North American Star League

North American Star League

Sport	StarCraft II, Heroes of Newerth
Founded	2011, in California, USA
Official website	nasl.tv

The North American Star League is a professional e-sports league that features the games StarCraft II and Heroes of Newerth. Originally modeled after successful South Korean professional StarCraft leagues, it was founded in 2011 by Russell Pfister and Duncan Stewart.^[1] Following the mid-year departure of Stewart, Mark K. Brown was tapped to fill the position of Chief Operating Officer in August 2011, and currently serves in that capacity.

Origins

Geoff "iNcontrol" Robinson playing at MLG Dallas 2011.

Professional-level competition in StarCraft was originally a South Korean phenomenon that began in the early 2000s. Leagues such as Starleague and GOMTV offered 24-hour television coverage and live competitions held in arena venues. However, until the formation of the NASL, North American StarCraft competitions were limited to one-off events hosted by Major League Gaming and smaller gaming associations.^[2]

The NASL was developed by Russell Pfister, owner of the video-game coaching website Gosucoaching. The source of the funding for the start-up's first season and first season's finals event prize pool were not revealed. Before the start of the NASL's season two in September 2011, multiple season sponsors were announced, including Eizo Nanao Technologies, Kingston HyperX, and iBUYPOWER,^[3] Although Starcraft games are one-on-one, head-to-head matches, players are typically sponsored and represented by teams.

Format

In its first season, the league was made up of 50 StarCraft players divided into 5 divisions.^[3] Divisional matches were played weeknights for a nine-week period. Then, in a week-long open invitational tournament, 1000 players competed for a single berth in the league finals. The finals consisted of a sixteen person play-off with the tournament winner receiving $50,000 US out of a total $100,000 US, a record prize pool amount at the time.^[4]

Notable players

Lim Yo-Hwan (known as "SlayerS_Boxer"), one of Korea's most successful and recognized players, joined the NASL in March.^[5] Other notable players include the leading Starcraft progamers Jang Min Chul ("oGs.MC"), Park Sung-Joon ("JulyZerg"), Lee Yun-Yeol ("NaDa"), rival former professional Warcraft 3 players Jang Jae Ho ("Moon") and Manuel Schenkhuizen ("Grubby") as well as caster/player Daniel Stemkoski ("Artosis").

Season One

The North American Star League's broadcast debut was made on April 5, 2011. After nine weeks of play and a playoff bracket, along with an open qualifier tournament, the Grand Finals of the first season took place July 8–10, 2011 in Ontario, California. In a best of seven series, South Korean player Puma, who clinched the final spot out of the open bracket for the Grand Finals, defeated fellow Korean MC 4-3 and walked away with $50,000 in prize money.^[6]

See also

• StarCraft: Brood War professional competition
• Starleague (Ongamenet)
• MBCgame Starleague
• GOMTV Global Starcraft II League

References

1. ^ "About the North American Star League". http://nasl.tv/. 
2. ^ "The North American Star League and eSports". Overthinkingit.com. Feb 22, 2011. http://www.overthinkingit.com/2011/02/22/starcraft-america/. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Jackson, Leah. "North American Star League Exclusive Interview with Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson". G4 Media. http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/710588/north-american-star-league-exclusive-interview-with-geoff-incontrol-robinson/. 
4. ^ Tortorice, Scott. "North American Star League Debuts". GameSquad.com. http://www.gamesquad.com/news/north-american-star-league-debuts. 
5. ^ Stanton, Rich. "The biggest name in e-sports heads stateside: SlayerS_BoxeR applies to join NASL". PC Gamer. http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/18/the-biggest-name-in-e-sports-heads-stateside-slayers_boxer-applies-to-join-nasl/. 
6. ^ "Finals - North American Star league". North American Star League. http://nasl.tv/standings/finals. Retrieved 10 June 2011.