Today MLG and GOMtv announced that they have partnered up to establish a League Exchange Program that will send the best MLG players to compete in the GSL, and allow top Korean talent to play live in the US.

Pro Circuit Players Competing in the GSL

• At MLG Columbus, the Top 3 non-Korean finishers will each be placed into GSL Code A.
• At every 2011 Pro Circuit Live Competition after MLG Columbus, GSL placement will occur as follows:
  • Code S status will be awarded to the highest placing player, regardless of country of origin, who does not already have Code S status.
  • Code A status will be awarded to the next three highest placing non-Korean players.
  • If Code S status is awarded to a Korean player, Code A status also will be awarded to the 4th highest placing non-Korean player.
• All travel and accomodation expenses for these players will be provided by the GSL. 

GSL Pro Players Competing on the MLG Pro Circuit

• MLG will invite four Korean pro players to each Pro Circuit Live Competition.
• These players will be placed directly into the Championship Pools, one into each Pool.
• Their placement in the Pools will be determined by their GSL rank.
• All travel and accomodation expenses for these players will be provided by MLG.
• For MLG Columbus, we will also be inviting a player from the CSN tournament, currently in progress. This player will be seeded into the Open Bracket, and their travel and accomodation expenses will be covered by CSN.

This is historic news because this will be the first time the GSL has ever granted Code S status based on the results from another tournament. It will also be the first time Korean progamers have ever competed live in an open-registration StarCraft 2 tournament in the US.

The GSL players who will be attending MLG Columbus are:

• ST_Bomber

• IM.Losira

• SlayerS_MMA

• FOXMoon

For all the official announcement, click here.

Korea is often seen at the capitol of Starcraft and Starcraft II, and it’s hard to argue against that. It is important, however, to remember that eSports are pretty big across Asia as a whole. For example, today broadcasting company eSport TV Thailand announced that it will be holding a StarCraft II tournament from August 8th to the 19th.

Featuring a massive prize pool of over $100,000 USD as well as 32 of the best SC2 players around, the Starcraft II Open Season 1 will be broadcasted from Bangkok, Thailand with a live studio audience similar to the GSL. A major difference between this tournament and the GSL, however, is that the players will play online and the audience will actually get to interact with the gamers.

Registration for the tournament will begin on May 15. Any progamer is free to sign up, but eSport TV Thailand will have the final say on who gets to play. The full player list will be released sometime in June. The actual format of the tournament will follow a Single Elimination 32 Player system with random seeding. One interesting aspect of the Starcraft II Open Season 1 is that there will be 2 showmatches between players whom the audience picked. This you are sure to see the fan favorites duke it out.

The primary sponsor and host of the tournament, eSport TV Thailand, wishes to differentiate their event from others by including an unprecedented amount of viewer interaction—the audience will affect the players in the 2 showmatches while subscribers will be able to win random prizes, including coaching lessons and gift vouchers.

Another similarity between the Starcraft II Open Season 1 and the GSL is that there will be a free medium quality stream along with a paid HD stream ($9.99) that includes access to the VODs.

To check out all the details, click here.

One of the most popular weekly European StarCraft II tournaments is the ZOTAC Cup. Every week European gamers go head to head hoping to get their hands on the €100/computer hardware prize, not to mention bragging rights as well.

Today ZOTAC announced that it’s coming to North America. Starting May 14th, North American gamers can compete weekly for $100 plus hardware prizes. The ZOTAC Cup will be held each Saturday at 15:00 PST and will follow the same format as the European version. Much like the European predecessor, the North American ZOTAC Cup will feature maps from Blizzard, iCCup and the GSL.

The ZOTAC StarCraft II North America tournament will be played in a “pool system” with high and low seeds until the quarter finals. Starting with the quarter-finals each round will then be played in a single elimination grid system. Pool rounds will be held in Best of one, Quarterfinals and Semifinals in Best of three mode and the Final will be best of five. Maps will be vetoed until the right set of possible maps is found.

During the tournament, the pool system will find the next available opponent automatically for the participant to minimize waiting times between the matches. A limited number of players receive high seeds in order to not eliminate each other before the final rounds. If a high seeded player loses his match, his opponent will inherit his high seed slot.

If you think you have what it takes, click here to sign up.

A week ago the IGN Pro League finished up Season 1 of their StarCraft II tournament. Today the league has released a full replay pack for you to download for free. This means that you can watch your favorite players from within StarCraft II, allowing you control over observation. This is a big deal because replays essentially allow you to study exactly what the pros are doing, which lets your incorporate their style into your play.

IGN Wrote:
IGN eSports is now releasing the replay pack of all of the games from the first season of the IGN Pro League. We know this is something that people really like so for our first season we are happy to be able to provide this for you. We hope you learn a lot from the games contained within, hone your game skills and play in IPL Season Two! If you think you have the skills, stand up and fight for a spot in the IPL Season 2!

To get your hands on the replay pack, click here. Also, if you missed out on Season 1 of the IGN Pro League, you can check out all the VODs for free.

Today, League of Legends was updated to v1.0.0.118. The update included the new champion – Vayne, the Night Hunter – and a new stat for items. The new stat, Tenacity, helps reduce the durations of slows, stuns, taunts, fears, etc. (crowd controls) Mercury Treads now have tenacity, as well as three new items: Cloak and Dagger, Moonflair Spellblade, and Eleisa’s Miracle. Tenacity is non-stackable, so only one item with tenacity is needed. Other big changes saw Gangplank getting a buff and Karthus receiving a nerf as well as changes to Rod of Ages, and Wit’s End. Here is part of the changelog, specifically the skills for the new champion Vayne:

Vayne, The Night Hunter

• Night Hunter (Passive): Vayne ruthlessly hunts evil-doers. She gains bonus Movement Speed when moving toward nearby enemy champions.
• Tumble: Vayne tumbles, maneuvering to carefully place her next shot. She rolls toward the cursor and her next attack deals bonus damage.
• Silver Bolts: Vayne tips her bolts with a rare metal, toxic to evil things. The third consecutive attack or ability against the same target deals a percentage of the target’s maximum Health as bonus true damage. (Max damage vs. Monsters is capped)
• Condemn: Vayne draws a heavy crossbow from her back, and fires a huge bolt at her target, dealing damage and knocking them back. If they collide with terrain, they are impaled, dealing bonus damage and stunning them.
• Final Hour (Ultimate): Readying herself for an epic confrontation, Vayne gains increased Attack Damage, stealth during Tumble, and quadruple the bonus Movement Speed from Night Hunter.

For the complete release log, look here.