StarCraft professional competition
Encyclopedia
The computer game StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...

has an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet
Ongamenet
Ongamenet is one of two South Korean cable television companies , that specializes in broadcasting video game-related information and matches, which include StarCraft, Warcraft III and others. It is a subsidiary of On-Media, an owner of several cable channels....

 and MBCGame
MBCGame
MBC Game is the South Korean non-'free-to-air' television network, which is well-known for its E-sports broadcasting.- Contents :...

, each run a Starleague (Ongamenet Starleague
Starleague
The Ongamenet Starleague is a professional StarCraft individual league run by Ongamenet in South Korea. It is also known as the OSL .-History of Starleague:...

, MBCgame Starleague
MBCgame Starleague
The MBCgame StarCraft League, also known as MSL, is a StarCraft tournament hosted by MBCGame. The tournament started outin 2002 under the name of KPGA, and in 2003 it was renamed the MSL.-League Championships:-2009 Avalon MSL:...

), viewed by millions of fans. Starting in about 2002, pro-gamers started to become organized into teams, sponsored by large South Korean companies like Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...

, SK Telecom
SK Telecom
SK Telecom Co., Ltd. or Sunkyoung Telecom is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator, controlled by the SK Group, one of the country's largest chaebol. As a part of SK Group, SK stands for Sun Kyung.SK Telecom is a provider of mobile service in Korea, with 50.5% of the market share as...

 and KT. StarCraft is also the most popular computer game competition during the annual World Cyber Games
World Cyber Games
The World Cyber Games is an international competitive video-gaming event operated by South Korean company World Cyber Games Inc., and sponsored by Samsung and Microsoft...

 thanks to its Korean fanbase, and it is overall one of the world's largest computer and video game competitions in terms of prize money, global coverage and participants.

Participation outside of South Korea

There have been commercial attempts to bring televised professional StarCraft matches to audiences outside South Korea. GOM TV has hired Nick "Tasteless" Plott, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 who previously cast StarCraft at the WCG
World Cyber Games
The World Cyber Games is an international competitive video-gaming event operated by South Korean company World Cyber Games Inc., and sponsored by Samsung and Microsoft...

 and other international events, to provide English commentary on the 2008 GOM TV Star Invitational and the 2008 Averatec-Intel Classic tournaments. According to GOM TV statistics, over 1 million viewers watched the GOM TV Star Invitational matches with English commentary.
Many Starcraft fans outside South Korea download video files of the pro games to watch on their computer. This has spawned a small community wherein StarCraft fans post the files to video sharing sites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

, but with their own English commentaries dubbed alongside the original Korean commentary. Notable English-speaking YouTube commentators include Day9, KlazartSC, Diggity, Moletrap, NukeTheStars, and Rise.

The Collegiate Starleague is a seasonal intercollegiate league that is modeled after Korea's ProLeague. It was founded in 2009 by students at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. Its fourth season (Fall 2010) marks a shift from StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War
StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion pack for the award winning military science fiction, real-time strategy video game StarCraft. Released in 1998 for Windows and Mac OS, it was co-developed by Saffire and Blizzard Entertainment. The expansion pack introduced new campaigns, map tilesets, music,...

 to Starcraft II
StarCraft II
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010...

, and includes the participation of over 100 North American colleges including Harvard, Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

, and Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...

. Notable contributors and players include Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Kevin "QXC" Riley, and Andre "Gretorp" Hengchua.

KeSPA rankings

KeSPA (Korean e-Sports Association) publishes a monthly calculation of rankings based on a point scale. It is a rolling system based on the past twelve months of performance in both major and minor events, awarding points based on wins. The most weight is placed on recent games, while games farther back have less emphasis.
KeSPA rankings of September, 2011
Rank Player Name Player In-game Name Race Team Points +/- Ranking
1 Lee Young-Ho
Lee Young-Ho
Lee Young-Ho is a South Korean professional StarCraft player who plays under the alias By.FlaSh or simply Flash. Lee currently plays for KT....

Flash Terran KT Rolster 2,430.8 0
2 Shin Dong Won Hydra Zerg CJ ENTUS 2,200.5 0
3 Kim Myung-Woon ZerO Zerg Woongjin Stars 1,879.5 0
4 Jung Myung-Hoon
Jung Myung Hoon
Jung Myung Hoon is a year old professional StarCraft player from South Korea who plays under the alias By.Fantasy or simply Fantasy, He is one of 3 terrans to be under the wing of Choi Yeon-Sung . Jung is known as a terran innovator in professional Starcraft, taking one gold and two silver medals...

Fantasy Terran SK Telecom T1 1,821.8
3
5 Lee Jae-Dong Jaedong Zerg Hwaseung OZ 1,818.0
6 Kim Taek-Yong
Kim Taek-Yong
Kim Taek-Yong is a professional South Korean StarCraft player, playing for the Protoss race...

Bisu Protoss SK Telecom T1 1,663.0
7 Song Byung-Gu Stork Protoss Samsung Electronics KHAN 1,620.0
8 Kim Yoon-Hwan Calm Zerg STX SOUL 1,275.0 0
9 Yum Bo-Sung Sea Terran MBCGame HERO 1,252.5
2
10 Kim Min Chul Neo.G_Soulkey Zerg Woongjin Stars 1,215.0
11 Eu Yoon Su n.Die_soO Zerg SKT Telecom T1 1,214.3
14
12 Kim Dae Yeob Stats Protoss KT Rolster 1,169.3
13 Heo Yeong Moo JangBi Protoss Samsung Electronics KHAN 1,162.5
14
14 Park Joon Oh Killer Zerg Hwaseung OZ 1,151.3
15 Lee Jae-Ho Light Terran Woongjin Stars 1,146.8
16 Jun Tae Yang BaBy Terran WeMade FOX 1,106.3 0
17 Lee Shin Hyung Bogus Terran STX Soul 984.0
1
18 Park Sung Gyoon Mind Terran WeMade Fox 978.0
19 Shin Sang-Moon Leta Terran CJ ENTUS 939.0
20 Goo Sung Hoon HiyA Terran Hwaseung OZ 936.8
21 Lee Kyung Min Horang2 Protoss CJ ENTUS 904.5
22 Shin No-Yul RorO Zerg WeMade FOX 876.0
23 Jin Young Hwa Movie Protoss CJ ENTUS 875.3
24 Kim Gu-Hyun GooJila (Kal) Protoss STX SOUL 858.0
25 Kim Seong Dae Action Zerg KT Rolster 792.8
1
26 Kim Jae Hoon Jaehoon Protoss MBCGame Hero 775.5
3
27 Ko Seok Hyun HyuN Zerg MBCGame Hero 774.0
28 Lee Sung Eun firebathero Terran Air Force ACE 753.0
3
29 Cha Myung Hwan Great Zerg Samsung Electronics KHAN 731.1
30 Kim Hyun Woo Modesty Zerg STX Soul 727.5
11
- 30 Park Jae Hyuk Hyuk Zerg SK Telecom T1 727.5
12

List of professional StarCraft teams

The Korean professional scene is currently divided into 8 teams, 6 of which are sponsored by corporations, one by KeSPA itself, and the remaining team by the Korean Air Force.
  • Air Force ACE (공군 에이스)
  • CJ ENTUS (CJ 엔투스) – formerly Hite Entus, Suma GO (Greatest Ones) and Hite Sparkyz, OnGameNet Sparkyz, KOR
  • Woongjin Stars (웅진 스타즈) – formerly Hanbit Stars
  • KT Rolster (KT롤스터) – formerly KT Fingerboom, KT MagicNs, KTF MagicNs
  • Samsung KHAN (삼성전자 칸)
  • SK Telecom T1 (SK텔레콤 T1) – formerly 4U, Orion
  • STX SouL (STX소울)
  • Team 8 - managed by KeSPA through proxy, in response to OZ, MBCGame HERO, and WeMadeFOX ending their teams.

Match fixing scandal

It was revealed on April 13, 2010 that a StarCraft cheating scandal existed in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 that involved popular StarCraft players intentionally losing games.


As professional gaming has a legal status in South Korea, the consequences of these actions were very strict, with 11 players banned from all professional SC competition for life, and facing lawsuits, possibly bringing them to jail. All eleven players had all prizes and rewards revoked (e.g. Player of the Year Reward, Proleague Player Reward, Weekly/Monthly MVP Reward)


As of 9 June, 2010, eleven Players have been banned from progaming as a result of the scandal, they are as follows: sAviOr, Hwasin, go.go, Type-b, Luxury,YellOw(ArnC), DarkElf, UpMaGiC, Justin, By.1st and ShinHwA. In October 2010, sentences were declared.


Notable sentences:
  • Progamer (T)Justin – 18-month sentence, 3-year suspended sentence, 3 million won fine, 120 hours of community service, 40 hours of gambling treatment program.
  • Progamer (Z)sAviOr – 1-year sentence, 2-year suspended sentence, 120 hours of community service.
  • Ex Progamer (T)By.1st – 6-month sentence, 1-year suspended sentence, 40 hours of gambling treatment program
  • Ex Progamer (Z)ShinHwA – 6-month sentence, 1-year suspended sentence, 40 hours of gambling treatment program

*Note: The suspended sentences mean the players can avoid prison if no wrongdoing is committed within the time period

Lim Yo-Hwan (SlayerS_`BoxeR`)

Known as the "Emperor of Terran", or sometimes just "The Emperor", Boxer's highly creative play has made him a popular StarCraft player. He is also one of, if not the most, successful as he is the first (of two) StarCraft player to win the World Cyber Games
World Cyber Games
The World Cyber Games is an international competitive video-gaming event operated by South Korean company World Cyber Games Inc., and sponsored by Samsung and Microsoft...

 (WCG) twice. He has also won the Ongamenet
Ongamenet
Ongamenet is one of two South Korean cable television companies , that specializes in broadcasting video game-related information and matches, which include StarCraft, Warcraft III and others. It is a subsidiary of On-Media, an owner of several cable channels....

 Starleague (OSL) twice (only 6 players have achieved that). He is the first of two players to win two consecutive OSLs. He holds the record for being number 1 in KeSPA's rankings for 17 consecutive months. Boxer made a comeback in 2005, winning second place in the So1 OSL 2005, but had to retire from professional gaming to join the Korean military service, which is mandatory for all Korean males. On 3 October 2006 he played his rival [NC]...Yellow in "Superfight", which he won 3–2. One of the most popular fights with [NC]Yellow was Boxer's Famous SCV rush, where he sent his SCV's and a couple of marines and won in five minutes. His total record of televised matches before he joined the Korean Air Force was 500 wins and 338 losses. Recently, Boxer became one of the first members of the Korean Air Force pro-gaming team ACE (an acronym of Air Force Challenges E-sports), where he continued playing as a pro-gamer. He made the GomTV 2 MBC Game Starleague in 2007, but was eliminated in the group stages. When his air force contract expired on December 24, 2008, he rejoined his former team SK Telecom T1, appearing actively in Pro League in July 2009. In October 2010 he switched over to StarCraft 2 and competed in GomTV GSL
GOMTV Global Starcraft II League
GOMTV Global Starcraft II League is a StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty tournament hosted by GomTV and Blizzard Entertainment in South Korea. There is an English stream available for non-Korean viewers. The tournament features two leagues, Code S and Code A...

 2. In November 2010 he officially retired from his KeSPA pro-gamer status to only focus on SC2 and have the opportunity to form a new SC2-team sponsored by Intel.

Lee Yun-Yeol ([ReD]NaDa)

The "Genius Terran" (also known as "Tornado Terran") started his pro-gaming career by beating ChRh (Choi In Kyu) on the "Amateur vs Pro" TV show. Statistically, he's the best player in history, having won the most starleague championships (6). He has a consistent and dominating style, backed up with excellent macro. Once believed to also have the best micro among all StarCraft players (e.g. Nada's Vultures). He has been on the team IS, KTF and now the Wemade FOX, formerly Pantech EX, formerly known as Toona SG. Nada has won 3 OSLs, 3 MSLs, and the first KT-KTF invitational tournament. After a resurgent OSL victory in late 2006, NaDa became the first player to have won the OSL 3 times, winning the "Golden Mouse". He recently qualified for his tenth MSL, but failed to qualify for the next OSL. Nada managed to reach the final sixteen in both the 2008 MSL and OSL, but was stifled of another attempt at a trophy by Hwasin and Jangbi respectively. As of December 2008 he is ranked 18 in KeSPA. As of June 2009, Nada has fallen to rank 31 in the KeSPA ranking system, making it the first time that he's been out of the top 30 since March 2002.

In October 2010 after his contract ended, he retired from playing Starcraft: Broodwar professionally instead NaDa is currently pursuing a professional gaming career in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. NaDa is currently in the Starcraft II team, oGs.

Choi Yeon-Sung (iloveoov)

The next on line of successful Terran players after Boxer and Nada, iloveoov's macro is even better than Nada's, leading to him being jokingly known as the "Cheater Terran" due to his ability to create large armies in a short span of time. He is also known as "Monster" because of his dominance over his opponents. He has won the MBCGame
MBCGame
MBC Game is the South Korean non-'free-to-air' television network, which is well-known for its E-sports broadcasting.- Contents :...

 Starleague (MSL) three times in succession, an amazing feat, and in November 2004 finally won the OSL, cementing his place as one of the strongest players of the game. He won his 2nd OSL title in March 2006, defeating JulyZerg in the 1st ShinHan Bank tournament. iloveoov has now retired from professional gaming and is currently a coach for the SKT1 squad with Kingdom. However, in November 2008, he declared to come back to the squad and works as playing-coach in SKT. His first coming back game was held 17 November. He played against Kim Myung Un (Zerg) and lost, himself using Valiath (Valkyrie+Goliath).

He has an interesting relationship with Boxer (who was on the same SK Telecom T1 team with him), as he sees Boxer as a kind of "older brother" or mentor (Boxer brought iloveoov to the professional scene after seeing his talent in amateur leagues), and as a result, was somewhat regretful for beating him (3–2) in the finals of the EVER OSL in November 2004. He also won the WCG in 2006, beating Julyzerg 2–1 in the finals.

Lee Young-Ho (Flash)

Nicknamed "The Little Monster", "God-Young-Ho", and "Ultimate Weapon", Flash arrived in the gaming scene by famously defeating Bisu in a Starleague game by "cheesing" his opponent. He was heavily criticized by Starcraft fans as a "cheap" player, but he dispelled all accusations by dominating the Starcraft gaming scene. He propelled his team KTF (now KT Rolster) into Proleague victories and championships by winning the 2010 Proleague. Flash is involved in one of the most intense and famous rivalries with Jaedong. Flash holds a variety of world records such as longest TvT winning streak, longest TvP winning streak, youngest Starleague winner, youngest Golden Mouse winner, highest KeSPA rank of all time, and the highest overall Elo, TvP, TvZ and TvT ranks of all time. He has been in 3 consecutive dual starleague finals, winning 4 golds within the past year. He recently defeated Kal (Goojila) in the 2010 World Cyber Games, eventually becoming the world champion.

Park Sung-Joon (JulyZerg)

Now retired from Starcraft 1. JulyZerg (or simply "July"), the "God of War", was credited with revitalizing what had been stagnant Zerg play, and of leading the way for a kind of "Zerg renaissance" with his highly dynamic and aggressive style, incorporating a strong understanding of his opponent's weaknesses and immaculate unit control. He is the first Zerg player to win an OSL; having accomplished this feat in 2004, and he also won the second KT-KTF Premiere League. In July 2005 he won a second OSL, something that to that date only four other players have accomplished, and after a long slump managed to win the Ever OSL 2008, making him the second player and first zerg to win 3 OSL titles and claiming the Golden Mouse trophy. July is known for being closer to the amateur community than the typical professional player, having played in amateur leagues such as the WGTour Speed Ladder in the past, and was one of the players on the Asian team for the friendly Blizzard Invitational Tournament held in early 2005. JulyZerg is currently playing Starcraft II on the pro team ST.

Ma Jae-Yoon (sAviOr[gm])

sAviOr (previously known as IPXZerg) has won three MSLs and one OSL, and reached five consecutive MSL finals during the height of his dominance. Nicknamed "Maestro" for his incredible play, timing, and game sense, he is often viewed as the most successful and fearsome Zerg of all time, having defeated BoxeR, iloveoov, NaDa, Midas, Nal_rA and many other top players. He is well known for his perfect defiler usage, particularly in the ZvT matchup. sAviOr made the semifinals of the 2007 September–November GOM TV MSL but was surprisingly eliminated by Terran player Mind 2–3. Soon after, he was eliminated 1–2 by Bisu in the 2007 Ever OSL quarterfinals. sAviOr is currently in a competitive slump, having been eliminated from the first round of both the most recent OSL and MSL. However, he has since qualified for the next upcoming MSL and is currently ranked 53rd in the February 2010 KeSPA ranking. On April 13, 2010, he was implicated in a cheating scandal involving several Korean pro gamers, illegal betting websites, and allegations of games being deliberately lost. As the investigation continued, Savior eventually admitted his guilt on May 20'th, and was forced into retirement by KeSPA.

Lee Jae-Dong (n.Die_Jaedong)

Known as the "Lord of Destruction", and the "Tyrant", Jaedong is currently Hwaseung OZ's ace player, and gained fame from taking down many top players when he first entered the scene, earning the nickname "Legend Killer". He is known for his incredible micro of mutalisks, his trademark unit. His ZvT and ZvZ are among the best the progaming scene has ever witnessed, and he is currently regarded as the best Zerg player, if not the best player overall. He walked the Royal Road by qualifying for the OSL for the first time and defeating Stork in the EVER OSL finals 3–1. Soon thereafter, he proved that his ZvP matchup was not weak by defeating Bisu in the GOMTV MSL S4 group stages. Since his OSL win, Jaedong's ZvP has statistically been his second strongest matchup (71.25%) Jaedong has also won the MSL season 4 by defeating Siz)Kal 3–1 in March, 2008, further proving himself as the top Zerg on the scene. Jaedong set a new record for the highest ZvZ streak by winning 12 games straight, only losing to Oversky in the Proleague. As of June 2009, he is 72–19 (79.12%) in ZvZ, and considering that ZvZ is thought to be one of the most volatile and luck based matchups, this is a very impressive feat. In July 2008, he was defeated in the Arena MSL 2008 Finals 0–3 by his teammate Park Ji-Su (ForGG), but he was able to bounce back from his loss and defeat his rival Flash 3–0 in the TG Sambo Intel Classic finals. He has won his second OSL title against Fantasy in the Batoo OSL 2009. In the Summer 2009 StarCraft season, he was the only player to make the quarterfinals of every Starleague: GOMTV Avertec Classic, OSL, and MSL. He also carried his team through the Shinhan Bank 08-09 Proleague and brought them a second place finish. On August 22, 2009 he once again proved that he is one of the best StarCraft players in the scene by winning the Bacchus OSL (his third OSL title) and thus winning the Golden Mouse. Jaedong was ranked 1st in the February 2010 KeSPA rankings. Jaedong has also been a very popular person outside of StarCraft having done commercials for various Korean companies and attending several international competitions such as the World Cyber Games 2 years in a row(2008–2009) and is the WCG champion for 2009, after beating his fellow Korean, Stork in the finals. He is well known for his intense and focused demeanor during play and his tendency to excel under pressure.

Others

  • Hong Jin-Ho
    Hong Jin-Ho
    Hong Jin-Ho is a professional StarCraft player from South Korea who plays under the alias [NC]...YellOw or simply Yellow. He is enlisted in the South Korean Air Force as of April 2010.-StarCraft career:...

     ([NC]...YellOw), known as "Storm Zerg" was an early rival to Lim Yo-Hwan (Boxer), losing several starleague finals to him, thereby earning the title "King of Silver."

Park Jung Suk ([Oops]Reach)

Reach, nicknamed "MAN-TOSS" (due to his muscular build and brute strategies) or "Hero Protoss", is the Protoss player who has been most consistent in the long term, beating Boxer in an OSL final near the height of his dominance, and generally placing well in tournaments. He is generally known for his standard/solid/safe style of play, with flawless macro and use of Psi Storm (the latter of which earned him the other nickname "Mudang Protoss", meaning shaman Protoss in Korean, owing to the uncanny accuracy of his Psionic Storm use), although he has been leaning away from this slightly in recent times due to changes in the playing style of the other races. Reach is known for his PvP and PvT skills, with his PvZ being inconsistently brilliant. Park was the captain of the KTF progaming team. Reach has been absent from the Starleagues and KeSPA rankings for 18 months but has recently returned to StarCraft pro-gaming tournaments, successfully qualifying for the 2007 Season 1 OSL. Reach has slumped since his return and is currently enlisted with Yellow in Air Force ACE. Currently, Reach has shown some return to form with impressive victories in the ProLeague.

Kang Min (Nal_rA)

The 'Dreaming Protoss' is often considered to be a Protoss version of Boxer due to his highly creative and daring play. He frequently hides his buildings in other parts of the map and pioneered and standardized several notable Protoss strategies such as fast expanding and using corsairs and reavers in tandem against Zerg. He won an OSL and MSL in the same season and does exceptionally well in team tournaments, playing for KTF. He has won the Blizzard WorldWide Invitational tournament during early 2006. He has recently recovered from a severe slump; and qualified for ShinHan Bank 2 OSL and made it to the Pringles MSL finals by defeating Kingdom, but lost 3–1 to sAviOr. He also made it to the Semi-Finals of the subsequent Pringles 2 MSL, only to lose again at the hands of sAviOr. Nal_rA has now retired from progaming and is currently a broadcaster for OnGameNet. In 2009, it was announced that Nal_rA would retire from commentating and that he would pursue a career in teaching at Seoul Institute Of The Arts.

Kim Taek-Yong (Bisu[Shield])

Bisu (meaning "assassin's dagger" in Korean), nicknamed "Ninja Toss" for his creative Dark Templar use, plays at the highest level of progaming. He had moderate success in Shinhan OSL 2 where he made it to the sweet 16 playoff round. Bisu rose to prominence when he unexpectedly defeated sAviOr 3–0 in the March 2007 GOM MSL final at the height of Savior's dominance. Bisu is also known as the "Revolutionist" for his strong PvZ, and changing how Protoss players play the matchup. He also recently won the July 2007 GOM MSL 2 by defeating Stork 3–2. Bisu is the first Protoss player to reach the 1st spot in KeSPA history. Bisu lost 1–3 to Mind in the finals of the September GOM MSL 3 and was eliminated by Stork in the semifinals of the EVER OSL. Bisu was eliminated in the group stages of GOM MSL 4, losing most notably to Jaedong. However, he made it to the semifinals of the Bacchus OSL, but was eliminated by Flash. Bisu recently regained his dominant form by defeating free in ClubDay MSL semifinal, and defeated Jangbi in final to win his 3rd MSL title, the first and only Protoss to achieve this feat. For the first time in StarCraft progaming history, two opponents faced in a final back to back, once again, Bisu defeated Jangbi 3–1 in the GOM Averatec-Intel Classic Season 2 tournament. Inexplicably, his performance in OSL did not yield him any championships which is the only knock on his career so far. Bisu is known for his amazing plays against zerg having popularized the forge fast expand and the Bisu build. He is currently ranked 2nd in the August 2009 Kespa rankings and is considered to be the best protoss in history. His team SKT1 also won their second proleague grand finals with Bisu being the ace player of their team having won the most matches for them and having the best win-loss ratio in the entire tournament. Unfortunately, he has been slumping for a long time and has one of the lowest Elo ratings among the top players of each race.

Others

  • Song Byung-Gu (a.k.a. Stork), He has won one OSL and one WCG, and have been finalist in three OSL and one MSL. He has been the #1 in Kespa ranking four times.
  • Guillaume Patry
    Guillaume Patry
    Guillaume Patry is a professional StarCraft player from Canada who plays under the alias Grrrr....Grrrr..., a French-Canadian from the region of Quebec City, was a StarCraft world champion in 1999. He dominated the scene as a random player before he arrived in Korea, where he then focused on the...

     (a.k.a. Grrr...), a French-Canadian former pro-gamer, won an early starleague as the first royal roader. He is the only non-Korean starleague winner.
  • Kim Dong-Soo
    Kim Dong-Soo (StarCraft player)
    Kim Dong-Soo is a year old former professional StarCraft player from South Korea who played under the alias Garimto. He served in the South Korean Army and is now a commentator....

     (a.k.a Garimto) won the OnGameNet starleague twice before entering military service.

History of pro-level tournament winners

All listed from oldest to most recent. Note that many of the Starleagues are named after the corporate sponsor for that year and that the other finalists are given in descending order of their finish. P/T/Z after a player's name indicates whether they played Protoss, Terran or Zerg respectively. The players are from South Korea except when noted.

Winners of the Ongamenet Starleague
Starleague
The Ongamenet Starleague is a professional StarCraft individual league run by Ongamenet in South Korea. It is also known as the OSL .-History of Starleague:...

  • FreeMuRa (Z) over TheBoy, Ssamjang (99 Progamer Korea Open)
  • Grrrr... (P) (Canada) over H.O.T-Forever (Hanaro Communication Tooniverse Starleague )
  • Garimto (P) over Skelton (Freechal 2000)
  • BoxeR (T) over JinNam, Grrrr... (Canada), Kingdom (Hanbitsoft April – June 2001)
  • BoxeR (T) over YellOw, V-Gundam, Tis)Isaac (Coca-Cola July – September 2001)
  • Garimto (P) over BoxeR, TheMarine, YellOw (Sky 2001 October – December 2001)
  • Sync (T) over H.O.T. Forever, ChRh, Oddysay (NATE April – June 2002)
  • Reach (P) over BoxeR, YellOw, ElkY (France) (Sky 2002 July – October 2002)
  • NaDa (T) over ChOJJa, YellOw, Junwi (Panasonic November 2002 – February 2003)
  • XellOs (T) over YellOw, BoxeR, Junwi (Olympus April – June 2003)
  • Kingdom (P) over Nal_rA, Junwi, Reach (MyCube August – October 2003)
  • Nal_rA (P) over ZeuS, Silent_Control, JJu (NHN Hangame December 2003 – March 2004)
  • July (Z) over Reach, iloveoov, Silent_Control (Gillette April – July 2004)
  • iloveoov (T) over BoxeR, Reach, YellOw (2004 Ever August – November 2004)
  • NaDa (T) over July, GoRush, GooDFriend (IOPS December 2004 – March 2005)
  • July (Z) over GooDFriend, XellOs, GoRush (2005 Ever May 2005 – July 2005)
  • Anytime (P) over BoxeR, iloveoov, PuSan (So1 August 2005 – November 2005)
  • iloveoov (T) over July, PuSan, Casy (2005 Shinhan December 2005 – March 2006)
  • Casy (T) over ChOJJa, YellOw, JJu (2006 Shinhan 1 April 2006 – June 2006)
  • NaDa (T) over Anytime, Midas, Goodfriend (2006 Shinhan 2 September 2006 – November 2006)
  • sAviOr (Z) over NaDa, Iris, Casy (2006 Shinhan 3 December 2006 – February 2007)
  • GGPlay (Z) over Iris, Stork, Flash (Daum May 2007 – July 2007)
  • Jaedong (Z) over Stork, Bisu, UpMagic (Ever October 2007 – December 2007)
  • Flash (T) over Stork, Bisu, Luxury (Bacchus January 2008 – March 2008)
  • July (Z) over BeSt, BackHo, Luxury (Ever April 2008 – July 2008)
  • Stork (P) over Fantasy, BeSt, GGPlay (Incruit August 2008 – November 2008)
  • Jaedong (Z) over Fantasy, by.herO, Bisu (Batoo December 2008 – April 2009)
  • Jaedong (Z) over YellOw[ArnC], Fantasy, type-b (Bacchus May 2009 – August 2009)
  • Flash (T) over Movie, Calm, Shine (Ever October 2009 – January 2010)
  • EffOrt (Z) over Flash, Kal, Pure (Korean Air 1 February 2010 – May 2010)
  • Flash (T) over Jaedong, Free, Stork (Korean Air 2 June 2010 – September 2010)
  • Fantasy (T) over Stork, Calm, Modesty (Bacchus November 2010 – January 2011)
  • Jangbi (P) over Fantasy, n.Die_Soo, Hydra (Jinair July 2011 – September 2011)

Winners of the MBC Starleague
MBCgame Starleague
The MBCgame StarCraft League, also known as MSL, is a StarCraft tournament hosted by MBCGame. The tournament started outin 2002 under the name of KPGA, and in 2003 it was renamed the MSL.-League Championships:-2009 Avalon MSL:...

  • Boxer (T) over YellOw, IntoTheRain, ChRh (KPGA 1st Tour)
  • NaDa (T) over YellOw, Black, ChOJJa (KPGA 2nd Tour)
  • NaDa (T) over Reach, BoxeR, ChRh (KPGA 3rd Tour)
  • NaDa (T) over ChOJJa, kOs, JinNam (KPGA 4th Tour)
  • Nal_rA (P) over NaDa, Zeus, ChOJJa (Stout May 2003 – August 2003)
  • iloveoov (T) over YellOw, NaDa, GooDFriend (TriGem September 2003 – November 2003)
  • iloveoov (T) over NaDa, TheMarine, Nal_rA (HanaFOS January 2004 – March 2004)
  • iloveoov (T) over Kingdom, Nal_rA, GooDFriend (Spris May 2004 – August 2004)
  • GoRush (Z) over NaDa, XellOs, ChOJJa (You're the GolfKing July 2004 – February 2005)
  • sAviOr (Z) over Reach, ChOJJa, iloveoov (UZOO April 2005 – August 2005)
  • ChOJJa (Z) over sAviOr, iloveoov, MuMyung (Cyon October 2005 – January 2006)
  • sAviOr (Z) over Nal_rA, Kingdom, Midas (Pringles I April 2006 – July 2006)
  • sAviOr (Z) over SiLvEr, Nal_rA, JJu (Pringles II August 2006 – November 2006)
  • Bisu (P) over sAviOr, Nal_rA, HwaSin (GOM TV I December 2006 – March 2007)
  • Bisu (P) over Stork, GoRush, Firebathero (GOM TV II April 2007 – July 2007)
  • Mind (T) over Bisu, sAviOr, Xellos (GOM TV III September 2007 – November 2007)
  • Jaedong (Z) over Kal, Mind, Jangbi (GOM TV IV January 2008 – March 2008)
  • ForGG (T) over Jaedong, FlaSh, Much (Arena April 2008 – July 2008)
  • Bisu (P) over JangBi, Kal, Free (Club Day September 2008 – November 2008)
  • Luxury (Z) over JangBi, Zero, Stork (Lost Saga January 2009 – March 2009)
  • Calm (Z) over Kwanro, Jaedong, Iris (Avalon June 2009 – August 2009)
  • Jaedong (Z) over Flash, Kal, Kwanro (NATE November 2009 – January 2010)
  • Flash (T) over Jaedong, Free, Calm (Hana Daetoo Securities February 2010 – May 2010)
  • Flash (T) over Jaedong, Fantasy, Light (Bigfile June 2010 – August 2010)
  • Hydra (Z) over Great, Jaedong, Zero (PDPop December 2010 – February 2011)
  • Flash (T) over Zero, Jaedong, Hydra (ABC Mart April 2011 – June 2011)

Winners of the World Cyber Games in StarCraft: Brood War

  • GoRush (South Korea) (Z) over I.LOVE_STAR (South Korea) (2000)
  • BoxeR (South Korea) (T) over ElkY
    Bertrand Grospellier
    Bertrand Grospellier , also known as ElkY is a poker player and former pro gamer from France who has won a World Poker Tour , a World Series of Poker bracelet and a European Poker Tour title...

     (France) (2001)
  • BoxeR (South Korea) (T) over YellOw (South Korea) (2002)
  • Ogogo (South Korea) (Z) over FiSheYe (Germany) (2003)
  • XellOs (South Korea) (T) over Midas (South Korea) (2004)
  • fOru (South Korea) (P) over Androide (Russia) (2005)
  • iloveoov (South Korea) (T) over JulyZerg (South Korea) (2006)
  • Stork (South Korea) (P) over PJ (China) (2007)
  • Luxury (South Korea) (Z) over Stork (South Korea) (2008)
  • Jaedong (South Korea) (Z) over Stork (South Korea) (2009)
  • Flash (South Korea) (T) over Kal (South Korea) (2010)

Winning teams of the Proleague

2003:
  • KTF Ever: Tong Yang Orions over Hanbitstars
  • Neowiz Pmang: Greatest One over Toona SG


2004 SKY:
  • Round 1: Hanbitstars over SK Telecom T1
  • Round 2: Pantech & Curitel Curriors over SouL
  • Round 3: KOR over KTF MagicNs
  • Grand Final: Hanbit Stars over Pantech & Curitel Curriors


2005 SKY:
  • Season 1: SK Telecom T1 over KTF MagicNs
  • Season 2: SK Telecom T1 over Samsung KHAN
  • Grand Final: SK Telecom T1 over KTF MagicNs


2006 SKY:
  • Season 1: SK Telecom T1 over MBC Game Hero
  • Season 2: MBC Game Hero over CJ Entus
  • Grand Final: MBC Game Hero over SK Telecom T1


2007 Shinhan Bank:
  • Season 1: Samsung KHAN over Lecaf Oz
  • Season 2: Lecaf Oz over CJ Entus
  • Grand Final: Lecaf Oz over Samsung KHAN


2008 Shinhan Bank: (There is no Season1 or 2.)
  • Samsung KHAN over Ongamenet Sparkyz


2008–2009 Shinhan Bank (Introduced Winners' League into format):
  • Winners' League: CJ Entus over Hwaseung Oz
  • Grand Final: SK Telecom T1 over Hwaseung Oz


2009–2010 Shinhan Bank:
  • Winners' League: KT Rolster over MBCGame Hero
  • Grand Final: KT Rolster over SK Telecom T1


2010–2011 Shinhan Bank:
  • Winners' League: SK Telecom T1 over KT Rolster
  • Grand Final: KT Rolster over SK Telecom T1

Other Tournaments

Winners of the KBK:
  • TheMarine over I.LOVE_STAR (1999)
  • [GG99]Slayer over I.LOVE_STAR (2000)
  • TheMarine over PRO_NT.SONJJANG (2001)


Winners of the OGN King Of Kings tournament:
  • Grrrr... over TheBoy (2001)
  • YellOw over V-Gundam (2002)


Winners of the MBC Winner's Championship:
  • MuMyung over YellOw (2002)
  • YellOw over BoxeR (2003)


Winners of the KT-KTF Premiere League:
  • NaDa over BoxeR (2003)
  • July over GoRush (2004)


Winners of BlizzCon
BlizzCon
"BlizzCon" is an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises: Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo...

:
  • YellOw over Reach, NaDa, Nal_rA (2005)
  • sAviOr over Nal_rA, Iris (2007)
  • sAviOr over NaDa, Jangbi, ForGG (2008)
  • Effort over Zero, sAviOr, NaDa (2009)


Winner of the CKCG (China-Korea Cyber Games)
  • iloveoov over NaDa (2005)


Winner of the Snickers
Snickers
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It consists of peanut nougat topped with roasted peanuts and caramel, enrobed in milk chocolate. Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion....

All-Star league:
  • YellOw over NaDa (2005)


Winners of WEF (World e-sports Festival):
  • sAviOr over iloveoov (2005)
  • sAviOr over NaDa (2006)


Winners of Blizzard Worldwide Invitational:
  • Nal_rA over YellOw (2006)
  • Bisu over sAviOr (2007)
  • Stork over Sea[Shield] (2008)


Winner of IEF (International e-sports Festival):
  • NaDa over iloveoov (2006)
  • Bisu over sAviOr (2007)
  • Bisu over Stork (2008)
  • Stork over Terror (2009)
  • Bisu over Stork (2010)
  • Bisu over Stork (2011)


Winner of the Shinhan Masters tournament:
  • NaDa over sAviOr (2007)


Winner of GOM Star Invitational:
  • Flash over Stork (2008)


Winner of GOM Averatec-Intel Classic:
  • Jaedong over Flash (2008)
  • Bisu over Jangbi (2009)
  • Flash over Iris (2009)


Winner of GOM Averatec-Intel Classic Special Match:
  • Jaedong over Bisu (2009)

Top players ranked by major tournament wins

Player OSL Wins MSL Wins WCG Wins Total Championships
FlaSh 3 3 1 7
NaDa 3 3 0 6
Jaedong 3 2 1 6
iloveoov 2 3 1 6
BoxeR 2 1 2 5
sAviOr 1 3 0 4
July 3 0 0 3
Bisu 0 3 0 3
Garimto 2 0 0 2
Nal_rA 1 1 0 2
Stork 1 0 1 2
XellOs 1 0 1 2
GoRush 0 1 1 2
Luxury 0 1 1 2
Anytime 1 0 0 1
Casy 1 0 0 1
EffOrt 1 0 0 1
Fantasy 1 0 0 1
FreeMuRa 1 0 0 1
GGPlay 1 0 0 1
Grrrr… (Canada) 1 0 0 1
Jangbi 1 0 0 1
Kingdom 1 0 0 1
Reach 1 0 0 1
Sync 1 0 0 1
Calm 0 1 0 1
Hydra 0 1 0 1
ChOJJa 0 1 0 1
ForGG 0 1 0 1
Mind 0 1 0 1
fOru 0 0 1 1
Ogogo 0 0 1 1

External links

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