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![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/Mani_Proleague_Cover.jpg)
ShinHan Proleague Season 1 Review
by Manifesto7
TeamLiquid: Final Edits
It seems hard to believe now, with the ShinHan Bank trucking buckets of money into e-sports, that the Proleague was almost scrapped in the springtime. With the networks fighting with the KESPA e-sports association, it was only a last minute deal that saved this season. Since then the Proleague has eclipsed all others in scope and ambition, playing five days a week and racking up four hundred and twenty seven games played. The days of a player practicing for months to play one or two television games is long gone. These are the days where volume counts as StarCraft takes up more and more primetime TV space.
There are a lot of things I like about the Proleague. StarCraft is on every night, making it easy for the casual fan to just watch when it is convenient. The fact that I don’t have to wait months to see my favorite gamer compete because he got cheesed out of the Dual League is great too. Who could have imagined that Boxer would be back so quickly, playing nine games for ACE in June alone. However with this massive increase in game days, I feel that the structure of the league is unwieldy and primitive with the other options available out there. StarCraft has evolved into a sport, and it is now time for it to be organized like one.
Here is my list of four changes I would make for the 2008 season:
1. League Structure
Let's start with the big picture. There are currently twelve teams in the Proleague all lumped together in a single table. The structure of the league means that each team faces every other team twice in a four month period. Over eight months, each team will play each other four times, not including any playoff games. There are two important consequences of this league design.
The first consequence is that a team that starts of poorly by losing to a strong team has a very difficult time making up ground. If ACE loses to Samsung in the first week of play, and Samsung is leading the league, ACE only has one more head to head match vs Samsung to make up any ground. For the rest of league play they are dependent on themselves winning and Samsung losing in the same week. This removes much of the competitiveness from the league, especially later in the season.
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/maniproleague01.jpg)
Ace was doomed after two weeks.
The second consequence is that there is little to develop rivalries in the Proleague. While rivalries made in individual leagues bleed into the equation occasionally, team vs team rivalries do not much exist other than the obvious KTF vs SKT1 and MBC vs SKT1. Great sports stories are created through rivalries. When Boxer and Yellow collide, everything stops and people watch. Shouldn't it be the same when Lecaf and Samsung smash heads?
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to both of these problems. The Proleague needs two divisions. Call them East and West. Call them Up and Down. Call them Mountain Dew and Pizza Hut, I don't care. All I want to see are the twelve teams divided into two divisions of six. With this change, a whole series of manipulations can be put forth. In a four week span, teams could play three weeks vs teams in their division and one week vs a team from the other division. This would create a cut-throat environment where teams battle each other repeatedly for top spot in their half of the table. Players would become snipers for another team's ace, forcing coaches to put more thoughts into their lineups and generating real rivalry between the teams.
A split into two divisions would also allow for a slight change to the playoffs. With three teams from each side making the playoffs, the number 2 and 3 seeds play to face the number one seed of the division. The two division champions then go on to fight for the title. This makes a lot more sense, keeps more teams in the hunt through the season, and also keeps the flavour of the ladder-up playoff style we have today.
2. The Play Day
I used to watch every game on television. It wasn't a question about IF I was going to watch it, it was just WHEN. However recently I have been skipping many matches. I will cherry-pick the odd game if the players look good or if there is a buzz on the forums, but there are many that I don't watch at all. Worse than that, I rarely sit down and watch a full match between two teams. Reflecting on this I have come to believe that the 1v1 - 1v1 - 2v2 - 1v1 - Ace format has simply been overdone. I like team games (although I will get to them in a minute) but I am tired of them occupying such an important place in the series. I am not asking for a complete change, but I am asking for something that is severely lacking in the Proleague; variety.
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/maniproleague02.jpg)
These guys would rather have a format with all-kills.
There have been numerous other team formats that have worked, with iTV and more notably the MBC Teamleague being great examples. In the MBC Teamleague, the teams raced to three wins and the winner stayed. It was possible for a single player to wipe out an entire team in a night. This led to some very exciting matches, and also helped reduce the number of mirror match games in the leagues. Does this format need to be used all the time? No, but having it for a single week, and coming up with some other creative formats would go a long way in making the long season seem more exciting.
3. The Team Concept
I have always felt the Proleague walked a fine line as a "team" event. Although these players practice together and proclaim that the Proleague is their most important goal, once they get into the booth they are all alone. In line with the idea of "variety", I would like to see some variety in the team play games as well. Some of these are very simple and built into the game itself. Team melee with progamers has long been sought after by fans, although it has only appeared in show matches on TV. Why not have a team melee game in the mix now and then? Recently, OGN launched a new program called "StarBrain" where one progamer (usually a high class gamer) sits behind one of his less successful teammates and directs them in game. How about we make the ace match a true team concept and have an adviser able to observe and coach as the game goes on.
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/maniproleague03.jpg)
Anyone can be an Ace with Jaedong or Anytime coaching them.
4. The Map Pool
If there has been one total bust this season, it has been the maps. Who tested them, and for how long? It was made readily apparent that DMZ, Geometry, and Fantasy were poorly balanced, with DMZ even getting pulled partway through the season (only the second map ever to receive such an honour). While in the old days some maps could be tolerated for a season because they would only be played a handful of times, the modern era affords no such luxury. Geometry has 79 games played, and Peaks of Baekdu is approaching 200. With so many games played on each one, there is no room for error.
However, we are at the point where there is a large number of maps that have been field tested in leagues. I propose that the maps which have proven to play well be recycled in the current leagues. One map from the OSL, one map from the MSL, one new map, and group of one classics. I think it would be very entertaining if each week featured a different classic map. Requiem, Nostalgia, Plains to Hill... using these maps would not only create some great nostalgic games, but would also force players to examine different styles and reinvent maps which may play differently under today's builds.
To conclude, let me say I am very excited about the upcoming finals between Lecaf and Samsung. I think that this league has gone very well, and it is great to see these two teams battle it out. For fairness, I do not think that there should be many changes for the second part of the 2007 season. However, e-sports has been notoriously slow and timid in adapting new ideas and improving on concepts that are already working. I think by examining the situation now, the Proleague could be redesigned to be something even more magnificent in the future. Until then, I'll be watching.
- Manifesto7
. By the way unless they are on different levels in that picture Anytime is like a giant among them.
) than in the past.
