Korea StarCraft League

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).

Korea StarCraft League (KSL)
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/

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
YearName of TournamentWinnerResult of FinalRunner-up
2018Korea StarCraft League Season 1Kim "Last" Sung Hyun (Terran)4 - 0Lee "Jaedong" Jae-dong (Zerg)
2018Korea StarCraft League Season 2Kim "Soulkey" Min Chul (Zerg)4 - 1Jo "Sharp" Ki Seok (Terran)
2019Korea StarCraft League Season 3Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong (Protoss)4 - 1Byun "Mini" Hyun Je (Protoss)
2019Korea StarCraft League Season 4Lee "Light" Jae-ho (Terran)4 - 2Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong (Protoss)

References
  1. "Blizzard Launching Its First StarCraft: Remastered League". IGN. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  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". afreecatv.com (in Korean).
  5. "News". starcraft.com.
  6. StarCraft
  7. "Last vs. Rain, KSL vs ASL StarCraft: Remastered showmatch BlizzCon". dailyesports.gg. 22 October 2018.
  8. StarCraft
  9. "KSL 시즌2, 방패가 창을 막았다…김민철 4대1로 조기석 제압". mk.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  10. "Korea's StarCraft League is about to launch into third season!". esports.net. 22 February 2019.
  11. "코리아 스타크래프트 리그(KSL) 시즌 3, 최종 격돌 하루 앞으로 다가와". thisisgame.com (in Korean). 7 June 2019.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "스타크래프트: 리마스터". starcraft.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020.
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