Korea StarCraft League

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Korea StarCraft League (KSL)
Blizzard KSL logo.png
SportStarCraft: Remastered
FoundedJune 2018
CeasedMarch 2020
CountrySouth Korea
ContinentAsia
Last
champion(s)		Lee "Light" Jae-ho
Most titlesKim "Last" Sung Hyun, Kim "Soulkey" Min Chul, Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong, Lee "Light" Jae-ho
TV partner(s)Twitch
Official websitehttps://ksl.starcraft.com/en-us/

The Korea StarCraft League (KSL) was a StarCraft: Remastered tournament series hosted by Blizzard Entertainment[1] in South Korea. It was announced in June 2018 and began its first season the following month. It was broadcast regularly in Korean and English on Twitch.[2] The main English language casters for the event were Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott.[3] It ran alongside afreecaTV's AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) as one of the two top level Korean leagues for StarCraft: Remastered.[4] KSL was discontinued in March 2020 after 4 seasons (that is, tournaments).

History[]

The KSL was announced to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the StarCraft series, becoming the first Blizzard-run league for the Korean StarCraft scene since StarCraft's release in 1998.[1] Prior to the first season's finals, the second season was announced, with qualifiers in late September of that year and regular play starting in October.[5] The finals of the first season took place in the Yes24 Live Hall in Seoul, with Kim "Last" Sung Hyun becoming the first champion of the KSL.[6]

During BlizzCon 2018, the champions of both Korean StarCraft leagues, the KSL and ASL, faced off in a showmatch called KSL vs. ASL.[7]

The finals of the second and last season of the inaugural year of the league took place in Kwangwoon University Donghae Arts Center, with Kim "Soulkey" Min Chul becoming the new champion.[8][9]

In February 2019 the third season of competition was announced, confirming the KSL would run in 2019 as well.[10] The third season's finals took place in Nexon Arena in Seoul.[11] With his victory over Byun "Mini" Hyun Je, Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong became the second player to have won both top level Korean leagues in the post-KeSPA period.[12]

The fourth season was organized in the autumn of 2019; Lee "Light" Jae-ho won the tournament.

As of March 20, 2020, it was announced that KSL would no longer be continued as AfreecaTV and Blizzard had signed an exclusive deal to broadcast all Blizzard e-sports.[13]

Results[]

Year Name of Tournament Winner Result of Final Runner-Up
2018 Korea StarCraft League Season 1 Kim "Last" Sung Hyun (Terran) 4 - 0 Lee "Jaedong" Jae-dong (Zerg)
2018 Korea StarCraft League Season 2 Kim "Soulkey" Min Chul (Zerg) 4 - 1 Jo "Sharp" Ki Seok (Terran)
2019 Korea StarCraft League Season 3 Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong (Protoss) 4 - 1 Byun "Mini" Hyun Je (Protoss)
2019 Korea StarCraft League Season 4 Lee "Light" Jae-ho (Terran) 4 - 2 Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong (Protoss)

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Blizzard Launching Its First StarCraft: Remastered League". IGN. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  2. ^ "Blizzard Launches Self-Owned StarCraft: Remastered League Based in Korea – ARCHIVE - the Esports Observer". 19 June 2018.
  3. ^ "2018 Korea StarCraft League: Season 1". 20 July 2018.
  4. ^ "아프리카TV".
  5. ^ https://starcraft.com/en-us/articles/22456348
  6. ^ https://starcraft.com/en-us/articles/22455599
  7. ^ "Last vs. Rain, KSL vs ASL StarCraft: Remastered showmatch BlizzCon". 22 October 2018.
  8. ^ https://starcraft.com/en-us/articles/22788311
  9. ^ http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2018&no=782700
  10. ^ "Korea's StarCraft League is about to launch into third season!". 22 February 2019.
  11. ^ "코리아 스타크래프트 리그(KSL) 시즌 3, 최종 격돌 하루 앞으로 다가와". 7 June 2019.
  12. ^ https://ksl.starcraft.com/en-us/match/26047
  13. ^ https://starcraft.com/ko-kr/articles/23369564
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