StarCraft
StarCraft was laughed at when Blizzard first showed it in 1996, "orcs in space", so they threw the build away and started again. What shipped on 31 March 1998, and what the Brood War expansion finished that November, was a strategy game with three races that shared almost nothing, balanced so finely that people were still discovering it twenty-five years later. In South Korea it became something no game had been before: televised, with its own channels, its own leagues, its own stars. Lim Yo-hwan filled arenas. Teams lived in houses and practised like athletes, and a generation of players, BoxeR, NaDa, iloveoov, Savior, Bisu, Jaedong, Flash, worked out what the game actually was. Then came a match-fixing scandal, a licensing war with Blizzard, and StarCraft II, which took the crown and the crowds with it. Brood War refused to die: the old pros came back on Afreeca, and the Starleague started again in 2017. Along the way the game became a laboratory, the hardest thing anyone had asked a machine to play, until DeepMind's AlphaStar reached Grandmaster in 2019. This is all of it, the making, the fiction, the matches, the scene and the machines.
A chronological documentary of 435 moments spanning 1998–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-08-22
Eras
- Fiction, The story and the cinematics. Terran exiles, the Zerg swarm and the Overmind, the Protoss and their fractured hierarchy; Mengsk, Raynor, Tassadar and Zeratul; and Sarah Kerrigan, who is abandoned on Tarsonis in the first game and spends the rest of the series being the consequence.
- Fandom, Everything that grew around it. PC bangs and the world inside them, GG and the zerg rush and nuclear launch detected, custom maps and tower defence, the archivists and creators who kept the game alive, and the long argument about what StarCraft did to gaming everywhere else.
- Matches, The games themselves, at the length they were actually played. Starleague and MSL finals, Proleague ace matches, the beach final at Gwangalli, Bisu against Savior, the long Flash and Jaedong rivalry, and the ASL era that started in 2017 and is still running.
- Players, The people who worked the game out. Lim Yo-hwan, who made it famous; NaDa and iloveoov and Savior, each of whom broke it in a different way; Bisu, Jaedong and Flash, who defined its last and best years. Plus the casters who explained it to everyone else, and the modern StarCraft II generation.
- Making the Game, How it was built. The 1996 E3 demo that was dismissed as orcs in space, the decision to throw it out and start again, Bob Fitch rewriting the engine so three races could genuinely differ, and the long tail after release, Brood War, the cancelled Ghost, Remastered in 2017, and the two decades of StarCraft II development that followed.
- Machines, StarCraft as the hard problem. Bot competitions and BWAPI, the Berkeley Overmind, Facebook's TorchCraft, and DeepMind's AlphaStar, which beat professional players in 2019 and reached Grandmaster, on a game whose imperfect information and vast action space made it the benchmark after chess and Go fell.
- StarCraft II, The sequel and its circuit. Wings of Liberty in 2010, then Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void; the GSL, WCS, IEM Katowice and BlizzCon; Serral becoming the first non-Korean world champion in 2018; and a competitive scene that kept going after Blizzard stopped developing the game.
- Korea, When a strategy game became television. OGN and MBCGame as broadcast channels, the PC bang boom, KeSPA and the team houses, arena finals with real crowds, and the harder parts: the training regimen, the 2010 match-fixing scandal, the licensing war with Blizzard, and Proleague ending in 2016.
- Brood War, The version that would not die. What the 1998 expansion changed, and the mechanics that turned into a culture of their own, the twelve-unit selection limit, the dragoon pathing everyone learned to work around, muta stacking, and an APM arms race. Plus Remastered, the iconic maps, and the modern scene on Afreeca.
- - StarCraft Opening Cinematic. The original 1998 StarCraft intro cinematic, uploaded to Blizzard's official channel in 2009. Establishes the Koprulu Sector and the terran Confederacy on the eve of the zerg invasion.
- - The Death of the Overmind. The Brood War cinematic in which Tassadar sacrifices himself and the Gantrithor to destroy the zerg Overmind on Aiur.
- - StarCraft: Brood War Opening Cinematic. The opening cinematic of the Brood War expansion, in which the United Earth Directorate fleet arrives in the Koprulu Sector. Official Blizzard upload.
- - StarCraft: Brood War - Full Cinematic Sequence. A compiled run of the Brood War in-engine and pre-rendered cinematics including the terran, zerg and protoss campaign endings.
- - KBS 1999: the dawn of Korean esports, game fans united by StarCraft. KBS current-affairs programme originally broadcast 4 February 1999 on the PC game-room craze, featuring Kim Do-hyung, Battle.net star Choi Jin-woo and Korea's first pro gamer Shin Joo-young.
- - KBS 1999: inside a StarCraft masters tournament with SSamJang Lee Ki-seok. KBS programme originally broadcast 21 August 1999 following Korea's early StarCraft stars, including SSamJang Lee Ki-seok, at a national tournament.
- - A Seoul PC bang, 2001. Customers playing StarCraft on rows of PCs in a South Korean internet café (PC bang) in 2001. One of very few genuinely period photographs of the PC-bang boom on Commons.
- - Inside a PC bang, Seoul 2001. The interior of a South Korean PC bang photographed in July 2001, at the height of the StarCraft-driven internet café boom.
- - BoxeR vs YellOw, 2001 Coca-Cola OSL final game 2. Game two of the 2001 Coca-Cola OSL final on Jungle Story, with YellOw trailing 1-0.
- - BoxeR vs YellOw, 2001 Coca-Cola OSL final game 3. OGN's own archive copy of game three of the 2001 Coca-Cola StarLeague final on Neo Legacy of Char.
- - BoxeR vs YellOw, 2001 Coca-Cola OSL final game 5. The deciding fifth game at Hall of Valhalla, crowning the champion of the 2001 Coca-Cola OSL.
- - BoxeR vs YellOw, 2001 Coca-Cola OSL final game 1. Opening game of the 2001 Coca-Cola OnGameNet StarLeague final between Lim Yo-hwan and Hong Jin-ho, the rivalry that made StarCraft a television sport in Korea.
- - BoxeR vs YellOw, 2001 Coca-Cola OSL final game 4. Game four at The Ragnarok, where YellOw takes a 2-1 lead and BoxeR must win to survive.
- - BoxeR vs Reach, 2001 SKY OSL round of 16. Group-stage meeting of BoxeR and Park Jung-suk in the 2001 SKY StarLeague.
- - BoxeR vs Nada Kim Jung-min, 2001 SKY OSL semi-final. Terran mirror in the semi-final group of the 2001 SKY StarLeague on Silent Vortex.
- - Kingdom vs BoxeR, 2001 SKY OSL final game 4. Game four of the 2001 SKY OSL final on Crimson Isles, from OGN's upscaled archive.
- - Kingdom vs BoxeR, 2001 SKY OSL final game 3. AI-upscaled OGN archive of the 2001 SKY StarLeague final, Kim Dong-soo's Protoss against BoxeR's Terran.
- - Reach vs BoxeR, 2002 SKY OSL final game 1. Park Jung-suk's Protoss opens the 2002 SKY StarLeague final against BoxeR on Gaema Gowon, the series that made 'the hero Protoss'.
- - BoxeR vs Reach, 2002 SKY OSL final game 2. Game two of the 2002 SKY final, the series in which Reach broke the Emperor's run.
- - StarCraft: Ghost Teaser from E3 2003. The teaser trailer Blizzard showed for StarCraft: Ghost at E3 2003, for a game that was never released.
- - BoxeR OGN DVD: life. The life disc of the 2003 OGN BoxeR DVD, following him away from the studio.
- - BoxeR OGN DVD: history, part one. OnGameNet's official 2003 BoxeR DVD, the history disc, running an hour and a quarter.
- - KBS 2003: BoxeR, the Emperor of Terran and pioneer of esports. Compilation of KBS broadcasts from 2003 featuring Lim Yo-hwan, including an August 2003 interview and a segment measuring his in-game reflexes.
- - BoxeR OGN DVD: history, part two. Second half of the history disc from OGN's 2003 BoxeR DVD.
- - BoxeR OGN DVD: strategy. The strategy disc of the 2003 OGN BoxeR DVD, in which he explains his own play.
- - KBS 2004-2007: BoxeR as esports itself. Second KBS compilation of Lim Yo-hwan's television appearances between 2004 and 2007, including the 2004 Game Power People feature and a 2006 Power Interview.
- - BoxeR vs iloveoov, 2004 EVER OSL final full VOD. Complete three-and-a-half-hour re-cast of the 2004 EVER final, teammate against teammate, presented as a capstone of the era.
- - iloveoov vs BoxeR, 2004 EVER OSL final - decider and ceremony. Concluding games and ceremony of the 2004 EVER StarLeague final.
- - iloveoov vs Kingdom, 2004 SPRIS MSL grand final. MBCGame StarLeague grand final of 2004, iloveoov at the height of his dominance.
- - iloveoov vs BoxeR, 2004 EVER OSL final - middle games. Second block of the 2004 EVER StarLeague final between the two SKT Terrans.
- - iloveoov vs BoxeR, 2004 EVER OSL final - teacher against protege. Teacher against protégé: Choi Yeon-sung faces BoxeR in the 2004 EVER StarLeague final, one of Brood War's defining series.
- - July vs Reach, 2004 Gillette OSL final - championship games. Closing games of the 2004 Gillette OSL final, July's championship run.
- - July vs Reach, 2004 Gillette OSL final - opening games. Opening of the 2004 Gillette StarLeague final between Park Sung-joon's Zerg and Park Jung-suk's Protoss.
- - StarCraft: Ghost at E3 2005. The booth display for the cancelled StarCraft: Ghost at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2005.
- - National Geographic at the World Cyber Games 2005. National Geographic documentary covering the World Cyber Games 2005 in Singapore, where over 800 players from 67 countries competed and 39,000 spectators attended.
- - World Cyber Games 2005. The World Cyber Games 2005, where StarCraft: Brood War was a headline title. Photographed by caster xReDeYe; the frame shows the WCG event rather than a StarCraft-specific booth.
- - A Friday night in a Seoul PC bang. Young people gaming in a Seoul PC bang in 2006. The photographer notes this was standard evening entertainment for many in the city. Accepted at 800px.
- - StarCraft on Korean television, 2006. A televised StarCraft match in South Korea photographed in 2006, showing the broadcast production of the Korean pro scene.
- - sAviOr vs Nal_rA, 2006 Pringles MSL final. Ma Jae-yoon's MSL title run against Kang Min, part four of the 2006 Pringles final.
- - Bisu vs sAviOr, 2007 GomTV MSL Season 1 grand final. 'The Revolution': Kim Taek-yong's 3-0 over the Maestro rewrote Protoss-versus-Zerg theory overnight.
- - Mike Morhaime Announces StarCraft II. Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime announces StarCraft II on stage at the Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, Korea.
- - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Cinematic Trailer. The cinematic revealed at Blizzard's 2007 Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, showing a terran marine being armored up. Blizzard's own description confirms the 2007 reveal.
- - The First StarCraft II Gameplay Premiere. Raw capture of the protoss gameplay Blizzard showed on stage at the Worldwide Invitational in Seoul on 19 May 2007, the first time StarCraft II was played in public.
- - Stork vs Bisu, 2007 GomTV MSL Season 2 grand final. Protoss mirror grand final of the second GomTV MSL season.
- - sAviOr vs Bisu, Blizzard WWI 2007 grand final. The rematch at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational in 2007, played on Blitz, Hitchhiker, Longinus and Reverse Temple.
- - Mind vs Bisu, 2007 GomTV MSL Season 3 grand final. Terran Park Sung-joon against Bisu in the third GomTV MSL final of 2007.
- - Iris vs GGPlay, 2007 Daum OSL final game 5. 'A great man becomes a legend': the deciding game of the 2007 Daum StarLeague final on Python.
- - On the Ground at the StarCraft II Announcement in Seoul. Gamereactor's report from the 2007 Worldwide Invitational, with Korean fans and Blizzard developers reacting to the announcement.
- - CNN reports on competitive gaming in South Korea. CNN news segment introducing an international audience to South Korea's professional StarCraft scene.
- - Blizzard's StarCraft II booth, 2008. The Blizzard booth showing StarCraft II at the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig.
- - Playing StarCraft II, Games Convention 2008. Visitors playing StarCraft II at the Games Convention in Leipzig, 2008.
- - StarCraft II at PAX 2008. Attendees playing StarCraft II at demo stations during PAX 2008 in Seattle.
- - Rob Pardo presents StarCraft II. Blizzard design lead Rob Pardo presenting StarCraft II on stage at BlizzCon 2008.
- - Tasteless casting at WCG 2008. English-language StarCraft caster Tasteless (Nicolas Plott) with SuperDanielMan at the World Cyber Games 2008.
- - The UC Berkeley StarCraft class, lecture one. Opening lecture of the student-run UC Berkeley course on StarCraft theory, a widely reported instance of the game entering a university curriculum.
- - Batoo OnGameNet Starleague finals. The 2008-09 Batoo OnGameNet Starleague StarCraft: Brood War finals in South Korea, featuring Jaedong and Fantasy. Accepted at 656px as scarce Brood War-era primary material.
- - StarCraft's Walk of Game star. The StarCraft star on the Walk of Game at the Metreon in San Francisco, photographed in 2009.
- - The BlizzCon 2009 StarCraft II Lore Panel. Blizzard's story panel at BlizzCon 2009, featuring the StarCraft II voice cast including Robert Clotworthy as Raynor and Tricia Helfer as Kerrigan.
- - Stork vs FanTaSy, Incruit OSL final game 5. Song Byung-goo's full assault to seal the Incruit StarLeague title against Jung Myung-hoon.
- - StarCraft II at Gamescom 2009. The StarCraft II presence at Gamescom 2009 in Cologne, photographed by Sergiy Galyonkin.
- - Blizzard's Gamescom booth, 2009. Blizzard Entertainment's booth at Gamescom 2009 in Cologne. Categorised under StarCraft II, though the shot shows the studio's stand rather than a StarCraft-specific view.
- - BlizzCon 2009. Blizzard staff, including Ryan Sly at right, at BlizzCon 2009. A general convention view rather than a StarCraft-specific one.
- - Blizzard staff at BlizzCon 2009. Blizzard Entertainment employees, including art director Samwise Didier, at BlizzCon 2009.
- - Dustin Browder at BlizzCon 2009. StarCraft II game director Dustin Browder (second from left) with colleagues at BlizzCon 2009.
- - Blizzard staff signing at BlizzCon 2009. Blizzard Entertainment employees signing autographs for attendees at BlizzCon 2009, the convention where StarCraft II was a headline title.
- - Jaedong after the Bacchus Starleague. Korean progamer Lee Jae-dong (Jaedong) speaking after his 2009 Bacchus Starleague victory. Accepted at 598px as scarce Brood War-era material.
- - Jaedong wins the Batoo Starleague. Lee Jae-dong (Jaedong) celebrating his victory in the finals of the 2009 Batoo OnGameNet Starleague in South Korea. Accepted at 600px as scarce Brood War-era primary material.
- - Tastosis at WCG 2009. Casters Tasteless and Artosis, the English voice of Korean StarCraft, at the World Cyber Games 2009.
- - Jaedong vs Stork, WCG 2009 StarCraft final set 1. Opening game of the World Cyber Games 2009 StarCraft grand final between the Tyrant and Stork.
- - Brood War medallists, WCG 2009. The StarCraft: Brood War medallists, including Jaedong, Bisu and Stork, at the World Cyber Games 2009 Grand Final.
- - StarCraft II: Zerg Reveal Trailer. Blizzard's official trailer introducing the redesigned zerg for StarCraft II.
- - Flash vs Movie, 2009 EVER OSL final game 1. Lee Young-ho's Terran against Protoss in the 2009 EVER StarLeague final, cast live in English.
- - EVER OSL finals, 2009. The 2009 EVER OnGameNet Starleague StarCraft finals in South Korea, photographed from the arena.
- - Flash vs Jaedong, 2009 NATE MSL final game 3. Game three of the NATE MSL final on Odd-Eye, the peak of the Flash-Jaedong rivalry.
- - Flash vs Jaedong, 2009 NATE MSL final game 4. Game four on Fighting Spirit, decided in the NATE MSL final.
- - StarCraft II Protoss Gameplay Walkthrough. Blizzard's extended pre-release protoss gameplay walkthrough showing the unit and mechanic changes from the 1998 game.
- - StarCraft II Terran Gameplay Walkthrough. Blizzard's pre-release terran gameplay walkthrough for StarCraft II.
- - Korean StarCraft television commercial: the Hydralisk companion. Korean television advertisement for StarCraft featuring a Hydralisk as a household companion, an example of the game's mainstream commercial presence in Korea.
- - Flash and EffOrt in the booths. Flash and EffOrt playing from their soundproof booths at the 2010 Korean Air OnGameNet Starleague Season 1 finals. Accepted at 594px as scarce primary Brood War material.
- - Flash vs Jaedong, Hana Bank MSL final game 5. The closing game of the Hana Daetoo Securities MSL final between the two greatest players of the late Brood War era.
- - The StarCraft II Voice Cast. An interview with the voice actors behind the StarCraft II characters, recorded around the Wings of Liberty launch.
- - Korean pro gamers demonstrate APM (from 'The Hax Life'). Clip from the documentary 'The Hax Life' showing Korean professional players demonstrating actions-per-minute; the video became a widely circulated introduction to APM culture.
- - Ghosts of the Past - StarCraft II Trailer. Extended Wings of Liberty trailer covering Kerrigan's fall and Arcturus Mengsk's betrayal, released as a promotional unlockable before launch.
- - StarCraft II on a Korean Air 747. A StarCraft II advertising livery on a Korean Air Boeing 747 at Seoul Incheon International Airport in 2010, marking the game's commercial reach in South Korea.
- - The Making of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Blizzard's official behind-the-scenes documentary from the Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition DVD, covering art, cinematics, design, story and programming.
- - Echoes of the Future - Zeratul and the Overmind's Corpse. The Wings of Liberty prophecy mission in which Zeratul reads the dead Overmind's memories on Aiur, setting up Amon and the xel'naga arc.
- - Wings of Liberty Ending Cinematic. The closing cinematic of the Wings of Liberty campaign, in which Raynor restores Kerrigan to human form on Char.
- - The Release of Tychus Findlay. The Wings of Liberty cinematic in which Arcturus Mengsk has Tychus Findlay armored up and released from prison to hunt Kerrigan.
- - BoxeR interviewed in Seoul. Short interview with Lim Yo-hwan recorded in Seoul around the launch of StarCraft II.
- - Korean Air OSL Season 2, 2010. Competition at the 2010 Korean Air OnGameNet Starleague StarCraft tournament in South Korea. Accepted at 600px as scarce primary Korean-league material.
- - OnGameNet Starleague stage, 2010. A second view of the 2010 Korean Air OnGameNet Starleague StarCraft competition. Accepted at 600px as scarce primary Korean-league material.
- - Flash vs Jaedong - 2010 Bigfile MSL Grand Final. The opening set of the 2010 MSL grand final on Polaris Rhapsody, played 28 August 2010.
- - Jaedong vs Flash, Korean Air OSL Season 2 final game 1. First game of the 2010 Korean Air StarLeague final on Eye of the Storm.
- - Flash vs Jaedong - 2010 Korean Air OSL Grand Final. The first set of the Korean Air OSL Season 2 grand final, played 11 September 2010 on Eye of the Storm, at the height of the Brood War rivalry.
- - Jaedong vs Flash, Korean Air OSL Season 2 final game 5. The deciding fifth game of the 2010 Korean Air StarLeague final.
- - Flash takes the OSL crown, Shanghai. Lee Young-ho (Flash) as champion at the 2010 Korean Air OnGameNet Starleague finals, held in Shanghai. Accepted at 600px as scarce primary material.
- - Day[9] Daily #100: My Life of StarCraft. The most famous episode of Sean 'Day[9]' Plott's daily show, a personal account of growing up inside StarCraft that became a defining artefact of the community.
- - StarCraft at WCG Grand Finals 2010. StarCraft competition at the World Cyber Games Grand Finals 2010, with Jaedong among those photographed.
- - Kerrigan cosplay at BlizzCon 2010. A cosplayer dressed as Sarah Kerrigan from StarCraft, photographed at BlizzCon 2010.
- - Casters at the BlizzCon 2010 SC2 Invitational. Sean Plott (Day[9]), Artosis and Tasteless casting the StarCraft II Invitational at BlizzCon 2010.
- - StarCraft II - Terran Overview. Blizzard's official faction overview of the terrans, narrated in character by Jim Raynor.
- - The 2010 AIIDE StarCraft AI Competition. Highlights from the AIIDE 2010 bot competition hosted by UC Santa Cruz, including the Berkeley Overmind zerg bot and a bot-versus-human exhibition.
- - tvN documentary: BoxeR's Wings, part one. tvN special documentary on Lim Yo-hwan, broadcast 27 November 2010, following the return of the player known in Korea as the Emperor of esports.
- - FanTaSy vs Stork, Bacchus OSL 2010 final game 1. Opening game of the Bacchus StarLeague 2010 final on Gladiator, one of the highest-quality OSL finals ever broadcast.
- - Freeman at Japan Expo Sud 2011. StarCraft II player Freeman at the third Japan Expo Sud festival, held at the Parc Chanot in Marseille in February 2011.
- - BarCraft Stockholm for DreamHack Valencia. A BarCraft viewing party for DreamHack Valencia 2011 held at The Crib in Stockholm, where StarCraft II broadcasts were shown in a bar.
- - TLO and KellyMilkies at BarCraft Stockholm. StarCraft II player TLO and caster KellyMilkies arriving at the BarCraft Stockholm event for DreamHack Valencia 2011, welcomed by organiser Lowe Backstrom.
- - A BarCraft crowd in Stockholm. Spectators at the BarCraft Stockholm viewing party for DreamHack Valencia 2011.
- - NesTea vs Mvp - BlizzCon 2011 Grand Final. The full BlizzCon 2011 grand final between NesTea and Mvp, two of StarCraft II's earliest dominant champions, cast by Day9 and JP.
- - Blizzard Publishing: So What's the Story?. The BlizzCon 2011 panel in which Blizzard's novel and comic team discuss building the expanded universe around StarCraft and its sister franchises.
- - Inside the AIIDE 2010 StarCraft AI Competition. An overview of the AIIDE 2010 competition explaining the AI techniques the entrant bots used, submitted to the 2011 AAAI video competition.
- - The English booth at the GOMTV studio. Artosis and Tasteless casting the English stream from the GOMTV studio in South Korea, where StarCraft matches were both televised in Korean and streamed in English.
- - BoxeR and Kim Ga-yeon. BoxeR with fellow progamer Kim Ga-yeon at MLG Anaheim 2011.
- - BoxeR at MLG Anaheim 2011. Lim Yo-hwan (BoxeR) competing at MLG Anaheim 2011, during his StarCraft II career with SlayerS.
- - Team MVP roster. The Korean StarCraft II progaming team MVP, with players including KeePing, Sniper, TAiLS, duckdeok, KeeN and Noblesse, photographed in August 2011.
- - Team ZeNEX. The StarCraft II team ZeNEX photographed in August 2011.
- - GSL All-Star Match, 2011. The 2011 Global StarCraft II League All-Star Match in South Korea. Accepted at 640px as scarce Korean-league primary material.
- - AIIDE 2011: Man versus Machine. Commentary on the human-versus-bot exhibition at AIIDE 2011, organised by the University of Alberta and held at Stanford.
- - Terran Marine cosplay at BlizzCon 2011. A StarCraft Terran Marine costume photographed at BlizzCon 2011.
- - Intel Friday Night Game, Munich 2011. The ESL Intel Friday Night Game at the Munich Tonhalle in November 2011, with the StarCraft II match aTnDelphi versus MYMXlorD on stage and screen.
- - BarCraft in Munich. A BarCraft StarCraft II viewing event in Munich, photographed in February 2012.
- - Prepping for interview, DreamHack Summer 2012. Preparations for a StarCraft interview at DreamHack Summer 2012.
- - StarCraft at Japan Expo 2012. A StarCraft area at the 13th Japan Expo, held at the Parc des Expositions in Villepinte near Paris in July 2012.
- - FXOpen take the team-league win. The StarCraft II team FXOpen celebrating a win in the Global StarCraft II Team League, July 2012.
- - Jangbi vs FanTaSy, 2012 Tving OSL final. The last OnGameNet Brood War StarLeague final in full, including both interviews, the trophy ceremony and Jun Yong-jun's closing retrospective.
- - CNN inside the life of world champion Mvp. CNN visits the reigning StarCraft II world champion at the height of the Korean SC2 scene.
- - Yongsan e-Sports Stadium. The Yongsan e-Sports Stadium in Seoul, the purpose-built venue that hosted Korean StarCraft league finals, photographed in September 2012.
- - Hall of fame, Yongsan e-Sports Stadium. The hall of fame at Yongsan e-Sports Stadium in Seoul, categorised under the OnGameNet Starleague, the flagship Korean StarCraft competition.
- - Yongsan stadium in the electronics district. Yongsan e-Sports Stadium within the Yongsan Electronics Shopping Area in Seoul, photographed in 2012.
- - Flash at MLG Fall Championship 2012. Lee Young-ho (Flash) of KT Rolster at the 2012 Major League Gaming Fall Championship.
- - Team SlayerS. The Korean StarCraft II team SlayerS, founded by BoxeR, photographed in November 2012.
- - Autograph booth, MLG Fall 2012. StarCraft II players Flash, Hyvaa and Soulkey signing at the autograph booth during the 2012 MLG Fall Championship.
- - herO: from home to hero. Growth-story interview with Song Hyun-deok ahead of the 2012 Battle.net World Championship.
- - Dustin Browder on StarCraft II and Esports. StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder discusses the game's design and its competitive scene around the 2012 Battle.net World Championship.
- - GSL Season 5 finals, 2012. The Global StarCraft II League Season 5 finals in South Korea, December 2012.
- - GSL World Championship, 2012. The 2012 Global StarCraft II League World Championship, photographed for Team Liquid.
- - NASL Season 4 grand finals group. Players, commentators and staff gathered at the North American Star League Season 4 grand finals in December 2012.
- - GSL commentary desk. Korean GSL commentators Ahn Jun-yeong, Park Sang-hyeon and Che Jeong-won at the StarCraft II Global StarCraft League broadcast desk.
- - StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Opening Cinematic. The opening cinematic of the zerg expansion, showing Kerrigan's re-infestation. Official Blizzard upload.
- - Five great StarCraft custom maps: an introduction to UMS. A tour of favourite Brood War Use Map Settings creations for people who never entered the UMS scene, with mentions of Basketball, Snowball Wars and Helm's Deep.
- - Berkeley's Collegiate StarLeague team. The UC Berkeley Collegiate StarLeague StarCraft team at the CSL Grand Finals in February 2013.
- - Day[9] casting the CSL finals. Sean Plott (Day[9]) and Megumixbear casting the Collegiate StarLeague StarCraft finals in February 2013.
- - Kerrigan Kills Mengsk - The Ascension Cinematic. The Heart of the Swarm ending in which Kerrigan storms Korhal and kills Arcturus Mengsk, closing the arc begun with her abandonment in 1998.
- - Flash, MC and Mvp together. Korean StarCraft II stars Flash (KT Rolster), MC (SK Gaming) and Mvp (Incredible Miracle) at the 2013 MLG Winter Championship.
- - Happy Birthday StarCraft: fifteen years of messages from the community. Blizzard compilation of birthday videos recorded by StarCraft players worldwide and by Blizzard staff for the game's fifteenth anniversary.
- - Award ceremony, 2013 WCS Korea GSL finals. The trophy presentation at the 2013 World Championship Series Season 1 Korea GSL finals, with players Innovation and Soulkey.
- - WCS Season 1 finals, 2013. The 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series Season 1 finals, with Korean commentator Uhm Jae-kyung.
- - A fan's StarCraft collection. A photograph of a fan's collection of StarCraft boxed games and merchandise, taken around the Heart of the Swarm era.
- - Heart of the Swarm launch party, Hungary. The StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm launch party held in Hungary in 2013.
- - sOs vs Jaedong - 2013 WCS Global Finals. The BlizzCon 2013 grand final in which sOs beat Brood War legend Jaedong to take the first WCS Global Finals title.
- - Jaedong at DreamHack Valencia. StarCraft player Lee Jae-dong (Jaedong) at DreamHack Valencia 2013, by then competing in StarCraft II for Evil Geniuses.
- - What SSCAIT Is. An introduction to the Student StarCraft AI Tournament, in which students worldwide write C++ and Java bots against the BWAPI interface.
- - Lee Young-ho, 'Flash'. Portrait of Korean esports player Lee Young-ho, known as Flash, of KT Rolster, taken in August 2013.
- - WCS Global Finals casting desk, 2013. The commentary team at the 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals.
- - Maru against Jaedong, WCS 2013. Maru facing Jaedong at the 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals.
- - Red Bull: the story of StarCraft. Episode of Red Bull's This Is eSports series examining why fans care about StarCraft's story, filmed alongside a professional tournament.
- - Sons of StarCraft: how Tasteless and Artosis became the voice of the game. Documentary on the risks and sacrifices Nick 'Tasteless' Plott and Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski took moving to Korea to become the game's English-language casting duo.
- - Bisu interviewed at GOM Classic. Kim Taek-yong speaks as a VOD commentator during GOM Classic Season 4.
- - Jim Raynor cosplay, C2E2 2014. A cosplayer dressed as Jim Raynor in Terran Marine armour at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, 2014.
- - Terran Marine in the cosplay championships. Erin Hannah cosplaying a StarCraft Terran Marine at the C2E2 Crown Championships of Cosplay in 2014.
- - A Terran Marine on the convention floor. A StarCraft Terran Marine cosplayer moving through the crowd at C2E2 2014 in Chicago.
- - Terran Marines and a Ghost, Anime Central 2014. A group of StarCraft Terran Marine cosplayers, accompanied by a Ghost, at Anime Central 2014.
- - KT Rolster champions interview, 2014. Flash (Lee Young-ho) at the joint interview for KT Rolster, the 2014 StarCraft Proleague champions. Accepted at 536px as scarce Korean league material.
- - Terran Marine at Wizard World Chicago. A StarCraft Terran Marine costume at Wizard World Chicago in August 2014.
- - Intel Extreme Masters Toronto 2014. The Intel Extreme Masters season 9 StarCraft II finals at Fan Expo Canada 2014 in Toronto.
- - WCS Global Finals line-up, BlizzCon 2014. INnoVation, Polt, host ReDeYe, Jaedong and Zest at the 2014 StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals during BlizzCon 2014.
- - Jaedong at BlizzCon 2014. Jaedong competing at the 2014 WCS Global Finals held at BlizzCon.
- - TLO, Bling and Harstem at HomeStory Cup X. StarCraft II professionals TLO, Minirser, Bling and Harstem at HomeStory Cup X in Germany, November 2014.
- - Flash and PartinG at HomeStory Cup X. Korean StarCraft II players Flash and PartinG at HomeStory Cup X in Germany, November 2014.
- - Jaedong at HomeStory Cup X. Jaedong, then playing for Evil Geniuses, at HomeStory Cup X in Germany, November 2014.
- - Korean StarCraft II - A Mini Documentary. A short documentary on StarCraft II in Korea and the Global StarCraft League, made by GOM TV's own broadcast team.
- - The dark side of non-stop gaming. VICE report on the human cost of competitive gaming in Korea, part of a five-part esports series.
- - Kerrigan cosplay portrait, 2015. Cosplayer Phaleure portraying Sarah Kerrigan from StarCraft at a 2015 photo shoot in Ellicott City.
- - StarCraft II at PlayIT Budapest. A StarCraft II station at the PlayIT Show in Budapest, 2015. The camera clock is misset; the description dates the event to 2015.
- - sOs vs Life - 2015 WCS Global Finals. The BlizzCon 2015 grand final, sOs' second world title, and one of the last appearances of Life before his match-fixing conviction.
- - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Opening Cinematic. The protoss expansion's opening cinematic, in which Artanis leads the Golden Armada to reclaim Aiur. Official Blizzard upload.
- - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - Reclamation. Blizzard's official Reclamation cinematic introducing the protoss campaign to retake Aiur, released ahead of Legacy of the Void.
- - StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops Announcement. Blizzard announces the Nova Covert Ops mission pack at BlizzCon 2015, the last new single-player StarCraft II content.
- - The Death of Zeratul. The Legacy of the Void scene in which Artanis, corrupted by Amon, kills the dark templar Zeratul on Aiur.
- - The Legacy of the Void Ending - Amon Exiled. The close of the protoss campaign, in which the Keystone purges Amon from the Khala and Artanis holds Aiur.
- - Alone - Artanis Becomes a Dark Templar. The Legacy of the Void cinematic in which Artanis severs his nerve cords, cutting himself from the Khala to escape Amon's control.
- - Cycle's End - Kerrigan Becomes Xel'naga. The Legacy of the Void epilogue in which Ouros passes the last xel'naga essence to Kerrigan, ending the Infinite Cycle and the main StarCraft story.
- - Flash retires from professional play. IGN's news report on Lee Young-ho's retirement announcement.
- - SSCAIT 2015 Grand Finals. The grand final of the Student StarCraft AI Tournament's 2015 mixed division, a long-running BWAPI bot competition.
- - BoxeR and Yellow reunited. BoxeR (Lim Yo-hwan) and Yellow (Hong Jin-ho), rivals of the original Brood War era, at the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match. Accepted at 688px as scarce material.
- - KT GiGA Legends Match, 2016. The KT-hosted GiGA Legends Match esports event in 2016, reuniting Brood War veterans BoxeR, NaDa, Yellow and Guillaume Patry. Accepted at 490px as scarce material on this reunion event.
- - Brood War legends on stage, 2016. BoxeR, NaDa, Yellow and Guillaume Patry among the veteran players at the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match, a StarCraft: Brood War exhibition. Accepted at 688px.
- - BoxeR at the KT GiGA Legends Match. Lim Yo-hwan (BoxeR), the first great StarCraft professional, playing at the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match in South Korea. Accepted at 688px as scarce material on a foundational figure.
- - NaDa and BoxeR. Korean StarCraft veterans NaDa (Lee Yun-yeol) and BoxeR at the 2016 KT GiGA Legends Match. Accepted at 688px.
- - StarCraft cosplay, C2E2 2016. Terran Marine cosplay at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo in March 2016.
- - Nova Covert Ops - Mission Pack One. Blizzard's trailer for the first three Nova Covert Ops missions, released 29 March 2016.
- - Rehab for Korea's gaming addicts. SBS Dateline report on the state-run digital rehabilitation camps set up in response to Korea's gaming culture.
- - Conan O'Brien visits a Seoul PC bang. Conan on TBS segment in which the host plays StarCraft and Sudden Attack at a Seoul gaming cafe, a mainstream American TV treatment of PC bang culture.
- - Wall Street Journal: StarCraft, South Korea's unofficial national sport. WSJ news segment on StarCraft's status in South Korea and on AI researchers eyeing the game as the next man-versus-machine challenge.
- - StarCraft II StarLeague finals, Seoul 2016. Photo sketch from the StarCraft II StarLeague 2016 Season 2 grand final in South Korea.
- - Proleague, the longest-running esports league, is discontinued. IGN news report on KeSPA's announcement ending Proleague in 2016.
- - KeSPA announces the end of StarCraft Proleague. The announcement clip marking the close of the league that had run since 2003.
- - YTN: Proleague abolished, teams disbanded. Korean national news report on the collapse of Proleague, opening with the 100,000-strong Gwangalli beach final of 2004.
- - The StarCraft II Feature Layer API. DeepMind's demonstration of the machine-learning API announced with Blizzard at BlizzCon 2016, which opened StarCraft II to AI researchers.
- - Dark vs ByuN, 2016 WCS Global Finals. The 2016 StarCraft II world championship final at BlizzCon, won by ByuN as an unsponsored player.
- - StarCraft: Ghost - Surviving Gameplay Footage. An archive compilation of all publicly shown gameplay and cinematic footage from the cancelled StarCraft: Ghost.
- - Blizzard producer Pete Stilwell on making StarCraft Remastered. Travis Gafford interviews Blizzard's senior producer of classic games about why and how Remastered was built and what it meant for esports.
- - StarCraft Remastered announcement trailer. Blizzard's official announcement trailer presenting a modern take on the original StarCraft experience.
- - Blizzard Korea unveils StarCraft: Remastered. Blizzard Korea's official Remastered reveal, describing StarCraft's asymmetric factions, careful balance and accessibility as the innovations that defined the RTS genre.
- - Breaking down the Remastered reveal: graphics, gameplay and esports. Same-day analysis of Blizzard's Remastered reveal, covering modern hardware support, HD and 4K visuals, updated sound and new matchmaking.
- - The full StarCraft Remastered announcement in Seoul. Complete announcement of StarCraft Remastered at the 'I Love StarCraft' event in Korea, including the news that the original Brood War would become free to play.
- - Reconciling Brood War Remastered with StarCraft II. Video essay for StarCraft II players uncertain how to approach Brood War Remastered, covering transfer of rank and of skill between the two games.
- - Day[9] on what Brood War really is. Day[9] argues that Brood War embodies the fantasy of being a commander because it is primarily a real-time game and only secondarily a strategy game, introducing his Remastered instructional series.
- - IGN News: StarCraft and Brood War become free. News report that Blizzard made the original StarCraft and Brood War completely free to download, a decisive moment for the game's second life.
- - ProGamer, feature documentary. Feature documentary following two StarCraft II professionals through the tournament circuit, with Naniwa, WhiteRa and InControl.
- - StarCraft: Remastered - We Are Under Attack. Blizzard's launch trailer for StarCraft: Remastered ahead of its 14 August 2017 release.
- - Ars Technica interviews Blizzard about remastering StarCraft. Sam Machkovech talks with Blizzard lead 3D artist Brian Sousa about the technical work of rebuilding StarCraft's art for HD and 4K.
- - Remastered store booth, Gwangan. The StarCraft: Remastered store booth at Gwangan, Busan, during the 2017 launch event.
- - StarCraft: Remastered launch, Gwangalli. The GG Together launch event for StarCraft: Remastered held at Gwangalli Beach in Busan, South Korea, in July 2017.
- - Queuing for Remastered, Gwangan. People queuing for the limited edition of StarCraft: Remastered at the Gwangan launch event in Busan, 2017.
- - Blizzard Korea's StarCraft documentary: 'The Story That Won't GG'. Official Blizzard Korea documentary marking StarCraft Remastered, gathering voices from 19 years of the game's life in Korea and reflecting on its economic and cultural meaning.
- - Trained and Untrained Agents Play a Full StarCraft II Game. DeepMind's side-by-side showing an early-stage agent failing to keep workers mining next to a trained agent, published with the SC2LE environment release.
- - StarCraft: Story of GG. Official Blizzard documentary on how a passion that swept South Korea in the late 1990s spread worldwide and coined the language of competitive gaming.
- - Digital Foundry: StarCraft Remastered versus the 1998 original. Technical comparison showing the remaster's upgraded textures, lighting and shadows at 4K while confirming the gameplay is untouched.
- - A StarCraft pro at Gamescom 2017. A professional StarCraft player at a playing station during Gamescom 2017 in Cologne.
- - StarCraft at Gamescom 2017. The StarCraft area at Gamescom 2017 in Cologne, in the year StarCraft: Remastered was released.
- - AIIDE 2017: Facebook's CherryPi versus PurpleWave. A match from the 2017 AIIDE StarCraft AI competition featuring Facebook AI Research's CherryPi bot, built on TorchCraft.
- - StarCraft Remastered developer update. Blizzard senior software engineer Grant Davies gives an official development update on Remastered after launch.
- - Bisu vs Jaedong, StarCraft Remastered Ultimate Title Fight. Showmatch staged for the launch of StarCraft: Remastered at BlizzCon 2017, reuniting two Brood War greats.
- - StarCraft: Remastered Developer Update 3. Lead software engineer Grant Davies covers late-2017 patch work on StarCraft: Remastered.
- - The first generation of StarCraft II champions: Mvp, MC and NesTea. Detailed history of the first three GSL seasons of 2011 and the players who defined them.
- - Mvp. Short assessment of Jung Jong-hyun, the most decorated player of StarCraft II's opening years.
- - A Brief History of All Things StarCraft. A condensed retelling of the StarCraft, Brood War and StarCraft II storylines made for the franchise's twentieth anniversary.
- - StarCraft Is Life: the 20th anniversary celebration. Blizzard's anniversary film gathering players worldwide, from community diehards who established the scene to its next generation, on what StarCraft has meant to them.
- - Level design in Brood War. Mapmaker Pr0nogo walks through his level-design thinking for Brood War, from terrain to trigger work, in the game's long-running custom-content scene.
- - Before this was a thing: how StarCraft was made. Red Bull animated short in which Blizzard developers Brian Sousa and Bob Fitch describe StarCraft's development quirks and its rise into a premier esport.
- - Investigating StarCraft: Ghost. An investigation into the console shooter Blizzard announced in 2002 and quietly cancelled, tracing its studio changes and shifting design.
- - Serral at WCS Valencia 2018. Serral competing at the 2018 World Championship Series event in Valencia.
- - The history of StarCraft. Researched history of the game from Blizzard's origins as Silicon & Synapse through StarCraft's development and release.
- - Jaedong vs Leta, KSL Season 1 final. Grand final of Blizzard's own Korea StarCraft League, the first season of the officially sanctioned Remastered circuit.
- - WCS Signature Series: Serral. Blizzard's official player profile of Serral, produced ahead of the 2018 Global Finals.
- - AfreecaTV StarLeague Season 6 final. Grand final of ASL Season 6, the tournament series that carried Brood War through its streaming-era revival.
- - Dark vs Serral - 2018 WCS Global Finals Quarterfinal. Serral eliminates Dark in the BlizzCon 2018 quarterfinals.
- - Rogue vs Serral - 2018 WCS Global Finals Semifinal. Serral's semifinal against reigning champion Rogue on his run to the 2018 world title.
- - Stats vs Serral - 2018 WCS Global Finals Grand Final. The BlizzCon 2018 grand final in which Finland's Joona 'Serral' Sotala beat Stats to become the first non-Korean StarCraft II world champion.
- - Serral: 'Speechless' After Winning the World Championship. ESPN's BlizzCon interview with Serral immediately after he became the first non-Korean WCS world champion.
- - BlizzCon 2018 Global Finals Recap. Blizzard's official recap of the 2018 WCS Global Finals, the tournament that ended Korean dominance of StarCraft II.
- - What is a PC bang?. History of the Korean internet café, the venue that carried StarCraft into mass culture after the 1997 financial crisis.
- - Serral at HomeStory Cup XVIII. Finnish player Joona Sotala (Serral) at HomeStory Cup XVIII in November 2018, the year he became the first non-Korean StarCraft II world champion.
- - AlphaStar vs TLO and MaNa - Game Highlights. DeepMind's highlight reel of the 19 December 2018 test matches in which AlphaStar beat Team Liquid's MaNa 5-0, following a benchmark series against TLO.
- - Inside the relentless training of professional gaming stars. CBS News report on the training regimen of Korean esports professionals and its physical cost.
- - The Greatest StarCraft Rivalry: Flash vs Jaedong. A profile of the Flash-Jaedong rivalry that defined the last years of Brood War professional play in Korea.
- - Serral: The Finnish Phenom Who Shattered Esports' Oldest Dynasty. A profile of Serral's 2018 season, in which he won every WCS circuit event and then the world championship.
- - The DeepMind StarCraft II Demonstration. The full live broadcast from DeepMind's London office on 24 January 2019, revealing AlphaStar's 5-0 results against TLO and MaNa with commentary by Artosis and RotterdaM.
- - AlphaStar: The Inside Story. DeepMind's own account of building AlphaStar, the first AI to beat a top professional StarCraft II player, released alongside the January 2019 demonstration.
- - MaNa on Playing AlphaStar. Grzegorz 'MaNa' Komincz recounts travelling to DeepMind's office and playing the AlphaStar matches, from the human competitor's side.
- - Artosis Analyses AlphaStar. A long-form community analysis of AlphaStar's play, streamed on 28 January 2019, days after the DeepMind demonstration.
- - BoxeR inducted into the Esports Hall of Fame. ESL's induction piece for Lim Yo-hwan in the 2019 Esports Hall of Fame.
- - StarCraft: Remastered Developer Update 5. Grant Davies announces a Public Test Realm for StarCraft: Remastered, showing continued support for the 1998 game two decades on.
- - Oriol Vinyals on AlphaStar, StarCraft and Language. A long-form interview with DeepMind's AlphaStar research co-lead, himself a former competitive StarCraft player, on the project and on sequence models.
- - StarCraft Remastered speedrun at Summer Games Done Quick 2019. KingDime's 50:39 StarCraft Remastered run performed live at SGDQ 2019, with couch commentary; a record of StarCraft's place in the speedrunning community.
- - David Silver: Deep Reinforcement Learning from AlphaGo to AlphaStar. DeepMind's David Silver, AlphaStar co-lead, lectures at the University of Alberta on 23 July 2019 about the reinforcement-learning line from AlphaGo to AlphaStar.
- - Flash on contracts and incentives. The highest-paid Brood War player explains how contracts and performance bonuses actually worked.
- - SnOw vs Flash, ASL Season 8 final. Flash meets Jang Yoon-chul in the ASL Season 8 grand final, cast in English by Tasteless and Artosis.
- - Vinyals: Mastering the Real-Time Strategy Game StarCraft II. Oriol Vinyals presents the AlphaStar work at a technical conference, covering why StarCraft II was chosen as an AI grand challenge.
- - Grant Davies on the StarCraft Remastered Dev Team. Artosis interviews Blizzard engineer Grant Davies about matchmaking, engineering constraints and continued support for the classic game.
- - What StarCraft professionals were actually paid. A former pro breaks down salaries from zero won upward and describes life as a team trainee.
- - Reynor vs Dark, 2019 WCS Global Finals. Zerg mirror grand final at BlizzCon 2019, won by the teenage Italian Reynor.
- - Blizzard communications at BlizzCon 2019. Nazih Fares working at BlizzCon 2019 as Blizzard's communications manager for the MEA region. A staff portrait, not a StarCraft-specific view.
- - Reading the AlphaStar Nature Paper. A technical walkthrough of DeepMind's 'Grandmaster level in StarCraft II using multi-agent reinforcement learning', explaining league training.
- - BarCraft Szeged. The BarCraft venue in Szeged, Hungary, photographed in November 2019.
- - AlphaStar vs TLO - The Unreleased Internal Game. Artosis analyses a previously unreleased internal DeepMind game, contrasting AlphaStar's human-like decisions with its inhuman ones.
- - The Entire StarCraft Timeline Explained. A chronological walkthrough of the StarCraft fiction from the xel'naga through the Legacy of the Void epilogue.
- - Rain vs Light, KSL Season 4 final. The last Korea StarCraft League final, a Protoss-Terran series broadcast on Blizzard's own channel.
- - AlphaStar Reaches Grandmaster Level. A summary of the October 2019 Nature result in which AlphaStar reached Grandmaster rank on the European ladder playing all three races.
- - The student who beat his master: BoxeR's tears. Clip from the KBS special 'The Gamer', broadcast 22 December 2019, on Choi Yeon-sung defeating his mentor Lim Yo-hwan and the moment it became.
- - KBS 'The Gamer': StarCraft's 20th anniversary, from PC bangs to BoxeR and Faker. KBS special documentary broadcast 22 December 2019 tracing Korean gaming from the IMF-era PC bang boom through Lim Yo-hwan and Faker.
- - StarCraft: Ghost - What Happened?. A production history of StarCraft: Ghost across Nihilistic, Swingin' Ape and Blizzard, ending in its indefinite postponement in 2006.
- - The Korean StarCraft 'documentary' fan series, seasons one to three. Compilation of a Korean fan-made mock-documentary series treating StarCraft units as natural history, covering the Drone, Dragoon, Marine, Mutalisk, Corsair, Wraith, Ultralisk and Carrier.
- - The Gamer: the history of Korean gamers. The esports KBS posting of the same special documentary on the history of Korean professional gaming.
- - Inside the Leaked StarCraft: Ghost Build. IGN plays through the leaked playable build of the cancelled StarCraft: Ghost that surfaced online in 2020.
- - A modern PC bang, 2020. A South Korean PC bang photographed in March 2020, showing how the internet café format persisted decades after the StarCraft boom.
- - What Korean PC bangs looked like twenty years ago. KLAB report built from KBS archive footage of late-1990s and early-2000s PC bangs, complete with CRT monitors and an ashtray at every seat.
- - Dark interviewed during the 2020 GSL. Park Ryung-woo, one of Korea's strongest Zergs, interviewed between GSL rounds.
- - StarCraft II Turns Ten. Blizzard's tenth-anniversary update for StarCraft II, published exactly ten years after the Wings of Liberty launch.
- - Ten years of GSL, with Tastesless and Artosis. Anniversary retrospective marking the Global StarCraft League's first decade.
- - AlphaStar: How Google Infrastructure Made It Possible. Vinyals' keynote on the distributed computing infrastructure behind AlphaStar's league training.
- - Blizzard Ends Paid StarCraft II Development. Coverage of Blizzard's October 2020 announcement that no further paid content would be made for StarCraft II, moving the game to maintenance while tournaments continued.
- - From AlphaGo to AlphaStar and Beyond. Oriol Vinyals' university lecture tracing DeepMind's game-playing agents from AlphaGo through AlphaStar.
- - The History of the Terran. The terran backstory as written in the original 1998 StarCraft manual, read out and recreated in the StarCraft II engine.
- - Serral - A StarCraft II Documentary. A documentary on Joona 'Serral' Sotala, the Finnish player who broke Korean dominance of StarCraft II by winning the 2018 world championship.
- - The History of the Zerg. The zerg backstory from the original StarCraft manual, narrated and visualised in the StarCraft II editor.
- - The History of the Protoss. The protoss backstory from the original StarCraft manual, covering the Khala and the xel'naga.
- - Can StarCraft esports ever make a comeback?. Akshon Media piece on how StarCraft went from one of the world's biggest esports to a niche scene, and what a revival would require.
- - How StarCraft Changed An Entire Country. IGN Compete report on StarCraft's role in the explosive growth of Korean PC bangs after the game's 1998 launch and the esports industry that followed.
- - Rain vs Light, ASL Season 13 final. Grand final of ASL Season 13 between Jung Yoon-jong's Protoss and Lee Jae-ho's Terran.
- - StarCraft: The Making of a Legend. A retrospective on how the original StarCraft went from a troubled 1996 project to a genre-defining release.
- - The past and present of Korean StarCraft. Long-form Korean video essay on the arc from the OSL era to the streaming-era revival.
- - Artosis leaves Korea: the end of an era for the foreign scene. Tasteless explains why his casting partner Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski left Korea after more than a decade, closing a chapter of the foreign community's presence in Seoul.
- - The modern PC bang: dinner for two with a side of StarCraft. Korea JoongAng Daily report on how PC bangs evolved into food-serving social venues, with StarCraft still on the screens.
- - Jaedong tells his own story. The Tyrant recounts his path from a schoolboy skipping study hall to the esports hall of fame.
- - Artosis' Last GSL Cast. Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski is moved to tears at the end of his final GSL broadcast, closing twelve years of casting Korean StarCraft II.
- - Artosis recalls his first day in Korea. Personal account of arriving in Korea to pursue StarCraft, one of the founding stories of the foreigner community that embedded itself in the Korean scene.
- - The origins of the Zerg Rush meme. Short explainer tracing how the zerg rush went from an in-game tactic to one of the internet's most durable gaming memes.
- - The 2015 Korean Match-Fixing Scandal. An account of the match-fixing scandal that hit the Korean StarCraft II scene in 2015 and the prosecutions that followed.
- - When a tournament tried to stop the greatest gamer of all time. Akshon documentary on tournament organisers manipulating conditions against a dominant StarCraft player, and what it revealed about the era's competitive structures.
- - The Rise and Fall of MarineKing. The career of Lee 'MarineKing' Jung-hoon, one of StarCraft II's most popular early terrans and a GSL finalist.
- - The Brood War Protoss units that never made it into StarCraft II. Survey of the Protoss units cut between Brood War and its sequel, illustrated with footage from Brood War casts.
- - What did a 1990s Korean PC bang look like?. KBS Archive compilation of period footage showing first-generation PC bangs and the StarCraft craze that followed the 1997 IMF crisis and the government's IT push.
- - How the greatest gamer of all time left his fate to RNG. Documentary short on Flash's decision to play Random, and what it said about his dominance.
- - StarCraft II is dying but Brood War lives forever. Community commentary on Blizzard cutting StarCraft II tournament funding and ending development, and why the older game outlasted it.
- - Can you beat StarCraft without losing a single unit?. Challenge-play documentary attempting the original StarCraft campaign without a single unit loss, a signature form of the game's modern challenge community.
- - StarCraft was never meant to be played the way Koreans played it. Video essay arguing that Korean competitive play diverged completely from Blizzard's design intentions for the game.
- - T1 Base Camp PC bang, Hongdae. The interior of the T1 Base Camp PC bang in Hongdae, Seoul, showing rows of gaming PCs and T1-branded chairs. T1 is the successor of the SK Telecom T1 StarCraft team.
- - Fantasy, Jaedong, Bisu and Stork: career histories. Extended history of four late-era Brood War stars ahead of a showmatch reuniting them.
- - Stork vs Jaedong, Gamers8 SC:R Legends. Brood War legends invited to Riyadh for the SC:R Legends event at Gamers8 2023.
- - The truth about StarCraft's pathfinding. Technical examination of how Brood War's much-mythologised pathfinding actually works in the engine, correcting widely repeated claims.
- - Bot Versus Bot at the ProBots Tournament. A cast match between two custom-built StarCraft II AIs from the ProBots tournament, part of the ongoing community AI competition circuit.
- - Tasteless on the maps that are the pinnacle of StarCraft design. Nick 'Tasteless' Plott discusses the Brood War maps he considers the high point of competitive map design.
- - From champion to criminal: the story of Life. Documentary on Lee 'Life' Seung-hyun, the StarCraft II world champion convicted of match-fixing, and the scandal that followed.
- - Daegu MBC: 'StarCraft or Lineage?' inside a 1999 PC bang. Local news retrospective on Korean PC bangs spreading from the late 1990s, driven by people who lost their jobs in the IMF crisis and opened cafes.
- - SoulKey vs Mini, ASL Season 16 final. Zerg against Protoss in the ASL Season 16 grand final.
- - State of Play: the StarCraft documentary about Korea's pro-gaming stadiums. Feature documentary following professional StarCraft players in South Korea, where thousands fill stadiums in Seoul to watch Proleague. Features Lee Jae Dong and other pros.
- - Kim Jung-min on Jaedong, the most complete Zerg. Former pro and caster Kim Jung-min's profile of Jaedong in his player-study series.
- - Tasteless on Brood War versus StarCraft II and the collapse of Blizzard esports. Long interview with Nick 'Tasteless' Plott recorded in Korea, covering the two games, Blizzard's esports restructuring and what came next.
- - StarCraft graffiti in Tel Aviv. StarCraft-themed graffiti on Lavanda Street in Tel Aviv, photographed in November 2023.
- - Jaedong returns to OGN after a decade. Lee Jae-dong's first OnGameNet appearance in roughly ten years, revisiting the StarLeague era with old colleagues.
- - Tastosis at DreamHack Winter 2023. Tasteless and Artosis casting ESL StarCraft II Masters at DreamHack Winter 2023 in Atlanta, more than fifteen years into their partnership.
- - Clem on joining Team Liquid and reaching the top. Career interview with Clément Desplanches, the leading Western Terran.
- - Clem at IEM Katowice 2023. French player Clement Desplanches (Clem) competing in the StarCraft II tournament at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023.
- - StarCraft history: the first televised esports match. Tasteless reconstructs the earliest televised professional StarCraft match, a founding moment for esports broadcasting.
- - The gamer who fought an entire nation: Serral breaks Korea's monopoly. Akshon Media documentary on Serral, the first non-Korean to win the StarCraft II World Championship Series, and what that meant for the foreign scene.
- - Serral vs Clem - IEM Katowice 2024 Quarterfinal. The defining modern rivalry of StarCraft II, played out in the Katowice 2024 quarterfinals.
- - Serral vs Maru - IEM Katowice 2024 Grand Final. The grand final of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024, StarCraft II's flagship annual event at the Spodek arena.
- - How good are the StarCraft AIs?. Top North American Zerg player Jimin plays three Brood War AI bots, surveying the state of the game's long-running AI-development community.
- - Thorin on esports business, Blizzard versus KeSPA and Serval's legacy. Long interview with esports journalist Thorin covering the business history behind Korean StarCraft.
- - The greatest emperor in esports history: the BoxeR story. Career-length Korean retrospective on Lim Yo-hwan, built from broadcast footage.
- - Day[9] on why Brood War is so addictive. Sean Plott's rant about what makes Brood War compulsive to play, delivered as an argument against and then for taking it up.
- - StarCraft: The Best RTS Ever Made?. A retrospective arguing StarCraft's case as the defining real-time strategy game, covering its late-1990s reception and Korean adoption.
- - What really goes on in Korean pro team houses. Tasteless, resident in Korea since the OGN years, describes the team-house system from the inside.
- - StarCraft Brood War retrospective. Retrospective on Brood War as a classic of the RTS genre and a catalyst for online competitive play.
- - FoxeR at ESL SC2 Masters 2024. Korean StarCraft II player FoxeR competing at ESL StarCraft II Masters Spring 2024, held at DreamHack Dallas.
- - YTN: twenty-six years of StarCraft in Korea. News feature on why StarCraft still holds a mass audience in Korea, tracing it back to the IMF years.
- - Maru vs herO - ESL SC2 Masters Spring 2024. A playoff match from the ESL StarCraft II Pro Tour, the circuit that carried the game after Blizzard's WCS ended.
- - Maru and Serral, DreamHack Dallas 2024. Maru and Serral, the leading Korean and European StarCraft II players, together at ESL SC2 Masters Spring 2024.
- - Serral at ESL SC2 Masters 2024. Serral at ESL StarCraft II Masters Spring 2024, held at DreamHack Dallas.
- - Warcraft III legend Grubby plays StarCraft ladder. Artosis casts Grubby, one of Warcraft III's greatest players, taking on the Brood War ladder, illustrating how the modern ladder draws players from outside the game.
- - Maru vs herO - GSL Code S 2024 Final. The Code S season final of the 2024 Global StarCraft II League between nine-time champion Maru and herO.
- - Flash vs Jaedong Return in 2024. The two Brood War greats meet again in a best-of-five on StarCraft Remastered, fourteen years after their peak rivalry.
- - Gemini on casting the GSL alongside Tastosis. Interview with the GSL's third English caster on joining the booth and the show's production.
- - Racing the StarCraft speedrun ace. GiantGrantGames documents a head-to-head race against one of StarCraft's top campaign speedrunners, framing the challenge-play community around the original game.
- - The battle to own Korean StarCraft: Blizzard vs KeSPA. Explainer on the licensing war between Blizzard and the Korean e-Sports Association that nearly ended the sport.
- - Jaedong: the strongest Zerg and the last royal roader. Career retrospective on Lee Jae-dong, built from broadcast footage.
- - StarCraft Lore: The History of Each Race. An explainer covering the pre-game history of the terrans, zerg and protoss, including the terran exile from Earth.
- - Myeongga: twenty years of T1. Nearly three-hour official documentary on T1, the team built around BoxeR that became the defining institution of Korean esports.
- - uThermal on anxiety, balance and the greatest-of-all-time debate. Long StarCraft Historian interview with the Dutch professional Marc 'uThermal' Schlappi covering his career, the sport's pressures and the GOAT argument.
- - The economy of Korea's Brood War pro scene. Analysis of prize money and salaries in the modern Korean Brood War scene, estimating that Korean proleagues alone exceed two million dollars in annual earnings, excluding ASL and showmatches.
- - Serral vs herO, Esports World Cup 2024 group stage. Group-stage series between the Finnish world champion and Korea's leading Protoss at the 2024 Esports World Cup.
- - Serral vs Clem - Esports World Cup 2024 Final Four. The semifinal of the first Esports World Cup StarCraft II event in Riyadh, on the way to Clem's championship.
- - herO vs Clem, Esports World Cup 2024 final four. Final-four series of the 2024 Esports World Cup StarCraft II event.
- - Serral vs Clem - The Million-Dollar Grand Final. The 2024 Esports World Cup grand final, a best-of-nine in which Clem beat Serral to take StarCraft II's largest ever prize pool.
- - Artosis on the GOAT debate and Blizzard's esports retreat. The long-resident caster on Brood War versus StarCraft II and Blizzard's handling of the scene.
- - Day9 replays the StarCraft campaign 25 years later. Sean Plott returns to the original StarCraft single-player campaign after 25 years, reacting to how the 1998 design holds up.
- - Stork and FanTaSy on match-fixing, salaries and the team house. Two former Proleague professionals talk frankly about pay, dormitory life, welfare and the match-fixing years.
- - The hidden mechanics that make Brood War hard to understand. Breakdown of Brood War's unit types, damage types and missed-shot mechanics, the invisible systems governing every engagement.
- - The SCV: the most important unit in Brood War. Deep-dive on why the Terran worker unit carries far more of Brood War's play than its status as a worker suggests.
- - The original StarCraft and Brood War: a full retrospective. Feature-length retrospective covering the 1998 original and its expansion, their design and their universe.
- - Grrrr... on progaming before 2000 and the first TV broadcasts. Long interview with Grrrr..., the only foreigner ever to win an OSL, who became a celebrity in Korea and appeared on Korean reality television. Covers the pre-2000 era of pro gaming.
- - Maddox on growing up with Brood War in Korea. A fan's-eye history of Korean StarCraft, from watching Proleague in a barbershop to working as a translator.
- - Garimto on winning the OSL twice and the esports match-fixing scandal. Interview with Garimto, one of the first progamers, who won the OSL in 2000 and 2001, later became a commentator and returned to play before retiring in 2007.
- - Tasteless on StarCraft's History. Nick 'Tasteless' Plott, longtime GSL caster, gives a long-form oral history of foreign competition and casting in Korea.
- - The best Brood War players by Elo, 2021 to 2025. Statistical survey of the top-ranked Brood War players across five recent years, a snapshot of the modern competitive population.
- - The true strategy behind Brood War. Argues that Brood War is a game of invisible if-then decisions locked inside the Korean professional scene, dispelling common myths about how it is played.
- - How pro gamers come back from lost positions in Brood War. Argues that Brood War's jankiness produces an effectively infinite skill ceiling that lets professionals overturn hopeless positions.
- - The Original StarCraft Manual, Read Aloud. A complete reading of the lore sections of the 1998 StarCraft instruction booklet, the franchise's foundational written source.
- - The Blizzard-KeSPA dispute, told by an ex-OGN producer. A former OnGameNet producer recounts the licensing dispute from the broadcaster's side.
- - Why Brood War bonjwas struggled in StarCraft II. Analysis of why the dominant Brood War champions could not repeat their success after the sequel changed the economy and interface.
- - herO vs Cure, 2025 GSL Season 1 final. Global StarCraft League Code S final of the first 2025 season.
- - Best vs SoulKey, ASL Season 19 final. Nearly four hours of the ASL Season 19 grand final, one of the longest ASL finals on record.
- - Rogue vs Classic - 2025 GSL Season 2 Final. The Code S final of the 2025 Global StarCraft II League, Korea's flagship league, now broadcast on SOOP.
- - Serral vs Reynor, Esports World Cup 2025 playoffs. Zerg mirror between the two strongest European players at the 2025 Esports World Cup.
- - Serral vs Cure, Esports World Cup 2025 semi-final. Semi-final of the 2025 Esports World Cup StarCraft II event.
- - Classic vs Serral - Esports World Cup 2025 Grand Final. The StarCraft II grand final of the 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh, won by Serral for his third world championship.
- - How South Korea Made a StarCraft God. Long-form video essay on how South Korea's PC bang boom and broadcast leagues turned StarCraft players into national celebrities.
- - Esports World Cup 2025 StarCraft II, final day. The full eight-hour official broadcast of the closing day of the 2025 Esports World Cup StarCraft II event.
- - Serral after winning the Esports World Cup 2025. Interview with Serral immediately after his 2025 Esports World Cup title.
- - Playing Brood War with only the 1998 strategy guide. Experiment attempting Brood War using nothing but the original printed 1998 strategy guide, testing how the game's understanding has changed in three decades.
- - Serral Wins the Esports World Cup - Remember the Journey. The Esports World Cup's own retrospective on Serral claiming his third world championship and first EWC title in 2025, after losing the 2024 final to Clem.
- - ASL Season 20 round of 16, Group C. Group C of ASL Season 20 with SnOw, Sharp, JD and Mini, cast in English by Tastosis.
- - Barracks vs Mini, ASL Season 20 quarter-final. Quarter-final match one of ASL Season 20.
- - SnOw vs Effort, ASL Season 20 quarter-final. Protoss against Zerg in the ASL Season 20 quarter-finals.
- - Bisu vs Larva, ASL Season 20 quarter-final. Bisu, still competing eighteen years after his MSL breakthrough, faces Larva in the ASL Season 20 quarter-finals.
- - Blizzard's First StarCraft II Patch in Five Years. Analysis of the October 2025 balance patch, the first substantive Blizzard update to StarCraft II since the game entered maintenance mode.
- - Barracks vs SnOw, ASL Season 20 semi-final. First semi-final of ASL Season 20.
- - soma vs Bisu, ASL Season 20 semi-final. Semi-final two of ASL Season 20, the series that put soma into the final.
- - StarCraft II's Quiet Comeback. A look at the tournaments, patches and player interest suggesting StarCraft II was reviving heading into 2026.
- - SnOw vs soma, ASL Season 20 grand final. Three hours of the ASL Season 20 grand final, cast in English by Tasteless and Artosis.
- - Brood War: the expansion that did the impossible. Feature-length review of how the 1998 expansion improved on an already exceptional game, covering its new units, campaigns and balance changes.
- - Professionals play Big Game Hunters two-versus-two. Artosis casts Korean professionals on Big Game Hunters, the famously casual custom map, an unusual crossover between the pro scene and UMS culture.
- - What happened to StarCraft?. Analysis of how a franchise that helped create global esports declined, covering StarCraft II's trajectory and Blizzard's changing priorities.
- - Artosis on StarCraft's greatest casting era. Esports Awards Origins podcast interview with Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski about casting StarCraft in Korea and the era he covered.
- - StarCraft: Insurrection, the forgotten 1998 third-party expansion. History of the licensed third-party StarCraft expansion released in 1998, how it came about and why it vanished from the record.
- - BoxeR, YellOw and Reach on the StarCraft years. Long-form podcast reunion of Lim Yo-hwan, Hong Jin-ho and Park Jung-suk recalling the OSL era.
- - The Best StarCraft II AIs of 2026. A review of the state of StarCraft II bot development in 2026, seven years after AlphaStar reached Grandmaster.
- - The Past, Present and Future of StarCraft II. An assessment of StarCraft II esports after the game was dropped from the 2026 Esports World Cup lineup, covering the shift from corporate to community support.
- - The best foreign Protoss against a Korean champion. Artosis casts RoyaL against Dewalt on Polestar, a marker of where the international Brood War scene stands relative to Korea in 2026.
- - Tim Morten on Producing StarCraft II and Founding Frost Giant. The former StarCraft II production director discusses running the game's later years at Blizzard and leaving to found Frost Giant Studios.
- - Soma on Jaedong's Aggression Against Flash. Former progamer Soma breaks down the tactical logic behind Jaedong's aggression in the Flash rivalry, from a player's perspective.
- - The 2026 SC2 AI Arena Tournament Finals. Finals day of the 2026 AI Arena StarCraft II bot tournament, the community competition that continues the AIIDE and SSCAIT lineage.
- - Every Brood War unit explained. Unit-by-unit walkthrough of what the expansion added, covering the Medic, Valkyrie, Lurker, Devourer, Dark Templar and Dropship.
- - The Absurdly Deep Lore of StarCraft. A full-timeline lore essay running from the xel'naga and the Infinite Cycle through the protoss, terran and zerg arcs.
- - GSL Champions Kompetition 2026. The 2026 GSL Champions Kompetition, a draft-format team event featuring herO, Maru, Rogue, INnoVation and Classic.
- - Serral on StarCraft II's absence from EWC 2026. Serral discusses the game losing its Esports World Cup slot, community pressure and his 2024 defeat.
- - Is Brood War really as hard as everyone thinks?. StarCraft II professional uThermal examines the difficulty of Brood War's interface and mechanics against its reputation.
- - The Guild Wars and the Great War. A detailed lore essay covering the events leading into the original StarCraft and the whole of its three campaigns.
- - The Brood War, Explained. A lore essay covering the Brood War expansion's story, including the UED invasion and Kerrigan's consolidation of the Swarm.
- - ASL Season 21 round of 16, Group C. Bisu, Ample, JD and Flash in the same group of ASL Season 21.
- - Flash: this will be my final ASL. Flash tells his own stream that ASL Season 21 will be his last, subtitled in English.
- - How a video game scandal destroyed a national esports league. Long-form documentary on the match-fixing scandal that brought down Korea's StarCraft professional league.
- - SnOw vs Flash, ASL Season 21 quarter-final. Flash's quarter-final in what he announced would be his last ASL.
- - Flash interviewed after the ASL 21 semi-final. Lee Young-ho on his own channel after beating Light to reach his last StarLeague final.
- - Light vs Flash, ASL Season 21 semi-final. Terran mirror semi-final that sent Flash to his final ASL grand final.
- - herO vs SHIN - 2026 GSL Season 1 Final. The Code S final of the 2026 GSL Season 1, showing the Korean league still running sixteen years after its 2010 founding.
- - Heart of the Swarm, Explained. A lore essay covering the events of the zerg expansion and Kerrigan's return to the Swarm.
- - Flash after the ASL 21 final: back to reclaim my place. Post-final interview with Flash following the Season 21 grand final against soma.
- - soma vs Flash, ASL Season 21 grand final. Flash's last StarLeague final, lost to soma; the series is remembered for a contested SCV pull.
- - The Biggest Balance Patch in StarCraft II History. A breakdown of the sweeping 2026 PTR patch proposing fewer starting workers and the removal of Warpgate, sixteen years after the game's launch.
- - soma on Flash's SCV pull. The ASL Season 21 champion reviews all seven games of the final and the decision that defined it.
- - 2026 GSL Season 2 Code S Finals. The full finals-day broadcast of the 2026 GSL Season 2, featuring herO, Rogue, Maru and Cure.
- - Blizzard Responds to the 2026 Patch Feedback. Coverage of Blizzard's second PTR revision to the 2026 StarCraft II balance patch after community pushback, including Ghost nerfs.
- - A 2026 quality-of-life leap for StarCraft Remastered players. Community news on new desktop tooling and replay analysis for Remastered, showing the game's infrastructure still developing nearly thirty years on.
- - Serral vs herO - Maestros of the Game 2 Grand Final. The 2026 Maestros of the Game grand final between Serral and T1's herO, with analysis from RotterdaM.
- - Another StarCraft II Balance Hotfix. Blizzard ships a data-driven hotfix to the 2026 patch a week after release, adjusting Widow Mine lock time and zerg larva rate.
- - The Lost StarCraft Beta Credits. An investigation into original StarCraft lead designer Ron Millar's removal from the shipped credits, prompted by an email from his brother twenty-eight years later.
- - Clem on the Patch and the Future of StarCraft II. Clement 'Clem' Desplanches, the 2024 world champion, gives his view of the 2026 patch and of Blizzard's continuing commitment to the game.
- - How Korea invented professional esports. Short overview of the structures Korea built around competitive gaming and what they cost.
- - Serral vs Clem at RSL Season 6. The two highest-ranked StarCraft II players in the world meet in the 2026 RSL, still contesting the same rivalry eight years after Serral's first world title.
- - StarCraft Remastered in 2026: a player's view of the game's future. Personal reflection from a community member on where Brood War and Remastered stand in 2026 and how the scene sustains itself.
- - Is Brood War still worth playing in 2026?. Review revisiting the expansion's three campaigns, new units for every faction and its continuation of the original story, judged from the present day.
- - ASL Season 22 round of 24, Group A. Bisu, Rush, Shuttle and Hm open ASL Season 22, the currently running season.
Full text archive: /loreline-text/starcraft.md
