You probably already think of StarCraft: Brood War as one of the first esports, with its initial major events arriving shortly after a late 1998 release.

Maybe you know that patches are still being released, with 1.23.1 coming out just last month. But perhaps you weren't aware that professional tournaments continue to this day, with the latest, the Korea Starcraft League (KSL), entering season 4 on October 31st.

The PC Bang culture of South Korea started in the late 90s thanks to heavy government investment in broadband, combined with low PC ownership. The first big internet-ready games were StarCraft and Quake, and perhaps because a local Red Alert community already existed, StarCraft was quick to take off. Korean esports stars have since won over $80m.

Brood War live: KSL Season 4 schedule and live streams

More than a Flash in the pan

But how come people are still playing? Watching a game like this might help you see...

The mechanical skill for the game has always been very high, but never more so than today. Similarly, the decision-tree mapping for each race matchup has so much depth that we’re still exploring it, deeper and deeper, each year. It's reasonable to argue that Flash, the best ever StarCraft player, is the best esports competitor of any game, at any time.

StarCraft Remastered was released in August 2017 to celebrate the game's 20th birthday, reinvigorating the pro scene. The KSL has since completed three seasons since, while the Afreeca Starleague (ASL) has had eight seasons, five since Remastered.

KSL Season 4 qualifiers - the strongest survive

Hundreds of players took part in online qualifiers for KSL season 4 earlier this month, and 96 returned for the offline round last weekend. Joining the top four from last season, 12 players remain standing, the winners of 12 best-of- three single-elimination brackets, with many strong players falling enroute.

Perhaps the best-known player to lose out was Action, who has a top 4 finish in the most recent ASL to his name. He lost to Hyuk, who reaches his first major final. "Hyuking" is Korean StarCraft slang for (almost) throwing a game - think of C9 in Overwatch, or 322 in DOTA - so he's a step closer to writing a more positive page in his biography.

Other notable losers were Shine (2nd ASL3), JyJ (serial qualifier), and Calm (got out of his ASL7 finals group). But one of the best performances was by CadenZie, the only non-Korean, and the only non-male player to make it this far. She lost 2-1 to Olympus, one of the strongest semi-pro players, in round 2 of the offline qualifiers.

We've ended up with six Terran, five Zerg, and only one Protoss qualifier. But fear not, lovers of advanced-alien-races. The top four players from last season were all Protoss, and so are all seeded for season four. Last season's winner, Rain - who also won ASL season 5 last year - will probably be favourite again this time round.

Four Protoss semi-finalists might sound like a sign of imbalance, but like England in European cup finals, it's probably just an illusion.

The ASL was won 5 times from 8 by Terran, largely down to the mighty and aforementioned Flash. Flash preserves his wrists by only playing the ASL - a common injury that forces players to take sabbaticals or even their retirement from the game - which perhaps reduces the prestige of the KSL.

When your country comes calling...

Speaking of which, we’ve seen a lot of players retire since KSL Season 3, mostly for mandatory South Korean military service. Tottenham Hotspur fans might have watched the 2018 Asian Games, heart in mouth, as Son Heung-Min sought to earn an exemption to this service - sadly no such path exists for StarCraft pros.

Chief among the retirees was Flash, entering military service and letting his wrists and shoulder recover. But we’ve also lost Jaedong (military), Soulkey (military), and Last (wrist injury), taking 14 top-four finishes in modern-era majors away with them.

KSL Season 4 groups - the matchups

So, we’ll see a changing of the guard this season, with players from the next generation taking some of their first steps on to the big stage. They’ll play double elimination groups of four:

Group A: Modesty (Z), Mind (T), Stork (P), Mini (P)

Group B: Sacsri (Z), Rush (T), Best (P), Rain (P)

Group C: Sharp (T), Snow (P), Sorry (T), Soma (Z)

Group D: Forgg (T), Light (T), Hyuk (Z), Queen (Z)

There are six debutants and one player with only one season completed. Group A is the group of death - Mini finished second in two majors, with a further 8 top 8 finishes between them. Welcome to the big leagues, Modesty!

KSL Season 4 schedule

The 16 will be competing for a prize pool of 80m… Korean Won (about €60k) for four weeks, starting on October 31st at 3pm KST.

Pictures: starcraft_kr Twitch