Collegiate Starleague 2019-2020 Season Underway

The Collegiate Starleague, a US-based college-level esports organization, is expanding its presence in the Fighting Game Community. Originally limited to franchises such as StarCraft and Counterstrike, the CSL has recently added the Super Smash Bros. franchise to its roster. This year will also feature its first season-length Street Fighter circuit, which is taking place in partnership with the Street Fighter League.

Competition has already begun for all three titles (Smash Melee, Smash Ultimate, and SFV). The formats for the various FGC leagues are similar. They’re all team-based, with the SFV tournament mimicking the 3-on-3 setup of the SFL (though without a character ban) and the Smash tournaments featuring 5-member teams. All three will run qualifiers from October through December. SFV regionals will run from January through February, with the divisional round coming in March and the finals (i.e., nationals) in April. For Smash Melee and Ultimate, the regional round will begin in February, the divisional round in May, and the national round in August. All three titles boast a prize pool of $15,000 and a top prize of $9,000.

According to the organization’s website, the CSL will contribute to travel costs for participants in all three leagues starting at the regional round. Students at smaller institutions may also qualify to compete on a team from a larger school, so would-be participants who are struggling to find teammates shouldn’t count themselves out.

Prospective competitors should also note that there’s still time to sign up, as registration happens on a rolling basis per region. In the near future, all three have qualifiers upcoming at George Mason University in Virginia and Iowa State University; subsequent qualifiers can be found for SFV here, for Melee here, and for Smash Ultimate here.