Brood War Clan League
Overview[edit]
The Brood War Clan League (BWCL) is the oldest and still active foreign clan league. For a long time the organizers were able to fill 15 divisions with 10 clans in each; its reputation was based on the many top clans competing in it, often leading to a waiting list with more than 50 clans queued up.
History[edit]
BWCL was founded in 2001 by the German fan page BroodWar.de. BroodWar.de was renamed to inStarCraft.de later - the name BWCL however did not change. The 42nd season ended on 3rd November 2012.
In the early years the league was German only and didn't support any other languages, since all divisions could be filled with German-Speaking (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) clans.
Ever since Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft the German scene became smaller, which forced the league to open its doors to the international scene step by step. In 2004 (citation needed) the BWCL allowed mercanaries for each clans that did not need to speak German as first language. This rule was heavily criticized at first. In 2005 (citation needed) full English support was implemented and the first foreign clans joined.
Ever since SCII Beta stages the league had to suffer from heavy inactivity and most divisions had to be closed. Since season 38 the number of participating clans increased again. However, with the influx of players declining a few months after the release of Wings of Liberty the sign ups sank to an all-time low. Eventually, the BWCL Season 44 marked the last season for the upcoming years.
In late 2017 the clan league re-opened the doors with a test season, once again carried by the release of StarCraft Remastered. The first season was labelled "Beta Season" and featured twelve teams with more than fifteen players each. In January 2018 the BWCL Season 44 [sic!] started, this time featuring a league for rookies called "Little League", being only open to players with an MMR lower than 1900 points.
Other Projects[edit]
King of Kings[edit]
In 2003 the BWCL hosted a tournament series in cooperation with BroodWar.de's BW4Ever tournament portal: the King of Kings series. These were individual tours, which only players from BWCL clans could enter. Every team had the option to send a number of players into the competition, depending on their placement in the divisions.
This series should in theory be hosted once per season, but was often paused due to problems with the tournament page. Due to the merge with inGame.de the BW4Ever page was updated and re-released under the name "InCup".
BWCL Cups[edit]
An additional series of tournaments for all clans was introduced around 2003 (citation needed). Any clan could enter and had to play two 1on1s and one 2on2. This allowed new founded clans to play against clans of higher divisions. Some clans could directly move up this way.
BWCL Premier League[edit]
The BWCL hosted two BWCL Premier League seasons. The franchise was invite only. The first season took place in 2004. The second season lasted from 2006 to 2007.
Trivia[edit]
- The Danish Team Meet Your Makers won seven titles in a row, but under different names
- In 2007 MYM merged with DkH and took over their spot in Division 1
- MYM disbanded and the complete roster switched ESC Gaming
- after ESC Gaming disbanded the complete roster transferred to mousesports
- The German roster of the Templars of Twilight used to reign in the early years of the league and had the longest win record before international teams were allowed to enter
- The individual records of top players and their success in the King of Kings series was often used to give out invites to invitational tournaments, clan invites and invites to National Teams (especially important for German players)
- Ever since the Templars of Twilight left the BWCL around 2005, many of their best players were to be found as mercanaries in other clans; some even in very small, traditional German clans
- since BWCL uses four 1on1s and two 2on2s the score of a clan war can be tied; this was especially important to clans with very good 2on2 line up
- the only player that had been constantly black-listed for years was Selector
- even without having prizes BWCL used to have the most active clans and users before the SCII Beta
Hall of Fame[edit]
BWCL[edit]
Season | Year | Winner | Runner Up |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2001 | Fighters for Freedom | - |
2 | 2001 | Team eXhale | Legendary Fighters |
3 | 2001 | Deutschlands Kranke Horde | - |
4 | 2001 | Templars of Twilight | - |
5 | 2002 | Deutschlands Kranke Horde | Templars of Twilight |
6 | 2002 | Templars of Twilight | Fallen Angels |
7 | 2002 | Templars of Twilight | Starcoma Familia |
8 | 2002 | Templars of Twilight | StarCraft Troopers |
9 | 2002 | StarCraft Troopers | - |
10 | 2003 | Templars of Twilight | - |
11 | 2003 | Templars of Twilight | Pirates called Nuts |
12 | 2003 | Templars of Twilight | StarCraft Troopers / #ferus |
13 | 2003 | Templars of Twilight | Fighting Club |
14 | 2003 | Templars of Twilight | Starcoma Family |
15 | 2003 | Templars of Twilight | ivy Amateur Team |
16 | 2004 | Templars of Twilight | Bleeding Hollow Clan |
17 | 2004 | aeterna societas honoris | ivy Amateur Team |
18 | 2005 | aeterna societas honoris | ivy Amateur Team |
19 | 2005 | aeterna societas honoris | ivy Amateur Team |
20 | 2005 | aeterna societas honoris | team Kolix |
21 | 2006 | Czech Demolition Squad | Fallen Angels |
22 | 2006 | Czech Demolition Squad | Biologic |
23 | 2006 | Czech Demolition Squad | aeterna societas honoris |
24 | 2007 | Excello | Czech Demolition Squad |
25 | 2007 | Excello | Deutschlands Kranke Horde |
26 | 2007 | Deutschlands Kranke Horde | Excello |
27 | 2007 | Excello | Meet Your Makers |
28 | 2008 | Meet Your Makers | Face 2 Face |
29 | 2008 | Meet Your Makers | Face 2 Face |
30 | 2008 | Meet Your Makers | faculty |
31 | 2008/9 | ESC Gaming | mTw |
32 | 2009 | ESC Gaming | Speedlink |
33 | 2009 | ESC Gaming | Speedlink |
34 | 2010 | mousesports | NeO roxxor Team |
35 | 2010 | - | - |
36 | 2010 | sas | Team Noobs |
37 | 2010 | Los Reyes Del Mambo Evolutions | sas |
38 | 2011 | international Federation of Untouchables | - |
39 | 2011 | international Federation of Untouchables | - |
40 | 2011/12 | Team Noobs | - |
41 | 2012 | insanity without Limits | - |
42 | 2012 | insanity without Limits | - |
43 | 2013 | eviL Spirits Family | raGe |
44 | 2013 | raGe | OverDosed |
44 | 2018 | Red | inte Riktigt kloka |
45 | 2018 | North American Squad | inte Riktigt kloka |
46 | 2018 | inte Riktigt kloka | Klan Dark Venom |
47 | 2019 | inte Riktigt kloka | North American Squad |
48 | 2019 | SouL Gaming | inte Riktigt kloka |
49 | 2020 | North American Squad | inte Riktigt kloka |
50 | 2020 | inte Riktigt kloka | SouL Gaming |
51 | 2020 | SouL Gaming | inte Riktigt kloka |
52 | 2021 | inte Riktigt kloka | SouL Gaming |
53 | 2021 | SouL Gaming | inte Riktigt kloka |
54 | 2021 | SouL Gaming | inte Riktigt kloka |
55 | 2022 | inte Riktigt kloka | Crazy Warriors Team |
56 | 2022 | Crazy Warriors Team | inte Riktigt kloka |
57 | 2022 | Crazy Warriors Team | inte Riktigt kloka |
King of Kings[edit]
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BWCL Cup[edit]
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