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 Manifesto7 Osaka. July 30 2007 13:17. Posts 17680 | Profile Blog |
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/Mani_Proleague_Cover.jpg)
ShinHan Proleague Season 1 Review
by Manifesto7
TeamLiquid: Final Edits
It seems hard to believe now, with the ShinHan Bank trucking buckets of money into e-sports, that the Proleague was almost scrapped in the springtime. With the networks fighting with the KESPA e-sports association, it was only a last minute deal that saved this season. Since then the Proleague has eclipsed all others in scope and ambition, playing five days a week and racking up four hundred and twenty seven games played. The days of a player practicing for months to play one or two television games is long gone. These are the days where volume counts as StarCraft takes up more and more primetime TV space.
There are a lot of things I like about the Proleague. StarCraft is on every night, making it easy for the casual fan to just watch when it is convenient. The fact that I don’t have to wait months to see my favorite gamer compete because he got cheesed out of the Dual League is great too. Who could have imagined that Boxer would be back so quickly, playing nine games for ACE in June alone. However with this massive increase in game days, I feel that the structure of the league is unwieldy and primitive with the other options available out there. StarCraft has evolved into a sport, and it is now time for it to be organized like one.
Here is my list of four changes I would make for the 2008 season:
1. League Structure
Let's start with the big picture. There are currently twelve teams in the Proleague all lumped together in a single table. The structure of the league means that each team faces every other team twice in a four month period. Over eight months, each team will play each other four times, not including any playoff games. There are two important consequences of this league design.
The first consequence is that a team that starts of poorly by losing to a strong team has a very difficult time making up ground. If ACE loses to Samsung in the first week of play, and Samsung is leading the league, ACE only has one more head to head match vs Samsung to make up any ground. For the rest of league play they are dependent on themselves winning and Samsung losing in the same week. This removes much of the competitiveness from the league, especially later in the season.
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/maniproleague01.jpg)
Ace was doomed after two weeks.
The second consequence is that there is little to develop rivalries in the Proleague. While rivalries made in individual leagues bleed into the equation occasionally, team vs team rivalries do not much exist other than the obvious KTF vs SKT1 and MBC vs SKT1. Great sports stories are created through rivalries. When Boxer and Yellow collide, everything stops and people watch. Shouldn't it be the same when Lecaf and Samsung smash heads?
Fortunately, there is a simple solution to both of these problems. The Proleague needs two divisions. Call them East and West. Call them Up and Down. Call them Mountain Dew and Pizza Hut, I don't care. All I want to see are the twelve teams divided into two divisions of six. With this change, a whole series of manipulations can be put forth. In a four week span, teams could play three weeks vs teams in their division and one week vs a team from the other division. This would create a cut-throat environment where teams battle each other repeatedly for top spot in their half of the table. Players would become snipers for another team's ace, forcing coaches to put more thoughts into their lineups and generating real rivalry between the teams.
A split into two divisions would also allow for a slight change to the playoffs. With three teams from each side making the playoffs, the number 2 and 3 seeds play to face the number one seed of the division. The two division champions then go on to fight for the title. This makes a lot more sense, keeps more teams in the hunt through the season, and also keeps the flavour of the ladder-up playoff style we have today.
2. The Play Day
I used to watch every game on television. It wasn't a question about IF I was going to watch it, it was just WHEN. However recently I have been skipping many matches. I will cherry-pick the odd game if the players look good or if there is a buzz on the forums, but there are many that I don't watch at all. Worse than that, I rarely sit down and watch a full match between two teams. Reflecting on this I have come to believe that the 1v1 - 1v1 - 2v2 - 1v1 - Ace format has simply been overdone. I like team games (although I will get to them in a minute) but I am tired of them occupying such an important place in the series. I am not asking for a complete change, but I am asking for something that is severely lacking in the Proleague; variety.
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/maniproleague02.jpg)
These guys would rather have a format with all-kills.
There have been numerous other team formats that have worked, with iTV and more notably the MBC Teamleague being great examples. In the MBC Teamleague, the teams raced to three wins and the winner stayed. It was possible for a single player to wipe out an entire team in a night. This led to some very exciting matches, and also helped reduce the number of mirror match games in the leagues. Does this format need to be used all the time? No, but having it for a single week, and coming up with some other creative formats would go a long way in making the long season seem more exciting.
3. The Team Concept
I have always felt the Proleague walked a fine line as a "team" event. Although these players practice together and proclaim that the Proleague is their most important goal, once they get into the booth they are all alone. In line with the idea of "variety", I would like to see some variety in the team play games as well. Some of these are very simple and built into the game itself. Team melee with progamers has long been sought after by fans, although it has only appeared in show matches on TV. Why not have a team melee game in the mix now and then? Recently, OGN launched a new program called "StarBrain" where one progamer (usually a high class gamer) sits behind one of his less successful teammates and directs them in game. How about we make the ace match a true team concept and have an adviser able to observe and coach as the game goes on.
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/maniproleague03.jpg)
Anyone can be an Ace with Jaedong or Anytime coaching them.
4. The Map Pool
If there has been one total bust this season, it has been the maps. Who tested them, and for how long? It was made readily apparent that DMZ, Geometry, and Fantasy were poorly balanced, with DMZ even getting pulled partway through the season (only the second map ever to receive such an honour). While in the old days some maps could be tolerated for a season because they would only be played a handful of times, the modern era affords no such luxury. Geometry has 79 games played, and Peaks of Baekdu is approaching 200. With so many games played on each one, there is no room for error.
However, we are at the point where there is a large number of maps that have been field tested in leagues. I propose that the maps which have proven to play well be recycled in the current leagues. One map from the OSL, one map from the MSL, one new map, and group of one classics. I think it would be very entertaining if each week featured a different classic map. Requiem, Nostalgia, Plains to Hill... using these maps would not only create some great nostalgic games, but would also force players to examine different styles and reinvent maps which may play differently under today's builds.
To conclude, let me say I am very excited about the upcoming finals between Lecaf and Samsung. I think that this league has gone very well, and it is great to see these two teams battle it out. For fairness, I do not think that there should be many changes for the second part of the 2007 season. However, e-sports has been notoriously slow and timid in adapting new ideas and improving on concepts that are already working. I think by examining the situation now, the Proleague could be redesigned to be something even more magnificent in the future. Until then, I'll be watching.
- Manifesto7  Last edit: 2007-09-05 05:56:47 |
| | Fuck that. Terran is the race of big dicked Vikings who rampage across the galaxies in huge battleships, rip up the ground with artillery spawned from the forges of hell, and send waves of valiant warriors to fight the freaks of science. |
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 DeadVessel United States. July 30 2007 13:23. Posts 6269 | Profile Blog |
Nice Mani  . By the way unless they are on different levels in that picture Anytime is like a giant among them.Last edit: 2007-07-30 13:23:21 |
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 Pressure July 30 2007 13:27. Posts 7260 | Profile Blog |
nice mani
yeah i love the way that we can watch pro sc every single night but the proleague needs to be fixed alittle, i miss MBC TeamLeagues(read the results that is :/ ) |
| | (21:55:29) <02rushz0rz> i am a fuckin newb |
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 Kennigit Canada. July 30 2007 13:28. Posts 11728 | Profile Blog |
| Great write up Mani! I especially liked the "conference" style league you suggest, which is natural in almost every professional sport. |
| | It\'s like LastShadow driving to the middle of nowhere because his GPS map got edited. |
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 prOxi.swAMi Australia. July 30 2007 14:05. Posts 1941 | Profile Blog |
| Well that was a great read. Thanks Mani! |
| | http://www.translationparty.com/#4888846 |
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 minus_human Romania. July 30 2007 15:10. Posts 3165 | Profile Blog | |
| | www.niiFantasy.deviantart.com --- my artistic photography gallery. I was an agnostic with strong inclinations towards atheism, however only until I first watched Ma Jae Yoon play. |
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 DJEtterStyle United States. July 30 2007 16:18. Posts 2592 | Profile Blog |
Good article. For your fifth change, try to find a way to limit the amount of mirrors played that doesn't amount to each team submitting two players (of different races) per map and flipping a coin to see which team has to play their back-up in the case of a mirror. This would not apply to the Ace match.
Seriously! I haven't been able to figure out a good way to do this; my above solution isn't optimal because of the element of luck that it brings to the table. |
| | Sometimes I have unique thoughts. |
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| Carnac Germany. July 30 2007 16:32. Posts 14143 | Profile Blog |
| The mirrors are a simple result of the maps being played. If you look at the three more balanced maps of the six maps that are being used this season (Python, Tau, Peaks) you will notice a much bigger variety in matchups. |
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 OrderlyChaos United States. July 30 2007 16:54. Posts 870 | Profile Blog |
I like the writeup Mani!
The ideas are good, especially the allowing for "all-kills." It'd be cool to see Savior, Nada, or Bisu try to take down 3 in a row. And, now looking at it, it'd give the-team-that-is-currently-Pantech a bit of a break. |
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| DJEtterStyle United States. July 30 2007 17:13. Posts 2592 | Profile Blog |
On July 30 2007 16:32 Carnac wrote:
The mirrors are a simple result of the maps being played. If you look at the three more balanced maps of the six maps that are being used this season (Python, Tau, Peaks) you will notice a much bigger variety in matchups.
Of course, but we're talking about a very select number of maps that have that "near-perfect" degree of balance (though I'd argue that Peaks doesn't qualify). Most maps--Nemesis, for instance--don't have a huge racial imbalance in any particular matchup, but if you were to ask the typical person, they'd say that, yeah, Protoss players have a bit of an edge there. This edge isn't insurmountable, by any means (and looking at the PvT and PvZ statistics, it's very surmountable), but it's just large enough that professional teams have little incentive to send a non-Protoss out there (out of the 80 games played on the map, 61 of them have involved at least one Protoss).
Using balanced maps alleviates the problem, but it doesn't cure it; as much as fans might complain about horribly imbalanced maps, there's nothing they love more than seeing a radical concept map result in some off-the-wall play. These concept maps take time to balance (and sometimes they never do), but forcing players to play on them has a way of teasing out the very best strategies. Maybe someone will use a brilliant cheese build or have an ace strategy prepared. But if they're given the option of not playing on that map, we, the fans, are robbed of whatever special thing they could have, given the necessity, prepared. Or maybe they'd have crashed and burned. That happens, too.
I'm with Mani on this one: the Proleague is stale. I don't know how to fix it (most of Mani's suggestions are good, at any rate), but it needs to be fixed. |
| | Sometimes I have unique thoughts. |
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 ManaBlue Canada. July 30 2007 17:19. Posts 10413 | Profile Blog |
Excellent article! I have to agree entirely with your comments on variety. I have also begun to cherry pick games and watch far faaaar fewer games (as a percentage of what's played of course  ) than in the past.
The division idea is cool too. That type of reformatting might give the PL season a more sporty feel and perhaps added legitimacy as a professional competition. |
| | TL VOD legends: Live2Win, hasuprotoss, Cadical, rinizim, Mani, thedeadhaji, Kennigit, SonuvBob, yakii, fw, pheer, CDRdude, pholon, Uraeus, zatic, baezzi. The contributors make this site what it is. *Props to FakeSteve for respecting the guitar gods* |
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 red.venom United States. July 30 2007 17:36. Posts 4367 | Profile |
Really good ideas. In past seasons ive tried to catch EVERY proleague match, especially in the opening weeks but now with it being like 6 days a week or w/e with 2 matches per day its just a lot going on and the maps dont help since there is a 2v2 and at least 1 mirror per set(With an average of 4 games I guess). It sets the bar for entertainment kind of low actually. What seems like 15 minutes between games doesnt help either.
I like the winner stays format but with some of the lineups the higher end teams have I dont know how that would work out in the long run. I mean every team has at least a good player or three but what happens when Estro sends Upmagic and then he loses vs MBC lineup, where they have like 5 fuckin solid players to rely on. They end up sending fodder after him and losing their ass off.
I dont know what the solution is though. The current format is decent and real exciting if it goes to ace, but I sorta think teamplay should just be eliminated. Im not sure how the korean fans feel but aside from letting the lower ranked teams accumulate 2v2 wins with a solid/practiced team combo it doesnt do much but bore me(And I know a lot of other people, when 2v2 comes on and no one cool is playing I think of it as a 30-40 minute break to go eat something).
One thing is for damn sure, the maps should be fielded smarter. There are tons of old maps that could be modified or just used, it doesnt mean they only have to use old maps but ive ALWAYS liked the idea of a league using 1-2 tried and true maps, one new concept map and a misc map that could just be a fan favorite or something popular in the current leagues.
Geometry is probably the worst map ever used in the korean scene imo. I would love some shit like Alchemist or Pioneer over Geo. : [Last edit: 2007-07-30 17:36:44 |
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| JensOfSweden Cameroon. July 30 2007 17:41. Posts 1767 | Profile Blog |
| Awesome article and cool suggestions! TeamMelee would definately be a blast to watch |
| | <3 Nada [On and off TL.net since 2002 |
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 HonestTea  July 30 2007 18:05. Posts 4719 | Profile Blog |
Yay a new FE!
From Big Daddy Mani
[edit] The 'rotating classic map of the week' idea really stands out. It's a great fix, immediately appliable, and would be great fun for both fans and players. Last edit: 2007-07-30 18:41:22 |
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 SuperJongMan Jamaica. July 30 2007 18:45. Posts 9999 | Profile |
I agree that this season's big bomb was the maps.
Fantasy isn't a PL map and I feel it's balance isn't very reflective of the actual map considering the limited amount of games on it. Still, Terran can't seem to win on it, so maybe.
Still, Monty Hall I felt was a very bad PL map despite a few good games and so was Geometrey although the few PvT on it were a nice treat. Geometrey and Nemesis are equally bad. That makes 3/5 Maps used in PL bad maps.. ~_~ |
| | POWER OVERWHELMING ! ! ! KRUU~ KRUU~ |
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| hasuprotoss United States. July 30 2007 20:11. Posts 3020 | Profile Blog |
| Very nice write-up, and I agree with the vast majority of your points, especially number 1. I really want a team to hate besides Samsung/SKT1 (because I hate teams that win a lot ). |
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| oshibori_probe United States. July 30 2007 20:21. Posts 2817 | Profile Blog |
Howabout a 2v2 ace?
Better map testing would be good aswell. Theres a difference between using random practice partners to test maps and using progamers.
As long as they still have the post season proleague allstarts or w/e they call it I am happy.
JulyZerg really has the best wraith control ever.Last edit: 2007-07-30 20:22:42 |
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| Jyvblamo Canada. July 30 2007 20:27. Posts 4760 | Profile Blog |
| I think Monty Hall was a 'success' in terms of its usage in the three leagues this season. It started out badly balanced (Zerg graveyard), but players adapted to it (Silver's ballsy build). Given time, I think even Nemesis or Geometry may develop into more balanced maps given time. |
| | I posted in BuGzlToOnl\'s thread and all I got was this stupid t-shirt... |
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 mikeymoo Canada. July 30 2007 23:25. Posts 5880 | Profile Blog |
Looks like a well formatted writeup, I'll read it later  |
| | o_O | Liquipedia: PM Aesop or something... j/k you can PM me with any issues. |
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 The.Crow Denmark. July 31 2007 01:04. Posts 604 | Profile Blog |
| wow great article!! Thanks for your effort! |
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