How it works

Two ways in, and only one of them involves playing. Four steps either way.

I want to play Four steps to a paid profile, a ladder place and fans of your own. I want to watch Four steps, no account, and nothing to pay unless you choose to back somebody.

Subscribers only

Playing is behind the subscription. Watching never is.

The launcher, the league network and every version of Nova (opens in a new tab) come with a pro-gamer subscription, from five dollars a month. Anybody can watch every replay, read every profile and back a player without an account.

See pricing

For gamers

You want to be one of the people on this site. Four steps, in order.

01

Register as a pro-gamer

A paid subscription, unless you are a founding member or you came through the annual draft pick. That is the step that makes you eligible to play.

  1. Pick a tier on the pricing page
  2. Use your real name and a real photograph of your face; the Authenticity Policy requires both
  3. You must be 18 or over to register as a pro-gamer

Register

02

Download the launcher

The OPLeague Desktop Launcher sets up the game, connects you to the league network, and reports your results with the replay attached. No network IDs to paste and no scores to type.

  1. Sign in to the launcher with your OPLeague account
  2. It installs or finds the game for you, and connects you to the league
  3. Every official match you play is reported by it automatically

Get the launcher

03

Set up your profile

Your picture, your bio, the games you play, and the tiers your fans can back you at. This is the page you send people to.

  1. Your photo and a few lines about you
  2. Your channels, so your stream and videos appear on your page
  3. Your rating, record and rank fill in on their own as you play

See a profile

04

Play, and tell people

Join a bracket or a tournament, and point your existing followers at your page. The league runs the competition; the audience is yours to build.

  1. Enter a bracket from the tournaments page
  2. Play against Nova at any hour to practice
  3. Share your page. One paying supporter is what makes you a professional

See the brackets

For fans

You are here to watch, and to back somebody. No account needed, and backing a player never makes you a pro-gamer.

  1. 01 Find your favorite gamers Browse the players, the ladder and the brackets until somebody makes you care how their next game goes. Free, no account Browse the players →
  2. 02 Watch every game they play Their games, their replays, their stream. Everything on their page is free to watch, and you never need an account to do it. Free, no account See the brackets →
  3. 03 Back the ones you love Subscribe at whatever tier you want. The money goes to that player, and it is what makes them a professional. You choose the tier How backing works →
  4. 04 Join their community Every player runs their own. Turn up for the matches and talk to the other people who back them. Free, no account Questions fans ask →
Browse the players Support a player

What you need

An account
A paid pro-gamer subscription to play. Nothing at all to watch.
The launcher
The OPLeague Desktop Launcher, Windows, from the setup page
The game
StarCraft: Brood War to start. The launcher handles which build.
Your face
A real name and a real photograph on any profile that takes money
Hardware
Anything from the last fifteen years will do

One thing to know about Nova

Nova can only run on the 2009 version of StarCraft, because the current version locked bots out in 2017. The launcher sorts out which build you need for which match, so there is nothing to hunt for; it is only worth knowing why there are two.

Never let your inner child die

That is the whole setup

Register, install the launcher, set up your page, and play.

Register Tournaments