Starleague (Ongamenet)

The emblem of Ongamenet Starleague

The Ongamenet Starleague is a professional StarCraft individual league run by Ongamenet in South Korea. It is also known as the OSL (Ongamenet Starleague).

History of Starleague

Starleague started out as a program on Tooniverse, following the immense popularity of StarCraft in Korea, and the success of broadcast-gaming on other Korean channels. In 2000, Starleague was spun off into a gaming-dedicated channel, OnGameNet.

Starleague started out modestly, with a small prize sum and a few cult followers. In its seven-year history, it has evolved into a major sport in Korea, with more viewers than most other professional sports. Recently in the related Proleague finals, 120,000 fans came out to watch the match between SK Telecom T1 and KT Rolster. Finals for Starleague now regularly attract more than 50,000 fans, and viewed nationwide on television by millions. Famous gamers like Lim Yo Hwan (Boxer) have more than 500,000 registered fans. Progamers are organized into teams supported by major Korean firms, and prizes, contracts, and endorsements are now huge in comparison to even 3 or 4 years ago.

Starleague started to attract major attention with the rise of the "Boxer Terran" in the HanbitSoft Starleague in 2001. Professional gamer Lim Yo Hwan swept the scene with a 3:0 victory against Jang Jin Nam, using a rare race at the time (Terran) and using the Terran dropship. Boxer continued to win the next league, Coca-Cola Starleague, against Hong Jin-Ho (Yellow), and ended up 2nd to Kim Dong Soo (Garimto) in the 2001 Sky Starleague. By this time, first-prize was 20,000,000 Korean Won, about USD 20,000.

Starleague became so popular that it began to attract several foreign players, including Elky (Bertrand Grospellier) from France and Grrrr... (Guillaume Patry) from Canada.

Starleague started to gain its own "color" with the 2003 MyCube Starleague, with a distinctive red, black, and white emblem and a much more polished opening computer-generated cinematic. Prize money by this time was more than double the amount in the 2001 Coca-Cola championships, and regular games started to attract more people, with a refurbishing of the Ongamenet studio.

In the start of 2003, with the rise of progaming teams and their popularity, Ongamenet decided to create a spin-off of the Starleague, simply named 'Proleague', in which pro teams play against each other for the championship title. These proleagues go at least twice as long as a normal Starleague.

The winner of 3 OSLs receives a special award called "The Golden Mouse". Until this day 4 players have accomplished that: Lee Yun Yeol (NaDa), winner of the 2002 Panasonic Starleague, 2004 IOPS Starleague, and 2006 Shinhan Bank Starleague; Park Sung-Joon (JulyZerg), winner of the 2004 Gillette Starleague, 2005 EVER Starleague, and 2008 EVER Starleague; Lee Jae Dong (Jaedong), winner of the 2007 EVER Starleague, 2009 Batoo Starleague, and 2009 Bacchus Starleague; and most recently Lee Young-Ho (Flash), winner of the 2008 Bacchus Starleague, winner of the 2009 EVER Starleague, and 2010 Korean Air 2 Starleague. Winners of 5 OSLs and 7 OSLs will receive the "Platinum Mouse" and the "Diamond Mouse," respectively. No player has achieved this as of today.

League Champions

Year	Name of Tournament	Winner	Result of Final	Runner-Up
1999	ProGamer Korea Open	Choi "FreeMura" Jin Woo (ESC Net)	3-2	Kook "TheBoy" Ki Bong (Lime I&C)
2000	Hanaro Telecom Tooniverse Starleague	Guillaume "XD's~Grrrr..." Patry (U2U4)	3-2	Kang "H.O.T.-Forever" Do Kyung (SM)
2000	Freechall OnGameNet Starleague	Kim "GARIMTO" Dong Su (SM)	3-2	Bong "SKELTON" Jun Gu (Hanaro Telecom)
2001	HanbitSoft OnGameNet Starleague	Lim "BoxeR"' Yo Hwan (IS)	3-0	Jang "Jinnam" Jin Nam (KISS)
2001	Coca-Cola OnGameNet Starleague	Lim "BoxeR"' Yo Hwan (IS)	3-2	Hong "[NC]...YellOw" Jin Ho (Gamei)
2001	SKY OnGameNet Starleague	Kim "GARIMTO" Dong Su (Hanbit)	3-2	Lim "SlayerS_'BoxeR"' Yo Hwan (IS)
2002	NATE OnGameNet Starleague	Byun "Sync" Gil Sub (Hanbit)	3-2	Kang "H.O.T.-Forever" Do Kyung (Hanbit)
2002	SKY OnGameNet Starleague	Park "[Oops]Reach" Jung Seok (Hanbit)	3-1	Lim "SlayerS_'BoxeR"' Yo Hwan (IS)
2002	Panasonic OnGameNet Starleague	Lee "[ReD]NaDa" Yun Yeol (KTF)	3-2	Cho "ChOJJa"Yong Ho (SOUL)
2003	Olympus OnGameNet Starleague	Seo "XellOs[yG]" Ji Hun (GO)	3-2	Hong "[NC]...YellOw" Jin Ho (KTF)
2003	MyCube OnGameNet Starleague	Park "KingdOm" Yong Wook (Orion)	3-1	Kang "Nal_rA" Min (GO)
2003	NHN Hangame OnGameNet Starleague	Kang "Nal_rA" Min (GO)	3-1	Chun "Zeus" Tae Kyu (KOR)
2004	Gillette Starleague	Park "JulyZerg" Sung Joon (POS)	3-1	Park "[Oops]Reach" Jung Seok (KTF)
2004	EVER Starleague	Choi "iloveoov" Yeon-Sung (SKT)	3-2	Lim "SlayerS_'BoxeR"' Yo Hwan (SKT)
2004	IOPS Starleague	Lee "NaDa" Yun Yeol (PANTECH)	3-0	Park "JulyZerg" Sung Joon (POS)
2005	EVER Starleague	Park "JulyZerg" Sung Joon (POS)	3-2	Lee "GoodFrienD" Byung Min (PANTECH)
2005	So1 Starleague	Oh "AnyTime..[gm]" Young Jong (PLUS)	3-2	Lim "SlayerS_'BoxeR"' Yo Hwan (SKT)
2005	Shinhan Bank Starleague	Choi "iloveoov" Yeon-Sung	3-0	Park "JulyZerg" Sung Joon (POS)
2006	Shinhan Bank Starleague Season 1	Han "Casy" Dong Wook (OnGameNet)	3-1	Cho "ChOJJa" Yong Ho (KTF)
2006	Shinhan Bank Starleague Season 2	Lee "NaDa" Yun Yeol (PANTECH)	3-2	Oh "AnyTime..[gm]" Young Jong (Lecaf OZ)
2006	Shinhan Bank Starleague Season 3	Ma "sAviOr[gm]" Jae-Yoon (CJ)	3-1	Lee "NaDa"Yun Yeol (PANTECH)
2007	Daum Starleague	Kim "GGPlay" Jun Young (Hanbit)	3-2	Byun "Iris[gm]" Hyung Tae (CJ Entus)
2007	EVER Starleague	Lee "Jaedong" Jae Dong (Lecaf OZ)	3-1	Song "Stork[gm]" Byung Goo (Samsung KHAN)
2008	Bacchus Starleague	Lee "FlaSh" Young Ho (KTF MagicNs)	3-0	Song "Stork[gm]" Byung Goo (Samsung KHAN)
2008	EVER Starleague	Park "JulyZerg" Sung Joon (STX)	3-0	Do "BeSt[WHITE]" Jae Wook (SKT T1)
2008	Incruit Starleague	Song "Stork" Byung Goo (Samsung KHAN)	3-2	Jung "By.Fantasy" Myung Hoon (SKT T1)
2009	BATOO Starleague	Lee "Jaedong" Jae Dong (Lecaf OZ)	3-2	Jung "By.Fantasy" Myung Hoon (SKT T1)
2009	Bacchus Starleague	Lee "Jaedong" Jae Dong (Hwaseung OZ)	3-0	Park "YellOw[ArnC]" Myung Soo (hite SPARKYZ)
2009	EVER Starleague	Lee "FlaSh" Young Ho (KT Rolster)	3-1	Jin "Movie" Young Hwa (CJ Entus)
2010	Korean Air Starleague Season 1	Kim "Effort" Jung Woo (CJ Entus)	3-2	Lee "FlaSh" Young Ho (KT Rolster)
2010	Korean Air Starleague Season 2	Lee "FlaSh" Young Ho (KT Rolster)	3-1	Lee "Jaedong" Jae Dong (Hwaseung OZ)
2011	Bacchus Starleague	Jung "By.Fantasy" Myung Hoon (SK Telecom T1)	3-0	Song "Stork" Byung Goo (Samsung Khan)
2011	Jin Air Starleague	Heo "JangBi" Yeong Moo (Samsung Khan)	3-2	Jung "By.Fantasy" Myung Hoon (SK Telecom T1)

League Brackets

2009 Bacchus OSL

Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
YellOw[ArnC]	2
go.go	1			YellOw[ArnC]	3
type-b	2			type-b	0
Leta	1							YellOw[ArnC]	0
fantasy	2							Jaedong	3
Canata	0			fantasy	1
ZerO	0			Jaedong	3
Jaedong	2

2009 Ever OSL

Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
Flash (T)	2
Jaedong (Z)	0			Flash (T)	3
Calm (Z)	2			Calm (Z)	1
Pure (P)	0							Flash (T)	3
Movie (P)	2							Movie (P)	1
Zero (Z)	0			Movie (P)	3
Shine (Z)	2			Shine (Z)	1
Stork (P)	1

2010 Korean Air OSL

Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
FlaSh (T)	2
BaBy (T)	0			FlaSh (T)	3
Movie (P)	0			Pure (P)	0
Pure (P)	2							FlaSh (T)	2
ZerO (Z)	0							EffOrt (Z)	3
EffOrt (Z)	2			Effort (Z)	3
Kal (P)	2			Kal (P)	0
fOrGG (T)	1

2010 Korean Air OSL Season 2

Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
Action (Z)	0
Jaedong (Z)	2			Jaedong (Z)	3
Sea (T)	0			Stork (P)	2
Stork (P)	2							Jaedong (Z)	1
ZerO (Z)	0							Flash (T)	3
Free (P)	2			Free (P)	1
Flash (T)	2			Flash (T)	3
Leta (T)	0

2010 Bacchus OSL

Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
Hyuk	0
Fantasy	2			Fantasy	3
Calm	2			Calm	2
Mind	1							Fantasy	3
Modesty	2							Stork	0
Kal	1			Modesty	0
HiyA	1			Stork	3
Stork	2

See also

• StarCraft professional competition
• MBCgame Starleague

External links

• OnGameNet http://www.ongamenet.com
• TLPD: Overview of all Starleagues & matches
• 2009 Bacchus OSL
• 2009 Ever OSL
• 2010 Korean Air OSL
• 2010 Korean Air OSL Season 2
• 2010 Bacchus OSL