Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a StarCraft II tournament held in South Korea from 2010 to the present. It has been hosted by Soop (formerly known as afreecaTV) since 2016; GOMeXp (formerly GOMTV) hosted it from 2010–2015. Blizzard Entertainment was involved in co-producing and co-funding it for much of its history, although their involvement was greatly reduced in the 2020s. For the first two years of the tournament, it featured two leagues, Code S (major) and Code A (minor); afterward it ran as a single combined tournament.

An English language stream is available, aimed at a global audience. The English cast was mainly performed by Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nicolas "Tasteless" Plott until 2022; in 2023, it switched to Tasteless and Ryan "State" Visbeck. Early broadcasts were done on GOMTV's website and player; it switched to Twitch and Afreeca's own platform after Afreeca took over; and the program now broadcasts on Mondays and Thursdays, with the English casts on YouTube, since 2020.

History

The 2010 Open Seasons were the first tournaments for the GSL, featuring three initial events with an overall prize pool of 600 million Korean Won (approximately US$500,000) and a prize of 100 million Won for the winner. These attracted attention as they featured the largest prize pool in the history of e-Sports. The Open Seasons were used to sort the players into Code S and Code A for the 2011 season.GOMTV: GOMTV

The major tournaments of the early era were divided into Code S and Code A. Code S is the major league and consists of 32 top players in Korea, with the winner of Code S crowned GSL champion. Code A is the minor league, also of 32 players. The initial rules were that the winner of the Code A tournament automatically qualifies to Code S. The top seven Code A players and bottom eight Code S players participate in Up & Down Matches in groups of five players. The top two of each group qualified to Code S. Code A qualifiers were also held before the start of a new season. Top ranking players (informally called Code B) on the Korean Battle.net server were allowed to participate, as were invited foreign players.

For the 2011 GSL November season, it was announced that the format would be changing. The new format would be a dual tournament format with double-elimination four-player groups (also known in esports generally as "GSL-style groups"), where losing players in Code S immediately drop to Code A. The new GSL format meant that there would no longer be a Code A champion, but rather victors would proceed into the Code S tournament.

The 2012 tour changed the tournament format slightly, resulting in a longer season. Due to the extended season, there were only 5 GSL tournaments in the year.

In 2013, the GSL and the OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) jointly ran the Korean qualifier league for Blizzard Entertainment's World Championship Series (WCS) under the name "WCS Korea".http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/9355170 Blizzard's announcement of the 2013 WCS season

OnGameNet stopped its StarCraft II activities in 2014, and the GSL became the only individual league in South Korea. It ran every season of WCS Korea under its own name again (GSL).http://wcs.battle.net/sc2/en/articles/wcs-2014-announced Blizzard's article about 2014 WCS

In 2015, the GSL and SPOTV's newly established StarCraft II StarLeague (SSL) ran parallel to each other as the focus of professional play in South Korea. Each league had three seasons throughout the year, for a total of six individual league seasons. From 2010 to the end of 2015 GSL Season 2, GOMTV awarded over 3.6 billion Korean won (over $3.1 million USD) from the individual GSL and Arena of Legends leagues in StarCraft II.

The GSL and the SSL continued to run as parallel leagues in South Korea for 2016. Each league had two seasons throughout the year, for a total of four individual league seasons, with the finalists of their first and second seasons playing in the first and second season Cross-Finals events. The first season of GSL for WCS 2016 was preceded by two GSL Pre-Season tournaments which both granted seeding into the main competition to their respective winners.

Some years, the organizers have run Super Tournaments as side events. The 2010 Super Tournament was a 64-man tournament featuring a prize pool of 202 million Korean Won. Participants are determined by the total GSL points obtained throughout the year.News : GOMTV Super Tournaments were also run in 2011 and in 2017–2022.

In 2023, it was reported that the GSL will continue, but with a reduced presence: the first tournament in 2023 played the preliminary matches online, presumably due to Blizzard no longer funding the prize pools.Afreeca YouTube post of February 24 They reversed the decision to move early round matches online after the conclusion of the first season, and restored the event to the studio for the later 2023 seasons.tl.net post, May 18

Casters The English-language broadcast was performed for years by Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski and Nick "Tasteless" Plott, a combination known as "Tastosis." The pair were considered a major draw of the tournament and helped establish a new standard in esports commentary in the English-language market, with the pair praised as "fan favorites" and their work praised as iconic to the medium. Artosis departed from South Korea to move to Canada in 2022, with his last cast being of the 2022 GSL S3 Final in October 2022. From 2023 to the present, the cast is done by Tasteless and Ryan "State" Visbeck.

Champions

Code S and other Major Tournaments This is a list of all major GSL tournaments. The winner of a tournament is called a GSL champion. Regular Season World Championship Super Tournament Blizzard/HOT6 Cup Open Season