• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:54
CEST 15:54
KST 22:54
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins EWC 202521Tournament Spotlight: FEL Cracow 20259Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202580RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15
Community News
[BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder2EWC 2025 - Replay Pack2Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced35BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams10Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0
StarCraft 2
General
Greatest Players of All Time: 2025 Update #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Serral wins EWC 2025 Power Rank - Esports World Cup 2025 EWC 2025 - Replay Pack
Tourneys
Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) TaeJa vs Creator Bo7 SC Evo Showmatch Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $10,000 live event Esports World Cup 2025
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 484 Magnetic Pull Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune
Brood War
General
Shield Battery Server New Patch Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced Help: rep cant save [G] Progamer Settings StarCraft & BroodWar Campaign Speedrun Quest
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL] Non-Korean Championship - Final weekend [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China CSL Xiamen International Invitational
Strategy
Does 1 second matter in StarCraft? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok) Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Eight Anniversary as a TL…
Mizenhauer
Flash @ Namkraft Laddernet …
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 593 users

Tournament Spotlight: Crowdfunded Pre-Season Events

Forum Index > SC2 General
20 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 Next All

Tournament Spotlight: Crowdfunded Pre-Season Events

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
March 15th, 2023 03:29 GMT

Tournament Spotlight:
Community Funded Events (2023 Pre-Season)

by Wax

The StarCraft II scene is reeling from the drastic reductions in the 2023/24 prize pool, with around $1 million lost across the EPT and GSL. While that amount can't be made up with crowdfunding, the community has still rallied to help out progamers however they can. Several crowdfunded events popped up in the wake of the news, and it seems as if these community-driven events will continue to be important throughout the 2023/24 season.

Here are three key crowdfunded events to look out for during the pre-season before the EPT and GSL start back up in earnest.

Note: TL.net does not directly endorse the crowdfunding of these events. Users may seek crowdfunding information and support these events at their own discretion.

PiG Sty Festival 3.0 (March 15-19)

Starting from an initial $1000 contribution from PiG, the community has now raised $10,000 in prize money for PiGFest 3 (a hefty $5k contribution from Crate Entertainment sent it over the top).

The donors seem like they'll be getting their money's worth, as the player line-up for PiGFest is absolutely stacked. It features almost the entire top 12 from IEM Katowice, including World Champion Oliveira.

Key info

Bracket:
[image loading]


Schedule: March 15 - 19 - [08:00 GMT (+00:00) start]
  • March 15: Maru vs SKillous, Solar vs Oliveira, Winner vs Winner (RO8)
  • March 16: ByuN vs ShoWTimE, Reynor vs Cure, Winner vs Winner (RO8)
  • March 17: Serral vs Creator, Dark vs Clem, Winner vs Winner (RO8)
  • March 18: herO vs GuMiho, MaxPax vs RagnaroK, Winner vs Winner (RO8)
  • March 19: RO4 and Grand Finals


Prize pool: $10,000 total prize pool. First place wins $3,500.

Streaming: Twitch.tv/x5_PiG.

WardiTV Korean Royale (March 21 - April 9)

The WardiTV Korean Royale focuses specifically on supporting the Korean region, which was hit hardest by the budget cuts in the 2023/24 season. The tournament has the same living-in-Korea requirement as the GSL, and not surprisingly, many of the familiar faces from Code S have qualified.

Technically, this edition of the Korean Royal isn't really crowdfunded. The first season is something of a proof-of-concept, with WardiTV putting up the $10,000 in prize money. At the same time, crowdfunding toward future seasons is already open, and the community will decide whether or not this specific tournament series lasts.

Key info

Players & Format
[image loading]
  • Group stage: The players are split into two groups of eight. Each group plays out a full round-robin. The top five players from each group advance to the playoffs.
  • Playoffs: Ten players are seeded into two 'gauntlet'-style brackets depending on their group stage results. The surviving players from each gauntlet bracket face off in the grand finals.

Schedule: March 21 - April 9
  • March 21, 22, 25: Group stage matches [12:00 GMT (+00:00)]
  • March 26, April 1, 2, 4: Group stage matches [11:00 GMT (+00:00)]
  • April 8-9: Playoffs [11:00 GMT (+00:00)]

Prize pool: $10,000 total prize pool. First place wins $2,500.

Streaming: Twitch.tv/Wardiii

Korean StarCraft League

The final crowd-funded tournament of note is very different from the others: it's a weekly cup.

The Korean StarCraft League (KSL) is effectively a second ESL Open Korean cup held every week, only it takes place on Thursday (Friday in Korea) and doesn't award EPT points. The baseline prize money is equal to the ESL Open Cups at $400 per cup, but is potentially even greater depending on crowdfunding. For instance, week #1's total prize money was $632.

Interestingly enough, the first KSL drew a stronger group of players than the ESL Open Cup during the same week, and concluded in a thrilling Maru vs ByuN finals. It remains to be seen if the strength of competition will hold up in the coming weeks, but it was an encouraging start to the series.



Key info

Format: Weekly, single-elimination cup.

Schedule: Every Thursday (Friday in Korea) at 15:00 GMT (+00:00)

Prize pool: Variable, but currently crowdfunded to at least $400 per cup. Cups 1 & 2 were funded into the $600 range.

Streaming: Twitch.tv/davetestasc & Twitch.tv/chickenmansc, various community casters



Images & Art: ESL, Liquipedia
Statistics and records: Liquipedia and Aligulac.com

Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
oneill12
Profile Joined February 2012
Romania1222 Posts
March 15 2023 03:41 GMT
#2
encouraging
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10340 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-15 05:18:53
March 15 2023 05:18 GMT
#3
wow that top 12 is looking sick! too bad creator has to play vs serral ro1 though

also nice article giving exposure to these events!
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
skarsnik41
Profile Joined October 2021
9 Posts
March 15 2023 12:39 GMT
#4
thx for this, i just looked up pigs stream
PiGStarcraft
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Australia987 Posts
March 15 2023 13:00 GMT
#5
Really appreciate the spotlight, thnx mates
Progamerwww.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2
nostrasbeefs
Profile Joined May 2017
29 Posts
March 15 2023 17:04 GMT
#6
I love the little but steady scene we have. <3.
Riner1212
Profile Joined November 2012
United States337 Posts
March 15 2023 17:47 GMT
#7
well the real question is how long will the community continue supporting for?
Sjow "pretty ez life as protoss"
davetesta
Profile Joined June 2019
United States73 Posts
March 15 2023 22:58 GMT
#8
Thank you for giving us some attention, fam!
Greatly appreciated.
"Oh s@#t! They found my proxy!"
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24202 Posts
March 15 2023 23:13 GMT
#9
such an awesome community for such an awesome game
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia19237 Posts
March 16 2023 15:20 GMT
#10
Stats playing deserves a 50k prize pool!
ModeratorFormer Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
Vision_
Profile Joined September 2018
861 Posts
March 16 2023 19:26 GMT
#11
I would prefer some money into a SC 2.5.
CursOr
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States6335 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 21:14:58
March 16 2023 21:12 GMT
#12
Just for some reflection, think about how blizzard killed a FULLY organic and self-sustaning esports scene in Broodwar. Two dedicated television channels. Multiple sponsored teams, with full time, live-in player training houses.

The esports scene of today (see Faze collapse) would be envious of what was curated in Korea from 2002 - 2010, and Blizzard literally destroyed it for SC2 ... and now, we finally see the rug pulled out from under that.

I hate to be Debbie-Downer but, what we had was super special and I really feel like it needs recognition as a true lighting strike in the history of gaming. I am proud to have witnessed and enjoyed it while it was thriving.

edit: it just goes to prove that it IS possible, and entirely without blizzards help, in fact - it's better off without.
CJ forever (-_-(-_-(-_-(-_-)-_-)-_-)-_-)
Booze
Profile Joined September 2019
7 Posts
March 17 2023 01:15 GMT
#13
Hey, quick question:
Anyone knows what happened to SoO and TY? Just went through the different qualifiers and Stats seems to be the only one, who's back, who even tried. Seems odd.
Did I miss something? Please don't tell me they threw in the towel after the bad news.
remeka
Profile Joined March 2023
19 Posts
March 19 2023 05:59 GMT
#14
On March 17 2023 10:15 Booze wrote:
Hey, quick question:
Anyone knows what happened to SoO and TY? Just went through the different qualifiers and Stats seems to be the only one, who's back, who even tried. Seems odd.
Did I miss something? Please don't tell me they threw in the towel after the bad news.


TY and a couple more are playing broodwar, i saw them in the qualis
Booze
Profile Joined September 2019
7 Posts
March 20 2023 08:29 GMT
#15
Ah, alright. I thought TY was trying for both. Really seems like the prize-cut announcement took the wind out of his sail.
Damn...
dbRic1203
Profile Joined July 2019
Germany2655 Posts
March 20 2023 09:47 GMT
#16
On March 20 2023 17:29 Booze wrote:
Ah, alright. I thought TY was trying for both. Really seems like the prize-cut announcement took the wind out of his sail.
Damn...

They played some SC2 showmatches since returning I belive
So I gues, they are not focusing on SC2 exclusivly, but might atend at events every now and then
MaxPax
XenOsky
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Chile2270 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-21 14:39:53
March 21 2023 14:37 GMT
#17
On March 17 2023 06:12 CursOr wrote:
Just for some reflection, think about how blizzard killed a FULLY organic and self-sustaning esports scene in Broodwar. Two dedicated television channels. Multiple sponsored teams, with full time, live-in player training houses.

The esports scene of today (see Faze collapse) would be envious of what was curated in Korea from 2002 - 2010, and Blizzard literally destroyed it for SC2 ... and now, we finally see the rug pulled out from under that.

I hate to be Debbie-Downer but, what we had was super special and I really feel like it needs recognition as a true lighting strike in the history of gaming. I am proud to have witnessed and enjoyed it while it was thriving.

edit: it just goes to prove that it IS possible, and entirely without blizzards help, in fact - it's better off without.


Tbh kespa was just as toxic as blizzard, the level of competition in bw and entretainment value of the pro scene Doesn’t justify the explotation of the players, specially kids.
StarCraft & Audax Italiano.
Balnazza
Profile Joined January 2018
Germany1175 Posts
March 21 2023 15:03 GMT
#18
On March 17 2023 06:12 CursOr wrote:
Just for some reflection, think about how blizzard killed a FULLY organic and self-sustaning esports scene in Broodwar. Two dedicated television channels. Multiple sponsored teams, with full time, live-in player training houses.

The esports scene of today (see Faze collapse) would be envious of what was curated in Korea from 2002 - 2010, and Blizzard literally destroyed it for SC2 ... and now, we finally see the rug pulled out from under that.

I hate to be Debbie-Downer but, what we had was super special and I really feel like it needs recognition as a true lighting strike in the history of gaming. I am proud to have witnessed and enjoyed it while it was thriving.

edit: it just goes to prove that it IS possible, and entirely without blizzards help, in fact - it's better off without.


I don't want to be rude, but how much more can you idolize these time? Yes, it was magical in some way, but there was also a lot of abuse and the payment wasn't that high either. Modern Esports in general dwarves everything Kespa did by a landscape. With LoL, we have a fully functional, nearly global competition. Valorant is doing the same. And while Counterstrike is a mess, it still is SO much better developed and organized than BW back in the day. Kespa worked because it was a micro-cosmos, only focused on one country, that continued to play an otherwise dead game nobody really cared about (no offense BW fans!).

And you honestly want to tell me "the esports scene of today would be envious"? Today a player like dev1ce can take a medical leave for six months or more to recover his mental health. Back in the day, that would just be called "career ending"
"Wenn die Zauberin runter geht, dann macht sie die Beine breit" - Khaldor, trying to cast WC3 German-only
Beelzebub1
Profile Joined May 2015
1004 Posts
March 21 2023 16:08 GMT
#19
Proud of this community, there is usually 1.5K to 3K viewers watching streams, if even half of those people watching gave 20 a month (2 1/2 cups of Starbucks coffee) that's 3 grand minimum and obviously 6 grand if hypothetically everyone gave.

Personally I think Starbucks sucks and Starcraft is the best so I'll be donating monthly from now on. Does anyone have any links to any of the Patreons or whatever crowd funding site these organizers are using? Apologies if I missed it somewhere obvious and thanks in advance.
dbRic1203
Profile Joined July 2019
Germany2655 Posts
March 21 2023 16:54 GMT
#20
On March 22 2023 01:08 Beelzebub1 wrote:
Proud of this community, there is usually 1.5K to 3K viewers watching streams, if even half of those people watching gave 20 a month (2 1/2 cups of Starbucks coffee) that's 3 grand minimum and obviously 6 grand if hypothetically everyone gave.

Personally I think Starbucks sucks and Starcraft is the best so I'll be donating monthly from now on. Does anyone have any links to any of the Patreons or whatever crowd funding site these organizers are using? Apologies if I missed it somewhere obvious and thanks in advance.

The crowdfunding for Pig Festival #4 is currently on hold and will continue shortly before the actual event
the crowdfunding links for the Wardi event and the Kprean Weekly are both in their respected TLnet anouncements
MaxPax
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
12:30
King of the Hill Weekly #220
CranKy Ducklings183
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Harstem 503
Hui .296
mouzHeroMarine 134
ProTech25
trigger 10
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 53931
Horang2 3774
Flash 2713
ggaemo 2571
Bisu 2450
Jaedong 1512
Hyun 1109
Barracks 896
EffOrt 888
Mini 667
[ Show more ]
Larva 435
Soulkey 398
actioN 306
Snow 239
Last 235
ZerO 208
Killer 148
Zeus 135
Rush 104
ToSsGirL 97
Leta 94
JYJ87
sorry 62
Sharp 60
Movie 53
sSak 42
Sea.KH 40
yabsab 33
sas.Sziky 31
Shine 25
Sacsri 24
Shinee 24
[sc1f]eonzerg 23
zelot 21
Noble 14
ajuk12(nOOB) 9
Terrorterran 8
Hm[arnc] 6
IntoTheRainbow 6
Stormgate
RushiSC30
Dota 2
Gorgc6657
qojqva2837
Dendi749
420jenkins285
XcaliburYe235
Counter-Strike
markeloff73
kRYSTAL_37
Other Games
singsing2563
B2W.Neo1241
hiko917
Fuzer 355
DeMusliM323
Happy222
ToD145
QueenE47
ZerO(Twitch)12
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 80
• davetesta42
• tFFMrPink 8
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV312
League of Legends
• Nemesis3168
• Jankos1204
Upcoming Events
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2h 6m
The PondCast
20h 6m
Online Event
1d 2h
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs TBD
Online Event
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
Bonyth vs TBD
OSC
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 20 Non-Korean Championship
FEL Cracow 2025
Underdog Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL 20 Team Wars
CC Div. A S7
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025

Upcoming

BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
HCC Europe
Yuqilin POB S2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.