Proleague

The Proleague ( Hangul : 프로 리그) is a former South Korean e-sports - League for the computer game StarCraft , and as well as the successor Starcraft II .

history

Game during the SKY Proleague 2006

StarCraft: Brood War became by far the most popular esports in South Korea in the early 2000s . In addition to the individual tournaments OSL (since 2000 on the TV channel OnGameNet ) and MSL (since 2003 on the TV channel MBCGame ), team leagues were launched by both broadcasters in 2003. As of 2005, both broadcasters agreed in cooperation with the KeSPA to host a large joint team league. The field of participants initially consisted of eleven professional teams, some of which were supported by large corporations such as Samsung or SK Telecom .

The final of the first united Proleague 2005 took place in front of over 100,000 spectators on Gwangalli Beach in Busan . There the teams of the two largest telecommunications providers in South Korea SK Telecom ( SK Telecom T1 ) and Korea Telecom ( KTF MagicNs ) dueled , with SKT T1 winning the final 4: 1. The 2006 final in Seoul attracted 50,000 spectators.

The South Korean Air Force also maintained a team from 2007, in which the players could do their military service after completing their basic training. As a result of the KeSPA scandal , some corporations stopped their support, so that the number of teams fell to eight from 2011.

In 2012 the Proleague switched from Starcraft to the successor Starcraft II, which was released in 2010 . Until the end of the year, the Proleague existed as a hybrid league in which Starcraft and Starcraft II were played at the same time, since then as a pure Starcraft II league. In the 2012-2013 season, a non-Korean team was represented for the first time with EG-Liquid. EG-Liquid is a combination of players from the Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid teams .

In October 2016 it was announced that the Proleague will no longer be played. The reasons given were a lack of interest from viewers and sponsors.

mode

There was usually one season per year. The mode in the Proleague was changed several times, in Brood War a match usually consisted of four encounters, three times one-on-one and once two-on-two, whereby the fixtures were known in advance. In the event of a tie, there was a play-off ( ace match ), for which both teams spontaneously chose a player. The two-on-two was later abolished.

In some cases, an alternative mode was used in which a victorious player could continue playing until he was defeated by an opposing player ( Winners League format ). If a player in this format was able to win all games for his team, this was also known as an all-kill .

The basic sequence of a Proleague season has also been changed several times. As a rule, there were several rounds, each lasting about one to two months, and at the end of the season play-offs to choose the overall winner.

Results

year	channel	Surname	Prize money	Overall winner	finalist
StarCraft: Brood War
2005	OGN / MBC	SKY Proleague	₩ 300,000,000	SK Telecom T1	KTF MagicNs
2006	OGN / MBC	SKY Proleague	₩ 500,000,000	MBCGame Hero	SK Telecom T1
2007	OGN / MBC	Shinhan Bank Proleague	unknown	Lecaf Oz	Samsung KHAN
2008	OGN / MBC	Shinhan Bank Proleague		Samsung KHAN	hite SPARKYZ
2008-09	OGN / MBC	Shinhan Bank Proleague		SK Telecom T1	Hwaseung OZ
2009-10	OGN / MBC	Shinhan Bank Proleague		KT Rolster	SK Telecom T1
2010-11	OGN / MBC	Shinhan Bank Proleague		KT Rolster	SK Telecom T1
2011-12	OGN	SK Planet Proleague Season 1		SK Telecom T1	KT Rolster
StarCraft: Brood War / StarCraft II Hybrid League
2011-12	OGN	SK Planet Proleague Season 2	₩ 100,000,000	CJ Entus	Samsung KHAN
StarCraft II
2012–13	OGN	SK Planet Proleague	₩ 300,000,000	STX SouL	Woongjin stars
2014	SPOTV	SK Planet Proleague	₩ 161,000,000	KT Rolster	SK Telecom T1
2015	SPOTV	SK Planet Proleague	₩ 161,000,000	SK Telecom T1	Jin Air Green Wings
2016	SPOTV	SK Planet Proleague	₩ 161,000,000	Jin Air Green Wings	KT Rolster

Team overview

In the course of time there have been repeated changes of name, dissolution and the formation of new teams. The following table gives an overview of the participating teams over time:

last team name	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009-10	2011–12 Season 1	2012–13	2014	2015	2016
Afreeca Freecs									ST-SBENU	Afreeca Freecs
Air Force ACE			Air Force ACE
CJ Entus	Greatest One	CJ Entus
eSTRO	eNature top team		eSTRO
hite SPARKYZ	COR		hite SPARKYZ
Hwaseung OZ	plus	Lecaf OZ		Hwaseung OZ
Incredible Miracle								IN THE
Jin Air Green Wings						8th team		Jin Air Greenwings
KT Rolster	KTF MagicNs				KT Rolster
Liquid - EG							Liquid EG
MBCGame HERO	Egosys POS	MBCGame HERO
MVP								MVP
Prime								Prime
Samsung Galaxy	Samsung KHAN							Samsung Galaxy
SK Telecom T1	SK Telecom T1
STX SouL	STX SouL
WeMade FOX	P&C Curriors	Pantech EX		WeMade FOX
Woongjin stars	Hanbit stars			Woongjin stars

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b StarCraft finals draw crowds to Busan beach koreajoongangdaily

↑ Starcraft II and the bad boy of pro-gaming theguardian.com

↑ Starcraft: the Revolution of eSports felixonline.co.uk

↑ Progamers in Korean army teamliquid.net

↑ StarCraft Rigging Scandal Hits e-Sports Industry koreatimes.co.kr

↑ EG-Liquid teamliquid.net

↑ South Korea's KeSPA discontinues StarCraft ProLeague after 14 years Eric Van Allen, espn.com

↑ SKY Pro League Opens ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. theedutimes.com@1@ 2