EPTThe 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. -
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. -
Edit: GomTV's cleaner English announcement: http://www.gomtv.net/forum/view.gom?topicid=230213&cid=0&kind=8
