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). A title in the OSL is considered to be the most prestigious title in the StarCraft community.
[edit] History of Starleague
Starleague started out as a program in 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 KTF Magic N's. 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, and ended up 2nd to 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 CG movie. 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.
[edit] League Champions
| Year | Name of Tournament | Winner | Result of Final | Runner-Up |
| 1999 | ProGamer's 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) | 3-0 | 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) | 3-1 | 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) | 3-0 | 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 Jun (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 Jun (POS) |
| 2005 | EVER Starleague | Park "JulyZerg" Sung Jun (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 Jun (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 Gu (Samsung KHAN) |
| 2008 | Bacchus Starleague | Lee "FlaSh" Yeong Ho (KTF MagicNs) | 3-0 | Song "Stork[gm]" Byung Gu (Samsung KHAN) |
| 2008 | EVER Starleague | Park "JulyZerg" Sung Jun (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) |
[edit] League Brackets
[edit] 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 | |
[edit] 2009 Ever OSL
| Quarterfinals | | Semifinals | | Final |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Flash (T) | 2 | |
| Jaedong (Z) | 0 | | | Flash (T) | | |
| Calm (Z) | 2 | | Calm (Z) | | |
| Pure (P) | 0 | | | | | |
| Movie (P) | 2 | | | | | |
| Zero (Z) | 0 | | | Movie (P) | |
| Shine (Z) | 2 | | Shine (Z) | | |
| Stork (P) | 1 | |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
