StarCraft in esports

OGN's main studio, which is an example of e-sports stadium, where professional StarCraft is played

The computer game StarCraft has an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each run a Starleague (Ongamenet Starleague, MBCgame Starleague), 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, SK Telecom and KTF. StarCraft is also the most popular computer game competition during the annual World Cyber Games 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. It was revealed on April 13, 2010 that a StarCraft cheating scandal existed in South Korea that involved popular StarCraft players.

Viewership outside of Korea

There have been commercial attempts to bring televised professional StarCraft matches to audiences outside Korea. GOM TV has hired Nick "Tasteless" Plott, an American who previously cast StarCraft at the WCG 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 Korea download video files (VOD's) 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, but with their own English commentaries dubbed alongside the original Korean audio. Notable English-speaking YouTube commentators include KlazartSC, Diggity, Moletrap, NukeTheStars, Rise, and HuskyStarCraft.

KeSPA rankings

KeSPA (Korean e-Sports Players Association) publishes a monthly calculation of rankings based on a point scale. It is a rolling system based on the past six 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 August, 2010

Rank	Player Name	Player In-game Name	Race	Team	Points	+/- Ranking
1	Lee Young-Ho	Flash	Terran	KT Rolster	3,740.5	0
2	Lee Jae-Dong	n.Die_Jaedong	Zerg	Hwaseung OZ	2,803.5	0
3	Kim Jung-Woo	EffOrt	Zerg	CJ ENTUS	2,102.3	+2
4	Jung Myung-Hoon	By.FanTaSy	Terran	SK Telecom T1	1,989.0	+2
5	Kim Gu-Hyun	GooJila (Kal)	Protoss	STX SOUL	1,905.4	-2
6	Kim Yoon-Hwan	Inter.Calm	Zerg	STX SOUL	1,760.3	-1
7	Lee Jae-Ho	Light[aLive]	Terran	MBCgame HERO	1,744.5	+1
8	Kim Myung-Woon	MenSol[Zero]	Zerg	Woongjin Stars	1,581.8	-1
9	Yum Bo-Sung	Sea[Shield]	Terran	MBCgame HERO	1,499.6	+6
10	Goo Sung-Hoon	HiyA[fOu]	Terran	Hwaseung OZ	1,439.3	+4
11	Yoon Yong-Tae	free[gm]	Protoss	Woongjin Stars	1,420.1	+2
12	Kim Tak-Yong	Bisu[Shield]	Protoss	SK Telecom T1	1,400.3	+14
13	Jin Young-Hwa	By.Movie	Protoss	CJ ENTUS	1,335.8	-4
14	Shin Sang-Moon	Sparkyz Leta	Terran	hite SPARKYZ	1,289.3	+2
15	Song Byung-Gu	stork[gm]	Protoss	Samsung Electronics KHAN	1,260.0	-3
16	Jun Tae-Yang	baby	Terran	Wemade FOX	1,258.5	-5
18	Park Ji-soo	박지수	Terran	KT Rolster	1,190.3	+4
18	Han Sang-Bong	Lookforhitech	Zerg	Woongjin Stars	1,187.3	-8
19	Lee Young-Han	Shine[kaL]	Zerg	Wemade FOX	1,137.0	0
20	Shin No-Yul	RorO	Zerg	Wemade FOX	1,125.8	+8

List of professional StarCraft teams

StarCraft match televised on MBCGame

The Korean professional scene is currently divided into 12 teams, 11 of which are sponsored by corporations, and the remaining team by the Korean Air Force.

• Air Force ACE (공군 에이스)
• CJ ENTUS (CJ엔투스) – formerly GO (Greatest Ones)
• eSTRO (이스트로) – formerly eNature Top Team, AMD Hexatron
• Woongjin Stars (웅진 스타즈) – formerly Hanbit Stars
• KT Rolster (KT롤스터) – formerly KT Fingerboom, KT MagicNs, KTF MagicNs
• Hwaseung Oz (화승 오즈)- formerly Lecaf OZ, Plus, IS (Ideal Space)
• MBCGame HERO (MBC게임 히어로) – formerly POS (Pirates of Space)
• Hite SPARKYZ (온게임넷 하이트 스파키즈) – formerly OGN SPARKYZ, KOR
• Samsung KHAN (삼성전자 칸)
• SK Telecom T1 (SK텔레콤 T1) – formerly 4U, Orion
• STX SouL (STX소울)
• WeMade FOX (위메이드 폭스) – formerly Pantech EX, Pantech & Curitel Curriors, Toona S.G.

Notable professional StarCraft players

Terran

Lim Yo-Hwan (SlayerS_`BoxeR`)

Main article: Lim Yo-Hwan

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 only StarCraft player to win the World Cyber Games (WCG) twice. He has also won the Ongamenet 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.

Lee Yun-Yeol ([ReD]NaDa)

Main article: Lee Yun-Yeol

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 achieved the highest KeSPA score of any player before it was re-scaled. 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.

Choi Yeon-Sung (iloveoov)

Main article: Choi Yeon-Sung

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 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.

Others

• Seo Ji-Soo (a.k.a. TosSGirL), is the world's best female professional StarCraft player.
• Lee Young-Ho (a.k.a. Flash) is the youngest starleague champion, and holds most of "youngest" titles.
• Jung Myung Hoon (a.k.a. Fantasy) has arisen recently as a Terran innovator, with two silver medals under his belt, he has yet to win a StarLeague.

Zerg

Park Sung-Joon (JulyZerg)

Main article: Park Sung-Joon

Currently ranked #64 in KeSPA, JulyZerg (or simply "July"), the "God of War", is 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 fantastic 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. After his OSL victory in July 2008, JulyZerg continues to be one of the top zerg players, though is rarely seen in proleague due to his team's wide lineup of other promising zergs.

Ma Jae-Yoon (sAviOr[gm])

Main article: Ma Jae-Yoon

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)

Main article: Lee Jae-Dong

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 currently the WCG champion after beating his fellow Korean, Stork in the 2009 finals. He is well known for his intense and focused demeanor during play and his tendency to excel under pressure.

Others

• Hong Jin-Ho ([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."
• Lee Wai Hong (a.k.a. Geez) is a newly potential and evolved Zerg player. His great potential power have him a title of "Unknown Zerg".

Protoss

Kang Min (Nal_rA)

Main article: Kang Min

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.

Park Jung Suk ([Oops]Reach)

Main article: Park Jung Suk

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. As his nickname suggests, 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.

Kim Taek-Yong (Bisu[Shield])

Main article: Kim Taek-Yong

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.

Others

• Song Byung-Gu (a.k.a. Stork), He has won one OSL and one WCG, and have been finalist in two OSL and one MSL. He has been the #1 in Kespa ranking four times.
• Guillaume Patry (a.k.a. Grrr...), a French-Canadian former pro-gamer, won an early starleague. He is the only non-Korean starleague winner.
• Kim Dong-Soo (a.k.a Garimto) won the OnGameNet starleague twice before entering military service.
• Park Yong-Wook (a.k.a. Kingdom) won an early OSL.

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

• 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 February 2010 – May 2010)

Winners of the MBC Starleague

• 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)

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 (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)
• Jaedong (South Korea) (Z) over Flash (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:

• SK Telecom T1 over Hwaseung Oz

2009–2010 Shinhan Bank:

• 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:

• 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 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)

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

External links

• KeSPA English website
• Articles on professional Starcraft scene in Korea in Western press
• TLPD – Database with professional Starcraft matches
• English commentaries on Korean and amateur Starcraft games
• http://www.gomtv.net
• Life as a Professional Gamer – Interview & profile of professional StarCraft gamer Guillaume Patry (X'Ds~Grrrr)