The translation (the translation is very rough; a friend requested for a fast translation from me which I've done and have provided a copy of it below):
eSports Federation (ESF; executive secretary Joonho Lee) and Blizzard Entertainment’s domestic eSports slash broadcasting partner GomTV announced the first ever Starcraft2: Heart of the Swarm eSports official team league “Heart of the Swarm GSTL (Global StarCraft 2 Team League) Pre-Season” that will be held from February 16th.
“Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season” will be co-hosted by the ESF and GomTV, and it was planned for the benefit of ESF players to successfully adapt to Heart of the Swarm, which will be released officially on March 12th, as well as providing the viewers the joy of HotS before the official release. 2013 GSTL Season 1 tournament that is scheduled to be held mid-March will be held as the official version once HotS is officially released.
Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season’s game highlights and game information contents will especially be provided in the Naver Sports section, allowing viewers to use varying platform to view the game in addition to www.sports1.kr
Prime, LG-IM, StarTale, FXOpen, MVP, NSH, Team AZUBU SC2, and Axiom-Acer will participate in the “Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season.” The game format will be single-elimination tournament, best of 7, all-kill format; all tournaments will be done on the HotS beta server, and the maps are the previously used Akilon Flats, GSL Bel’shir Vestige SE, GSL Whirlwind Se, GSL Icarus. On top of this, new maps Howling Peak, DF Atlas, and TPW Silver Sands will be used starting with this team league.
Joonho Lee, the executive secretary of the ESF, stated:
ESF believe it’s very meaningful to co-host the first ever official league, “Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season” with the GomTV. This Pre-season was planned to commemorate the release of the Heart of the Swarm and to allow the players to successfully adapt to the HotS market. With the “Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season,” you can also predict each team and player’s game power.
Seungmin Oh, GomTV’s Broadcasting PD stated:
Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season” is the first official team league after last October’s G-Star scene and December’s individual league, “HotS Invitational” that was held at Sheraton Walkerhill hotel, and thus will be a great opportunity to experience HotS before the official release date. I hope you will experience HotS first through the “Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season.
“Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season” will be held from this upcoming February 16th to February 25th and the winning team will win 3,000,000 Won (~$2742.73 after the current conversion rate as of 2/11).
“Heart of the Swarm GSTL Pre-Season” will provide various contents along with game highlights in the Naver Sports section and will be broadcasted live on http://www.sports1.kr and http://www.afreeca.com
Also, you can view the games through GSL official homepage (http://gsl.gomtv.com) and GomTV GSL channel (http://gsl.gomtv.com/vod). Subscribe to GSL blog (http://enjoygsl.blog.me) and GSL facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/GOGSL) for the GSL game schedule and for detailed information.
HotS GSTL Pre-Season Schedule (I'm assuming the times posted here are in KST):
2/16- 14:10 KST Ro8 Game 1: ST v. AZUBU 2/17- 14:10 KST Ro8 Game 2: FXOpen v. Prime 2/18- 18:10 KST Ro8 Game 3: NSH v. MVP 2/23- 14:10 KST Ro8 Game 4: LG-IM v. AxiomAcer 2/24- 14:10 KST Ro4 Game 1-2: - v. – 2/25- 18:10 KST Finals: - v. -
So the official GSTL season won't be starting until HOTS release? I guess this is a nice way to get some HOTS content on gomtv early, it should be a lot of fun to watch. I wonder if there will be free HQ or a ticket?
I knew somebody was going to end up beating me to the translation >_< If there is demand for an alternate take I will be happy to provide one, but nothing has been really missed, so...
Cool stuff! Looking forward to this pre-season and wonder if there will be any players that have been practicing HotS enough to provide some shock upsets?
Axiom might be tough for IM, it's a pretty good team to begin with and a lot of them have been seen with hots. Though... IM has Seed who I suspect is probably one of the best protoss in hots right now.
"We would like to show our appreciation to all fans of GSL and GSTL by having free EHQ for everyone during this tournament"
No ticket? What about for VODs? Are Wolfdor casting all of GSTL including this again, because it'd be nice to here Artosis's reaction to the first HOTS games.
On February 12 2013 13:45 Solarsail wrote: "We would like to show our appreciation to all fans of GSL and GSTL by having free EHQ for everyone during this tournament"
No ticket? What about for VODs? Are Wolfdor casting all of GSTL including this again, because it'd be nice to here Artosis's reaction to the first HOTS games.
VODs will most likely also be free... Games broadcasted in free HQ are usually also free VODs.
On February 12 2013 13:52 plasmidghost wrote: Very nice! I predict Startale, FXO, MVP, and IM to advance with a Startale-MVP finals!
Even without Squirtle and PartinG? I understand where you're coming from seeing how StarTale beat FXO in IPTL, but Squirtle 4-killed them... and he's no longer on the team...
On February 12 2013 13:45 Solarsail wrote: "We would like to show our appreciation to all fans of GSL and GSTL by having free EHQ for everyone during this tournament"
No ticket? What about for VODs? Are Wolfdor casting all of GSTL including this again, because it'd be nice to here Artosis's reaction to the first HOTS games.
VODs will most likely also be free... Games broadcasted in free HQ are usually also free VODs.
On February 12 2013 14:12 TommyP wrote: MVP got really lucky. It's a new game so anything can happen, but I think they should win with ease and every other match will be really close.
On February 12 2013 14:12 TommyP wrote: MVP got really lucky. It's a new game so anything can happen, but I think they should win with ease and every other match will be really close.
Jjakji won with hellion all-in, 11/11 rax that put him ahead, when he was already ahead because it was entombed valley, and then DRG 8 pool did like no damage. Nothing that special, the two macro games, DRG crushed him. This is just pure speculation, but DRG was more busy with WoL tournaments than most of his teammates so he's probably played some of the least amount of hots out of MVP players. Jjakji too had nothing else to do so he probably played a lot of hots lol. Judging from my own experience (i play random) and from zergs 0-6 record in MLG qualifiers to this point (although some were ZvP), I think Terran is a tad favored in TvZ in HotS atm.
On February 12 2013 14:12 TommyP wrote: MVP got really lucky. It's a new game so anything can happen, but I think they should win with ease and every other match will be really close.
Jjakji won with hellion all-in, 11/11 rax that put him ahead, when he was already ahead because it was entombed valley, and then DRG 8 pool did like no damage. Nothing that special, the two macro games, DRG crushed him. This is just pure speculation, but DRG was more busy with WoL tournaments than most of his teammates so he's probably played some of the least amount of hots out of MVP players. Jjakji too had nothing else to do so he probably played a lot of hots lol.
On February 12 2013 14:12 TommyP wrote: MVP got really lucky. It's a new game so anything can happen, but I think they should win with ease and every other match will be really close.
Jjakji won with hellion all-in, 11/11 rax that put him ahead, when he was already ahead because it was entombed valley, and then DRG 8 pool did like no damage. Nothing that special, the two macro games, DRG crushed him. This is just pure speculation, but DRG was more busy with WoL tournaments than most of his teammates so he's probably played some of the least amount of hots out of MVP players. Jjakji too had nothing else to do so he probably played a lot of hots lol.
On February 12 2013 14:12 TommyP wrote: MVP got really lucky. It's a new game so anything can happen, but I think they should win with ease and every other match will be really close.
Jjakji won with hellion all-in, 11/11 rax that put him ahead, when he was already ahead because it was entombed valley, and then DRG 8 pool did like no damage. Nothing that special, the two macro games, DRG crushed him. This is just pure speculation, but DRG was more busy with WoL tournaments than most of his teammates so he's probably played some of the least amount of hots out of MVP players. Jjakji too had nothing else to do so he probably played a lot of hots lol.
That's only one player. 90% of MVP is in the GSL. 0% of NSH is in the GSL. They have all the time they need to play HotS.
thats very true, but MVP also has like 15 players (10 in GSL haha) and NSH has like 5 players total so it evens out.
NSH actually has 8 according to PlayXP... Here's a page with every Korean player on every Korean team. (Plus some select foreign teams that have a lot of Korean players... plus a section dedicated to all smaller foreign teams and teamless players.) http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/User:DiMano
This is going to be really really bad ;p I'm expecting some really crappy games from guys who have no idea what they're doing in hots yet, but it should be amusing none the less.
On February 12 2013 13:42 Mackus wrote: Amazingly low prize pool, it shows how far behind GSTL is to Proleague
It's a pre-season showmatch type thing, not the actual season... Read before you type.
No one cares what type of tournament it is, in the end a low prize pool whether it be a "showmatch" or a deathmatch will bring less preperation and overall a more poorer spectacle
These matches gonna be so hard to predict because HotS is still so new.
Can Ganzi or Supernova lead Azubu to victory over StarTale? Will Choya's coaching be strong enough to outwit the marine King and Prince? Can NSH rise from the ashes like a phoenix? Will Seed all kill my favorite team?!
On February 12 2013 13:45 Solarsail wrote: "We would like to show our appreciation to all fans of GSL and GSTL by having free EHQ for everyone during this tournament"
No ticket? What about for VODs? Are Wolfdor casting all of GSTL including this again, because it'd be nice to here Artosis's reaction to the first HOTS games.
On February 12 2013 15:58 achan1058 wrote: That's not a lot of money, even for a show match. Double or triple it, IMO.
but..but proleague did their pre match without prize money
It's fine, the amount of prize money shouldn't even matter to the fans. It's a pre-season showmatch and I'm sure there are a ton of people that will be thrilled with the content.
On February 12 2013 13:42 Mackus wrote: Amazingly low prize pool, it shows how far behind GSTL is to Proleague
It's a pre-season showmatch type thing, not the actual season... Read before you type.
No one cares what type of tournament it is, in the end a low prize pool whether it be a "showmatch" or a deathmatch will bring less preperation and overall a more poorer spectacle
Yeah you're right.
Those ZOTAC cups are a joke and should be stopped, they're not helping the gamers enough.
You're an idiot. It's a pre-season tournament for fun and warming up. As in, the actual GSTL is going to be bigger. As in, as John pointed out, ProLeague did it and you probably ate that shit up because it was KESPA, regardless of the fact they gave out NO prize pool.
Learn to read. Learn to comprehend. Learn to type.
Well I can't complain too much because it's free... though I think it's rather unnecessary and time away from the remaining days of WoL. There's still a major WoL tournament left in the year.
On February 12 2013 17:11 RaiKageRyu wrote: Well I can't complain too much because it's free... though I think it's rather unnecessary and time away from the remaining days of WoL. There's still a major WoL tournament left in the year.
Yeah, it's a bit awkward that while some tournaments have already begun preparations for HoTS with pre-seasons and showmatches and whatnot, IPL still has a WoL tournament left. What's even more awkward, at least to me, with IPL6 is that there is a HoTS mini-tournament there as well. Either way, I think this is pretty cool, and at least a few of the players that won't play at IPL6 can get started on HoTS to help their team out.
On February 12 2013 15:58 achan1058 wrote: That's not a lot of money, even for a show match. Double or triple it, IMO.
but..but proleague did their pre match without prize money
Why the hell do people care so much about prize money? just enjoy the games and show some love to GOM for doing this. BTW with a format like this which is so crazy and aimed just give a good show a high prize pool is pointless IMO.
On February 12 2013 15:58 achan1058 wrote: That's not a lot of money, even for a show match. Double or triple it, IMO.
but..but proleague did their pre match without prize money
Why the hell do people care so much about prize money? just enjoy the games and show some love to GOM for doing this. BTW with a format like this which is so crazy and aimed just give a good show a high prize pool is pointless IMO.
People care for prize money, but only when they can bash the league they dislike (or, "Proleague doing pre-season WITHOUT prize pool is cool, but damn GSTL what a low prize pool you have for your pre-season !").
OT: I hope we'll see great games, and a bit more prepared than what we currently see (thinking about MLG winter showdown, where it seems they don't really know what they're doing, either using WoL units, or obvious strong builds, like the void-ray all-in which seems to pulverize terrans at the moment, not yet knowing how to defend :p )
Sweet! GSTL old school format with new school game! I kind of wish they would do this between GSL seasons so all players could focus soley on HotS. I feel like GOM is trying to 1up Proleague and be first to host HotS. It will be interesting to see which league will be more exciting to watch once both are using HotS.
On February 12 2013 17:50 Tobblish wrote: First ever HOTS Team League and they already show us new maps. I love this, the blizzard maps are horrible! :D
Howling peaks is a Blizzard map. And Silver Sands can hardly be considered new, through this is the first time it is used in proffesional play AFAIK.
On February 12 2013 17:40 Pandemona wrote: LOL AxiomAcer are out round 1, unlucky xD
idk. LGIM has lost to worse. Perfect upset opportunity
LOL don't be surprised if AxiomAcer does poorer than FXOpen did in their inaugural season. How long have they been in Korea practicing HotS together in team house? How will the team balance GSTL appearances in March with the upcoming huge LAN competitions such as IEM, IPL, and MLG?
On February 12 2013 17:15 derpface wrote: Hahaha I tell you what, we gonna see so many bad games in this GSTL.
Still really cool.
Yes, there will probably be a lot of very weird games.
Still a perfect move from Blizzard and GOM. They can adjust something pre-release after watching some of these GSTL matches. And there are going to be a lot of them. I cannot wait!
Might catch a few GSTLs...never really got around to watching it much. SPL was great so I expect this shouldn't be too bad. The air times might be a bit tough for my schedule though.
On February 12 2013 17:40 Pandemona wrote: LOL AxiomAcer are out round 1, unlucky xD
idk. LGIM has lost to worse. Perfect upset opportunity
LOL don't be surprised if AxiomAcer does poorer than FXOpen did in their inaugural season. How long have they been in Korea practicing HotS together in team house? How will the team balance GSTL appearances in March with the upcoming huge LAN competitions such as IEM, IPL, and MLG?
Not sure what you mean, they have been living with each other a long time and played with each other since their Slayers day. They've as much experience as any other team living and playing hots in Korea. You do know all of them are Korean's except Scarlett right? They've also said that the GSTL are their main focus. TB said he asked the team what tournament they wanted to go to and all of them wanted to compete in the GSTL the most. Also the concern you bring up applies to most of the other Korean teams as well.
On February 12 2013 15:58 achan1058 wrote: That's not a lot of money, even for a show match. Double or triple it, IMO.
but..but proleague did their pre match without prize money
I think it's a good thing.
Considering the teams with strong players won't want to dedicate them to HotS (Code A/S player), it would give teams with fewer Code A/S players an unfair advantage in terms of practicing, and it's also a beta, so there are lots of balance changes.
To put a lot of money on the line in a biased tournament with a lot of uncertainty and potential to be more "broken" than a not beta (although only marginally) seems silly.
MLG is doing it, and it's absurd. Making players who are playing in major WoL tournaments play random HotS matches against often people who are only playing HotS, with racial imbalances, resulting in a lot of players making it through who probably wouldn't have won if it wasn't for those factors.
A HotS beta team tournament isn't something which should have a lot of money on the line when major WoL tournaments are also happening.
On February 12 2013 12:45 bittman wrote: Cool stuff! Looking forward to this pre-season and wonder if there will be any players that have been practicing HotS enough to provide some shock upsets?
In all seriousness though -- this is the direction these things need to be taking, and the transition from WoL to HotS will require some uncomfortableness for a lot of people ranging from organizers to players to mappers. It will be a joint effort to bring amazing games to eSports and I am excited for it.
On February 12 2013 17:40 Pandemona wrote: LOL AxiomAcer are out round 1, unlucky xD
idk. LGIM has lost to worse. Perfect upset opportunity
LOL don't be surprised if AxiomAcer does poorer than FXOpen did in their inaugural season. How long have they been in Korea practicing HotS together in team house? How will the team balance GSTL appearances in March with the upcoming huge LAN competitions such as IEM, IPL, and MLG?
Why do you think you know so much about the team? I mean for one thing we're not even at MLG because arbitrary points system says that Jjakji and Curious apparently deserve spots in the qualifier more than people like Alicia who placed 2nd in 2 MLG events, Ryung a RO4 GSL semi-finalist, or Heart who consistently finished highly in MLG events in 2012. Nah wait that's eSF and Kespa throwing a hissy fit and demanding separate brackets, taking up 14 spots in the invitational and 20 in the qualifiers and "independent/korean" teams only getting 3 spots to fight over, 2 of which are going to Liquid by the looks of it. America gets 7 spots and 14 in the qualifiers btw, some of the players in that bracket aren't even playing regularly anymore.
Oh sorry do I sound a bit salty? Well yeah, thankfully this stupid system isn't getting used again and it happened to line-up with our desire not to send players to the US during an important team league anyway.
Anyway point is you don't know anything about the team. They've been focused on HotS and GSTL for ages. We're not attending IEM or MLG, we'll send a couple of players to the IPL open bracket, which I might add is a full month AFTER this match. We know what we are doing.
On February 12 2013 17:40 Pandemona wrote: LOL AxiomAcer are out round 1, unlucky xD
idk. LGIM has lost to worse. Perfect upset opportunity
LOL don't be surprised if AxiomAcer does poorer than FXOpen did in their inaugural season. How long have they been in Korea practicing HotS together in team house? How will the team balance GSTL appearances in March with the upcoming huge LAN competitions such as IEM, IPL, and MLG?
Why do you think you know so much about the team? I mean for one thing we're not even at MLG because arbitrary points system says that Jjakji and Curious apparently deserve spots in the qualifier more than people like Alicia who placed 2nd in 2 MLG events, Ryung a RO4 GSL semi-finalist, or Heart who consistently finished highly in MLG events in 2012. Nah wait that's eSF and Kespa throwing a hissy fit and demanding separate brackets, taking up 14 spots in the invitational and 20 in the qualifiers and "independent/korean" teams only getting 3 spots to fight over, 2 of which are going to Liquid by the looks of it. America gets 7 spots and 14 in the qualifiers btw, some of the players in that bracket aren't even playing regularly anymore.
Oh sorry do I sound a bit salty? Well yeah, thankfully this stupid system isn't getting used again and it happened to line-up with our desire not to send players to the US during an important team league anyway.
Anyway point is you don't know anything about the team. They've been focused on HotS and GSTL for ages. We're not attending IEM or MLG, we'll send a couple of players to the IPL open bracket, which I might add is a full month AFTER this match. We know what we are doing.
Aren't know-it-alls so awesome?
On kind of an aside, I hope GOM restreams this like they're doing for their Code A/S, it's been really nice thus far to be able to watch stuff after I get back from school. And team league is always exciting!
On February 12 2013 17:40 Pandemona wrote: LOL AxiomAcer are out round 1, unlucky xD
idk. LGIM has lost to worse. Perfect upset opportunity
LOL don't be surprised if AxiomAcer does poorer than FXOpen did in their inaugural season. How long have they been in Korea practicing HotS together in team house? How will the team balance GSTL appearances in March with the upcoming huge LAN competitions such as IEM, IPL, and MLG?
Why do you think you know so much about the team? I mean for one thing we're not even at MLG because arbitrary points system says that Jjakji and Curious apparently deserve spots in the qualifier more than people like Alicia who placed 2nd in 2 MLG events, Ryung a RO4 GSL semi-finalist, or Heart who consistently finished highly in MLG events in 2012. Nah wait that's eSF and Kespa throwing a hissy fit and demanding separate brackets, taking up 14 spots in the invitational and 20 in the qualifiers and "independent/korean" teams only getting 3 spots to fight over, 2 of which are going to Liquid by the looks of it. America gets 7 spots and 14 in the qualifiers btw, some of the players in that bracket aren't even playing regularly anymore.
Oh sorry do I sound a bit salty? Well yeah, thankfully this stupid system isn't getting used again and it happened to line-up with our desire not to send players to the US during an important team league anyway.
Anyway point is you don't know anything about the team. They've been focused on HotS and GSTL for ages. We're not attending IEM or MLG, we'll send a couple of players to the IPL open bracket, which I might add is a full month AFTER this match. We know what we are doing.
Well in the internet you'll allways find someone, who's thinking to know everything better. The MLG system has some flaws in it, and that's a pity. With LG-IM's only performer right now being Losira, I think you'll have a great chance, of doing well in this event! keep up the good work! :D
I hope this won't be a disaster. From the interviews so far it seems that no one is practicing HoTS that much yet. Playing MLG showmatches without preparation etc. Lets hope a preseason of GSTL is incentive enough to practice for at least the next few days before it begins.
You know it says it's being streamed on afreeca. Is that a relatively new thing for SC2? I've never heard of another event being streamed there so far SC2 wise, just BW.
On February 13 2013 08:53 AxS.SouL wrote: Unfortunately TvT is going to be worse then WoL's PvP now
Yes, very much worse as TvT in hots is bad and PvP in wol is great.
Even though TvT is the best MU in WoL (debatably by some weird people) it honestly wasn't until people started going mech in the era of GomTvT (August GSL specifically) that it became so freaking good. Basically until then TvZ was always the best.
Anyway just saying. It wasn't the best mu overnight. And PvP took something like a year and a half just to not be 4 gate vs 4 gate.
Still, I'm yet to watch much HotS stuff so this will be exciting for me =D
On February 13 2013 08:53 AxS.SouL wrote: Unfortunately TvT is going to be worse then WoL's PvP now
Yes, very much worse as TvT in hots is bad and PvP in wol is great.
Even though TvT is the best MU in WoL (debatably by some weird people) it honestly wasn't until people started going mech in the era of GomTvT (August GSL specifically) that it became so freaking good. Basically until then TvZ was always the best.
Anyway just saying. It wasn't the best mu overnight. And PvP took something like a year and a half just to not be 4 gate vs 4 gate.
Still, I'm yet to watch much HotS stuff so this will be exciting for me =D
I wish PvP was still about 4gate vs 4gate, at least it would end quickly
On February 13 2013 08:53 AxS.SouL wrote: Unfortunately TvT is going to be worse then WoL's PvP now
Yes, very much worse as TvT in hots is bad and PvP in wol is great.
Even though TvT is the best MU in WoL (debatably by some weird people) it honestly wasn't until people started going mech in the era of GomTvT (August GSL specifically) that it became so freaking good. Basically until then TvZ was always the best.
Anyway just saying. It wasn't the best mu overnight. And PvP took something like a year and a half just to not be 4 gate vs 4 gate.
Still, I'm yet to watch much HotS stuff so this will be exciting for me =D
On February 14 2013 11:00 Goldfish wrote: Will they rebroadcast this on Twitch or is rebroadcasting on twitch just a one time thing or for GSL individual leagues?
On February 14 2013 23:55 elderamy wrote: Why no team liquid in GSTL?
They don't have enough players in Korea, also because they're doing Proleague and trying to do both would be too much for the players on top of their individual leagues and foreign tournaments.
I just got turned onto GSL with the last WOL tournament. I bought a Light ticket. While I enjoyed the games and the competition, it was difficult in the Central Time Zone to watch stuff live. Not a bit deal. VODs were fine. But I'm wondering if I'm there's more I can do to get more out of it.
Any recommendations on how a GOMTV noob should spend his ticket money and the best way/viewing schedule to enjoy the games? One of my confusions is over GSL vs. GSTL--one is a single player and one is a team league (but just with single-player games), right? Do most people get a ticket for both? Are Premium or Premium Plus worth it?
I'm excited about the Korean play. Love the casters at GOM, and with the new HOTS tournament play, I'm so inspired to play now.
EPT
My two favorite teams, oh well.
Aphrodite vs 
Eve on Atlas LOL!
