Welcome Back!

It feels like just yesterday, but more than four months have already passed since KT Rolster defeated SK Telecom to become the champions of the 13-14 SK Telecom Proleague. It was a season of surprises and exceeded expectations, and the upcoming season looks to be no worse. Numerous changes have taken place in the off-season, chief among them perhaps team IM being replaced by Startale-yoe, ensuring that the new season will feel both fresh and familiar. You can read more in-depth about these changes below, or check out the previews of two of the biggest matches in week 1.

The tournament format is largely unchanged from last season, with 4 Round Robin rounds each acting as its own mini-tournament with a round playoffs at the end remaining SpoTV's preferred setup. With new acquisitions and old faces converging, this 10-month season will keep us for all of the foreseeable future.

Without further ado, please enjoy this preview. Welcome back to Proleague.

The Heart of the Competition

Real Madrid. The Boston Celtics. The New York Yankees. The Montreal Canadiens. If you’re not familiar with traditional sports, these teams are mostly irrefutably the greatest franchises in their respective sports’ histories. “World Champions” is not just a familiar title to them, but to all their supporters. It’s not just a title, it’s an identity—one that fans carry on themselves as frequently as wallets.

The word “fan” is derived from fanaticism. It only makes sense; have we this irrational dedication to a team or an individual, a heightened sense of importance regarding the outcome of the match or game. Sometimes there is an understandable basis, such as nationalism or what race a player uses, but more often than not, it’s something as trivial as physical appearance or how cool a player’s ID is. But it doesn’t matter. With time, it grows into something much more, and in the process changes the way you view the game. Cheering for an individual player brings about a roller coaster ride of emotions, complete with the loops and jerking turns for every tournament result. Indeed, that thrill is why being a fan of professional StarCraft is so much fun. However, there is a void in the continuum of spectatorship. StarCraft is by just about every stretch not a team game. There are teams, but they serve primarily as practice partners, because competition is mono a mono. All the pride and glory of victory goes to the individual first, and only minimally to his team’s legacy. It is difficult for us to sympathize with the teams when they are so rarely emphasized, when they are so often forgotten. There are few dynasties; entire rosters can dissolve even with the asset of a champion or two. But in this antithetical professional sports community, the e-sport, the one versus one format, the solitary setting, there is room for that fanaticism. One’s fandom simply cannot thrive on his association with an individual; his singularity means that when he is not performing well, his fans will be disappointed. This leads to a devotion to multiple players out of the thirst for vicarious glory. There must be some other way to connect to the game, connect to players with some consistency and more intimacy, some structure to cheering for a group of players. Teams are the bridge, and Proleague fills the void.

Pride. Frustration. Joy. Disappointment. Team competitions magnify these common emotions associated with being a fan by each additional player on the roster. A team to root for is a set of players with whom a fan can identify because of their commonality, their solidarity, their collective pride. We cheer for the veterans to have a solid run before they are consumed by the inevitable. We cheer for the rookies to have a breakout and earn a spot on the regular squad. We cheer for the regulars, waiting for each one to achieve his full potential. We also cry when they lose, because we know deep down they could have won just as easily. We cry for the rookies, for whom any loss could be their last. We cry for the veterans’ defeats, because they cry too when everyone knows the end has already begun. We cheer and cry for the stars often together, in celebration of their great achievements or deflating disappointment when they fall just short. We sit on the edge of our seats to be as close to the action as possible, trying to transport ourselves to the competition and experience the live atmosphere, hoping that being physically closer to the screen will help us see our favorite win faster. Simultaneously, we hide our heads in our hands, or shirts or cheerfuls, afraid that the worst possible outcome will force us into that position anyways, unwilling to face the defeat that will inflict as much pain in our player as it will in us. The format of Proleague allows for the entire spectrum of emotions, the entire range of gut-wrenching situations, between the BoX series format and the promise of ace matches. Every week, we ultimately suffer through the setbacks a rookie faces after losing his debut, celebrate the triumph of regular’s or star’s win, and share the numbed dismay of the coach when anyone else loses. Although satisfied we were able to support our team, we are anxious for the next week to begin. In this duality of team fandom lays the foundation for the most exhilarating experiences team competitions can offer. With their consistency in scheduling, extensive preparation, and consequent familiarity, they fuel rivalries that transcend the game.

Having a team or an individual to cheer against is just as important to fandom as one to cheer for. Rivalries resurface all the bad blood, dial up the passion, and intensify every emotion associated with the match. Seeing someone—or even better, a whole team—lose can be additional satisfaction or compensation for your own team’s loss. And when they play your team, all the deep-seated resentment, irrational hate, and enhanced importance of the match propagate a storm of jeers and cheers louder and more ardent than any other. It’s not just your team against its rivals, it’s you against the rival fans, and if your team loses then dammit at least you won’t be outdone as a fan. Rivalry matches happen every round in Proleague due to the round robin format, but this guarantee does not diminish the fervor. Every chance to beat your rival is one you want to be there to experience fully; it’s not just about temporary bragging rights, it’s about hurting their overall success in the league. Yet, sometimes we hope our rival does well. The best and most storybook finals and championships are often grudge matches. Denying them a regular win is satisfying; denying them a trophy is exhilarating.

The Telecom Derby. Ceremonies. The KeSPA Migration. Gwangali Beach. Ace Matches. Sniper Builds. Counter-ceremonies. StarCraft has its iterations of a team sport comparable to any of the traditional behemoths. Where it lacks commoditized merchandise, it compensates with accessibility. Where it lacks in global popularity, it compensates in individual passion. One tournament to dominate the focus of Korean teams, one tournament to spawn endless banter and debate, one tournament to perpetuate fanaticism, Proleague is the crown jewel of competitive StarCraft, chief among innumerable tournaments vying for our undivided attention. The countdown has started. The fans are chanting and waving their cheerfuls. You readjust in your seat, close all other tabs, and turn up the volume. The games are starting soon.

CJ ENTUS VS SAMSUNG GALAXY

Unlike last season, which began with a brawl between the newcomer MVP and the super-team known as SKT1, the 14-15 SK Telecom Proleague opens up with an even match between two of the veteran teams, CJ Entus and Samsung Galaxy. In an off-season that brought quite a lot of swapping around, neither of these teams went through many changes, yet the changes they've made have been pretty huge in their own right.

CJ Entus ended up losing an important member of their roster, EffOrt, as well as roster regular Hydra and the (soon to be) rising Gumiho. This left them with a solid protoss and terran lineup yet absolutely no zergs. In an attempt to repair this, they picked up the ex-IM ace ByuL, who happens to be the biggest question mark going into the Proleague season for CJ. With EffOrt being instrumental to CJ's qualification for the end-season playoffs, ByuL will have to match his achievements as the primary cleanup for players such as Maru or PartinG, players that just herO and Bbyong can't reliably clean up every time. Luckily for CJ, ByuL is a much more well-rounded player than EffOrt ever was, and should serve as a solid second player to herO's command. This first match is as big of a test as ByuL will get, as he'll have to face off against Samsung's best player by far - a rookie who surprised us all over the course of 2014, Solar.



Also surprising: Stork being good


Solar made a few significant contribution's to Samsung's campaign last season, helping them become a team of note separate from its Brood War identity. With a strong desperation run that nearly took Jin Air to an ace match, Solar ignited a flame within himself that hasn't weakened much since. He destroyed INnoVation 3-0. He nearly defeated TaeJa in his first ever foreign tournament. He won MSI Beat IT and made the top 8 in GSL. Without a doubt, Solar is one of the best zergs in the world right now, and he'll have to play like it if Samsung wants a chance at top four this season. One of Samsung last season was their consistency - Reality, RorO and Stork were all players that could be relied on most of the time. They were able to keep Samsung hovering in the middle of the rankings despite rarely challenging the cream of the crop. This is a large part of the reason why they ended at 5th, despite a strong effort from their Zerg duo. Since then, Stork seems to have almost completely lost his powers (although Proleague seems to be where Stork shines), while Reality and RorO both left for greyer pastures. As such, it comes as a bit of a shock that Samsung is looking just about as strong as last season. Shine is still an X factor, an incredibly important member of any team in Proleague that can come out for surprise wins every now and then, while the newly-improved Journey and hot new pickup Dear can both try and fill in for the holes that Reality and RorO left. Still, both Dear and Journey are unknown quantities at this time, and it is unclear whether or not Samsung will be able to rely upon them to improve upon last season's performance.

The lineups that both teams have chosen to field says quite a lot. ByuL/herO/Bbyong have offered no surprise, yet fielding Hush - a decent PvPer and mediocre everything else - over Hot6ix superstar sKyHigH seems like a somewhat questionable move. Meanwhile, on the Samsung front, Hurricane, Shine and Journey are all absent, with Code B 'rookies' BrAvO and eMotion being fielded instead. While Solar, herO and Bbyong are the fairly clear favorites to win their matches, eMotioN vs Hush is a gigantic X factor thats likely going to decide how the match plays out. If eMotioN comes prepared, Samsung could very easily force an ace match of Solar vs herO (or Solar vs ByuL, if CJ want to test ByuL out further). That possibility is a delightful one, but ultimately its tough to tell exactly where BrAvO, Hush and eMotioN stand. We could witness a wonderful back-and-forth of Solar and Dear's skill, or we could see Solar on one of his off days and CJ taking an easy 3-0. Yet, either way, this match is going to be key in determining who is likely to stand at the ever-so-painful 5th (or 6th) spot when playoff time comes.

KT Rolster vs Jin Air Green Wings

This week's clash of the titans comes in the form a rematch from last season's playoffs - KT Rolster versus Jin Air Green Wings. These two teams are certainly absolute monsters, but in completely different ways. This makes their matchup quite fiery and unpredictable, as we saw in the playoffs where KT largely out-witted and outplayed Jin Air, yet still had a close series.

KT Rolster are the reigning champions, and as such there's no doubt that they're likely one of the big favorites to do well this season. They haven't changed their roster much, swapping out occasional stand-ins MyuNgSIK and hitmaN for a Code B protoss called Believe. Of course, even with these changes, they've defaulted to their famous four - GSL champion Zest, ex-prodigy TY, BW God Flash and PvZ master Stats. These four are among the most successful proleague players, having gone a combined 75-54 last season - more wins than the entire bottom four teams. With Stats having risen from eternally fourth to a legitimate, terrifying PvZer over the past few months, the quadruple terror has emerged from its slumber as possibly the most terrifying line-up in the league. So, what answer could Jin Air possibly have to this on paper nearly unstoppable force?





Potential. It's a word that the community as a whole uses a lot, and ultimately it has lost some of its meaning as a result. Yet, if there was ever a team with potential, it'd likely be Jin Air this season. With Pigbaby, Trap and Symbol all having joined the team in the off-season, they've gone from a solid bunch of players who aren't quite there yet (with the exception of Maru and sOs) to a stacked roster of players who, with that extra little push, could be terrifying. Add those three to a core consisting of sOs, Maru, Rogue and Cure and you'll find that Jin Air right now has an insane amount of roster depth. Rogue, with his 2-0 crushing of soO and Zest in GSL/SSL qualifiers, alongside a very strong streak of ZvTs at MSI Beat IT, has emerged as a more-than-fitting replacement to TRUE's absence. Cure, while admittedly having fallen quite a bit from his strongest point a few months before, is still a solid terran player, something that every team could use more of. And then, of course, you have the dual aces. sOs is a scary player right now. He's a player who, despite never looking quite like the honest best in the world, is still clever and tricky enough to dismantle absolutely everyone. Yet, it's Maru who seems to be much more worth watching - it's no secret that the prodigy has been having some problems recently, with failures out of the GSL and most qualifiers making sure that he doesn't get too much airtime. Still, beating Solar out to qualify for SSL is a solid start to the new season, and the 30-win titan (E/N: In game terms, that is. Physically, calling Maru a titan would be a stretch) should be able to regain his footing as the season kicks into overdrive.

With both teams possessing equally scary lineups, albeit in different fashions, they've decided to send out the most standard possible four out. While Jin Air picked up their regular four (replacing TRUE with Rogue, as most people would expect), KT Rolster settle on their routine squad. No match is too uneven here, with Zest vs Maru headlining on what might be Zest's favorite map (statistically, at least) - KSS. Afterwards, TY faces sOs on Catallena, a map that should very easily favor TY, yet sOs is never to be underestimated. Both of those matches seem a bit tilted in KT's favor, but Flash drawing Rogue is rough. Again, Rogue tore through pretty much every terran at MSI Beat IT, and Flash was one of them, so it's not unlikely that we'll see a story of vengeance here. Stats vs Cure is an alright finisher, with Cure displaying more-than-adequate TvP ability versus Classic in SSL, while Stats hasn't seemed that great in the matchup. This could very easily go either way, but I'm predicting an ace match - Flash vs Maru being the ace to look out for, or Zest vs sOs if Maru ends up failing. If it goes there, calling either team the favorite would be an exercise in futility, so look forward to an even match.

Off-season Recap: What Went Down

As always, the off-season brought about a fair number of changes and roster mix-ups, not least in form of the demise of one of last season's teams, Incredible Miracle. Here is a recap of what went down during the off-season, to bring you up to speed for the new one.

Trending Upwards

Jin Air

Lost: TRUE

Acquired: Trap, Symbol, Pigbaby

+ Show Spoiler [Full roster] +

Jin Air followed up a solid 3rd/4th place campaign in last year's Proleague by making one big move as well as two smaller acquisitions to shore up their roster. Although TRUE left the team and now plays for Dead Pixels, Jin Air managed to break even on unorthodox Zergs by adding Symbol to the roster, and the WCS America Season 2 champion Pigbaby returned to Jin Air this offseason after being unable to find a team. Finally, Jin Air added Trap, who was IM's second best player last year and is capable of being fielded every match.

ST-YoeFW (New!)

Lost: Aphrodite, Panic

Acquired: StuN, Bomber (partnership, player coach), aLive, Leenock (YoeFW partnership), San (YoeFW partnership), Ian (YoeFW partnership), Has (YoeFW partnership), Slam (YoeFW partnership), PartinG (YoeFW partnership, Cannot play), Ssemi, Vanilla (YoeFW partnership)

+ Show Spoiler +

Although Startale technically played in Proleague last year they were certainly the smaller portion of the IM-ST partnership. Now they are in the driver's seat and they have brought YoeFW along with them. Although Parting will be unable to play this season due to his previous contract with SKT (unless of course SKT lifts that restriction themselves), the partnership still bolsters Startale's Proleague roster. San and Leenock are capable of being starters, while the old guard of Hack, Curious, and Life will take on a leading role. Rounding out their roster are solid bench players Pet and aLive and Bomber who is partnered with the team for this Proleague season, although he has said he will take on the player coach role and not play too many matches himself.

MVP

Lost: Entire Roster

Acquired: Current Roster

+ Show Spoiler [Full Roster] +

MVP's 2014 Season had some ups but significantly more downs. Despite finishing second in Round 2 MVP was second to last at season's end after finishing bottom of the barrel in the final two rounds. However, this season's roster is a massive upgrade. The addition of Choya coaching a resurgent MarineKing would be enough, but they also picked up IM castoffs Yonghwa and Losira, grabbed Panic from Startale, and one of the greatest Starcraft II players of all time in Taeja. Partnerships with Seed and HerO will round out a solid starting roster that seems capable of making big strides this year.

Breaking Even:

KT Rolster

Lost: hitmaN, MyuNgSiK, HoeJJa

Acquired: Ryu Won (Coach)

+ Show Spoiler [Full Roster] +

Last year's champions didn't add a single new player to their roster, but it largely doesn't matter. With this year's league maintaining the Bo5 format, KT is in the sweet spot of having four excellent players to fill out their starting roster in Flash, TY, Zest, and Stats. Action and Sleep are decent Zergs in a pinch, and the losses of Hitman and Myungsik shouldn't really be felt by the powerhouse KT.

Prime

Lost: MarineKing, DeParture, SalvatioN, Barbie, State, KassiA

Acquired: MyuNgSiK, TANGTANG, BBoongBBoong, YoDa, Nette

+ Show Spoiler [Full Roster] +

Prime's lineup went through a major overhaul from last season. Most importantly, they lost their longtime star Marineking to MVP along with some of their younger talent in Departure and Salvation. To balance that out they brought in talented KT backup Myungsik as well as veteran YoDa which will help solidify a starting lineup. BboongBboong and Creator form the Prime old guard and TANGTANG is one of the rookies to watch this season making this iteration of Prime's lineup about the same or perhaps a bit better than last year's.

Trending Down:

SK Telecom T1

Lost: PartinG, Soulkey, Rain, FanTaSy, BrAvO

Acquired: Dream, INnoVation, Billowy, PenguiN

+ Show Spoiler +

SKT was one of the hardest hit teams when the roster changes started this offseason, as their three best Proleague players all decided to try their luck with foreign teams. Rain, Soulkey, and Parting had 21, 20, and 19 wins respectively with 60%+ win rates, while their closest teammates soO and Classic each had 13 wins and hovered around 50% in win rate. They also lost their Terran bench (as well as team Captain) when Fantasy and BrAvO left the team. But the news isn't all bad for SKT. Promising young Terran Dream from MVP is an upgrade on their Terran roster by himself, but they also brought in Innovation, one of the greatest team league players in Starcraft II history, to take over as the ace player. Billowy had a solid 2014 season with a 9-9 record including an all kill over KT in the playoffs, and Penguin just qualified for Code S. Although SKT will undoubtedly feel the loss of Rain, PartinG, and Soulkey, adding Innovation around a core or Dark, soO, and Classic should keep SKT in the hunt for this year's championship.

CJ Entus

Lost: EffOrt, Hydra, GuMiho

Acquired: ByuL

+ Show Spoiler [Full Roster] +

CJ had probably the toughest offseason after SKT as EffOrt decided to retire, Hydra left for ROOT and to play in WCS, and Gumiho will be playing for MVP this season (E/N: Or rather, it was rumored that he would. So far, he is not on the MVP line-up). Their four player core was cut in half and now they are rebuilding around stars herO and Bbyong. All is not lost, however. CJ's Protoss bench remains solid with Hush, Sora, and Trust and sKyHigh seems to be on the rise with a solid performance in the recent Hot6 Cup. Finally, they added IM's former ace player ByuL in the offseason who will be their lone Zerg, and who will most likely get a lot of playing time. CJ's roster took a serious hit but they did just enough in the offseason to keep a solid roster for 2015.

Samsung Galaxy

Lost: RorO, Reality, TurN

Acquired: Dear, BrAvO, Journey

+ Show Spoiler [Full Roster] +

It was the end of an era this offseason for Samsung as longtime ace and best Proleague player RorO decided to retire. In addition they lost their strongest Terran in Reality and one of their better bench players in Turn. To compensate, Samsung added Dear (an acquisition that would have been much more exciting a year ago), BrAvO, and Journey. Dear is likely to be a frequent starter while BrAvO will most likely find himself on the bench. It will be interesting to see what Journey can do, as he has been known as one of the strongest new names in the Korean scene for awhile now. Stork, Solar, and Shine remain along with a decent bench players Armani and Hurricane, but the loss of RorO will certainly hit the team hard.