KeSPA Cup
| KeSPA Cup | |
|---|---|
 KeSPA Cup logo in 2015. | |
| Genre | Esports |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Venue | Nexon Arena |
| Location(s) | Asia |
| Country | South Korea |
| Inaugurated | 2005 |
| Most recent | 2016 |
| Website | |
| http://e-sports.or.kr/kespacup/ | |
The KeSPA Cup (Hangul: 케스파컵) is an annual eSports event organized by KeSPA, the Korean eSports Association. As of 2016, tournaments are organized for StarCraft II and League of Legends and are played live at the Nexon Arena in Seoul.
History
The first KeSPA cup was hosted in 2005 as a tournament to allow professional StarCraft teams to play against amateur teams. Events were also held for Special Force, Kartrider, and FreeStyle Street Basketball. The second event was held in 2007 at Sejong University and also included WarCraft 3 and Counter Strike.[1]
In 2014, seven years since the last event, KeSPA Cup was brought back for its modern iteration and it has been held every year since. StarCraft II was the only game that had a tournament in the relaunch of the initiative and it featured 16 of the year's best players playing for 8 million South Korean won.[2] The following year, two tournaments for StarCraft II were held, the first in May and the second in July. League of Legends was added as one of the events in 2015.[3]
In 2016, Alex "Neeb" Sunderhaft became the first non-Korean StarCraft player to win a major Korean tournament in sixteen years after winning the 2016 KeSPA Cup. The previous non-Korean champion was Guillaume Patry, who won the first OnGameNet StarLeague in 2000.[4]
Tournaments
StarCraft
The format for the original StarCraft KeSPA Cup was a team based event where professional teams under KeSPA played against amateur teams. There have been no more tournaments held for StarCraft since 2007.
| Year | Name of Tournament | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The First KeSPA Cup | Samsung |
| 2007 | The Second KeSPA Cup | MBC Game Hero |
StarCraft II
KeSPA Cup was relaunched with a StarCraft II tournament. All of the tournaments are all part of the Battle.net World Championship Series and thus award WCS points to the participants. The format for the tournament is a sixteen player elimination tournament starting with group stages and entering a playoffs round in the round of 8.
| Year | Name of Tournament | Winner | Score | Runner Up | Total Prize Pool (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2014 KeSPA Cup | Joo "Zest" Sung Wook | 4 - 1 | Kim "herO" Joon Ho | 80,000,000 |
| 2015 | GiGA Internet 2015 KeSPA Cup Season 1 | Kim "herO" Joon Ho | 4 - 3 | Park "Dark" Ryung Woo | 25,000,000 |
| 2015 | LOTTE Homeshopping 2015 KeSPA Cup Season 2 | Eo "soO" Yoon Su | 4 - 1 | Park "Dark" Ryung Woo | 25,000,000 |
| 2016 | 2016 KeSPA Cup | Alex "Neeb" Sunderhaft | 4 - 0 | Cho "Trap" Sung Ho | 55,000,000 |
League of Legends
League of Legends was added as a recurring event in 2015. Fourteen teams compete in the tournament with the top two teams from League of Legends Champions Korea automatically seeded into the round of 8. The remaining 12 teams play in group stages to determine who advances.
| Year | Name of Tournament | Winner | Score | Runner Up | Total Prize Pool (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup | ESC Ever | 3 - 0 | CJ Entus | 100,000,000 |
| 2016 | 2016 LoL KeSPA Cup | Kongdoo Monster | 1 - 3 | ROX Tigers | 100,000,000 [5] |
External links
References
- ↑ "Kespa Cup Bracket". March 4, 2007. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ↑ "[스타2] KeSPA Cup 부활! 올해는 스타크래프트2 글로벌 티어1 대회로 진행" [[StarCraft 2] KeSPA Cup Revival! Announcing a Global Tier 1 StarCraft 2 Tournament] (in Korean). May 21, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ↑ "KESPA CUP IS COMING". November 3, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ↑ "Neeb first non-Korean in 16 years to win premier South Korean StarCraft tourney". October 4, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ↑ "2016 LoL KeSPA Cup". Gamepedia. Retrieved From: Retrieved 9 January 2017