The Korea StarCraft League (KSL) was a '' StarCraft: Remastered'' tournament series hosted by Blizzard Entertainment 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. The main English language casters for the event were Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott. It ran alongside afreecaTV's AfreecaTV StarCraft League (ASL) as one of the two top level Korean leagues for StarCraft: Remastered. 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 ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance am ...

series, becoming the first Blizzard-run league for the Korean StarCraft scene since

's release in 1998. 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. 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. During

BlizzCon 2018 BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including ''Warcraft'', '' StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and ''Overwatch''. The first BlizzCon was he ...

, the champions of both Korean StarCraft leagues, the KSL and

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

, faced off in a showmatch called KSL vs. ASL. 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. In February 2019 the third season of competition was announced, confirming the KSL would run in 2019 as well. The third season's finals took place in Nexon Arena in Seoul. 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. 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.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korea StarCraft League Esports competitions in South Korea StarCraft competitions 2018 establishments in South Korea