign crowdfunding to a big degree.
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foreign viewership is useless to them bro
they want foreign money
although yea, the crowdfunding
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the crowdfunding of ... $4,713/month
it's a lot but like, do you know how fucking much this shit costs to run?
and tehn a prize pool?
$4,713/month, that's like artosis' salary lol
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On April 24 2026 17:57 Kyle8 wrote:
the crowdfunding of ... $4,713/month
it's a lot but like, do you know how fucking much this shit costs to run?
and tehn a prize pool?
$4,713/month, that's like artosis' salary lol
It used to be like $13,000 a month which is still obviously not enough to run the entire event but it's very significant and it was that high for a while. I think it would have stayed that high if they didn't have literally 0 communication for like 9 months two years in a row. Hopefully they haven't lost too much goodwill and it will increase again once GSL actually starts.
I personally never watch live anymore so not to concerned about the SOOP stream, if they got rid of the YouTube vods I'll be surprised.
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Northern Ireland27355 Posts
On April 24 2026 17:57 Kyle8 wrote:
the crowdfunding of ... $4,713/month
it's a lot but like, do you know how fucking much this shit costs to run?
and tehn a prize pool?
$4,713/month, that's like artosis' salary lol
They had more in the past, but seem somewhat allergic to leveraging it properly.
SC2’s audience in general has basically always been ‘foreign’ throughout the game’s entire lifespan, and it’s probably more pronounced now.
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the entitlement of sc2 fans never ceases to amaze me, and when the gsl dies & soop stops giving a shit, you'll all have yourselves to blame heh
at least for broodwar we're all willing to go check out their platform
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On April 27 2026 18:37 BaiZhuZhu wrote:
the entitlement of sc2 fans never ceases to amaze me, and when the gsl dies & soop stops giving a shit, you'll all have yourselves to blame heh
at least for broodwar we're all willing to go check out their platform
Because Broodwar is super-huge in Korea, it makes total sense for SOOP to focus on that. There it makes total sense that the foreign community essentially has to finance their cast (Tastosis) themselves, because doesn't care.
But in SC2? Where most of the Crowdfunding-money comes from outside of Korea? Where all the viewership comes from outside of Korea?
I get that SOOP is a streaming-service and their main-interest is to get people on their platform, but it still leaves a really bitter aftertaste. It also doesn't help that SOOP is just giga-shite and feels like it is competing with the Beta-version of own3d instead of with Youtube and Twitch...
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Northern Ireland27355 Posts
On April 27 2026 18:37 BaiZhuZhu wrote:
the entitlement of sc2 fans never ceases to amaze me, and when the gsl dies & soop stops giving a shit, you'll all have yourselves to blame heh
at least for broodwar we're all willing to go check out their platform
Which makes sense given BW has a gigantic Korean audience
I’m not like morally outraged or anything, I just think it makes sense to tailor your product to your actual audience
Plus there’s been a pretty solid appetite to not just crowdfund as has been already done, but prior to this to expand that if it meant GSL. I’m not sure I’d class that as a particularly entitled fan base
Edit - Balnazza both beat me to it and said it better haha
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On April 27 2026 22:33 Balnazza wrote:
It also doesn't help that SOOP is just giga-shite and feels like it is competing with the Beta-version of own3d instead of with Youtube and Twitch...
It reminds me of the GOM player days so it's kind of nostalgic
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On April 28 2026 05:32 rotta wrote:Show nested quote +On April 27 2026 22:33 Balnazza wrote:
It also doesn't help that SOOP is just giga-shite and feels like it is competing with the Beta-version of own3d instead of with Youtube and Twitch... It reminds me of the GOM player days so it's kind of nostalgic
The gom player days where the free stream was like 240p? I am absolutely not nostalgic about it.
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United States33699 Posts
On April 27 2026 18:37 BaiZhuZhu wrote:
the entitlement of sc2 fans never ceases to amaze me, and when the gsl dies & soop stops giving a shit, you'll all have yourselves to blame heh
at least for broodwar we're all willing to go check out their platform
You have to keep in mind that SC2 fans have many more options for viewing high-level play. SOOP/Afreeca got in early with BW and essentially established a monopoly, so there's no real choice in who to support.
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EPT
