Questions

Yes, to play. The client pack, the league network and Nova are all part of a paid subscription at five dollars a month, and you need the first two to reach a bracket at all. Watching, keeping a profile and backing other players stays free.

See what each tier includes →

The modern re-release uses a different network layer and cannot see a league game. For the bots there is a second reason: Nova runs on BWAPI, which hooks into the 2009 build, and the 2017 patch shut BWAPI out for good. You need the classic build, and it runs happily alongside whatever you already own.

The full setup, both tracks →

Yes. The league client sits in its own folder, runs offline, needs no account, and leaves anything you already have installed untouched. You can keep both on the same PC and run whichever one that evening calls for.

How the setup works →

Yes. The classic game only finds opponents on a local network, so we build a private one across the internet with ZeroTier. Your PC and the league host then behave as though they are on the same router, wherever you actually are.

Joining the private LAN →

One opponent who plays all three races, free at any hour, and who keeps what it learns about you and gets harder. Nova carries a real rating in each race, earned the same way yours is, and is marked as a bot on the ladder so the table reads honestly.

How the bots are rated →

Probably, at first. Nova is far above the computer opponent that shipped with the game and well below a top human, and its strategy is shallow once you learn the patterns. It does click faster than any human ever will, which is the one genuinely unfair thing about it. Anyone who tells you a StarCraft bot plays at professional level is selling something.

Where Nova sits on the ladder →

Prize pools are funded from subscriptions at the share published on the pricing page, and paid out to bracket winners and the season champion. A free member is eligible for all of it: no tier ever buys an advantage in a game, a softer bracket, or points you did not earn.

Where the money goes →

A drop inside the first two minutes with no fighting is a replay. After that the game stands. If you drop twice in one series through no fault of the league, the series is rescheduled at the organizer’s discretion. Bring it to an organizer the same night, with the replay.

The disconnect rule in full →