Part Six: Samsung Khan

Samsung Khan was another team with meager beginnings. Being a bottom feeder team that either was at the bottom of the standings, or failing to qualify for the ProLeague in the first place, Samsung Khan was a hopeless bunch of players such as SaferZerg, or DoGGi, who would have made decent supporting casts on other teams, but were not fit for elite ProLeauge ace roles.

Being the ProLeague ace for Samsung Khan in 2003 was somewhat like being the most youthful in a nursing home. So, for the first year of Samsung Khan's history, while DoGGi did what he could in the one-versus-one games, I personally think the spot for the ProLeague one-versu-one ace was in some ways vacant during this time-frame.

It all changed after Samsung Khan recruited JJu from SouL in 2005, and Samsung Khan no longer became a bottom feeder team.

1. DoGGi: The player known more for his memes than his achievements

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Duration as the ace player: KTF EVER ProLeague ~ SKY 2004 ProLeague Grand Finals

DoGGi's one-versus-one record during this time-frame: 8-9 (47.1%)

One-versus-one record of the second best Samsung Khan player (GGon) during this time-frame: 5-6 (45.5%)

One-versus-one record of the best ProLeague players during this time-frame:

1. iloveoov: 20-7 (74.1%)
2. SiR@SoNi~: 16-9 (64.0%)
3. NaDa: 16-13 (55.2%)
4. ClouD: 15-6 (71.4%)
5. GoodFriend: 15-6 (71.4%)

DoGGi was the struggling ace of a struggling team before JJu came to the rescue. Not only did Samsung Khan fail to make the play-off stages for any of the seasons before 2005, they often were at the bottom of the totem pole.

DoGGi was a competent terran player who peaked at the round of eight of the OGN StarLeague, and did what he could do for the team in the ProLeague, but was vastly outgunned by a plethora superior terran players of his era. He is mostly remembered by the older fans as a player who had an unnatural fixation with the number three (three factories, three expansions, and so forth)

2. JJu: The savior of Samsung Khan

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Duration as the ace player: SKY 2005 ProLeague R1 ~ SKY 2006 ProLeague Grand Finals

JJu's one-versus-one record during this time-frame: 24-17 (58.5%)

One-versus-one record of the second best Samsung Khan player (Stork) during this time-frame: 22-22 (50.0%)

One-versus-one record of the best ProLeague players during this time-frame:

1. NaDa: 30-19 (61.2%)
2. Midas: 24-9 (72.7%)
3. JJu: 24-17 (58.5%)
4. GGPlay: 24-19 (55.8%)
5. sAviOr: 22-11 (66.7%)

JJu started off his career as the zerg ace of SouL alongside ChoJJa, and like it was the case for all poorly funded teams, both ended up being sold off to other teams to make ends meet.

JJu's impact on the team was immediate. Samsung Khan won the first ever KeSPA Cup that was held in 2005, as well as reaching the finals of SKY 2005 ProLeague R1 after years of toiling at the bottom of the ladder.

During this time-frame, JJu arguably had more ProLeague presence and influence than some of the greatest zerg players of this era such as July, sAviOr, and GGPlay. Stork was a protoss prodigy who also made his presence known to the public by doing wonderfully in his rookie year in the ProLeague. Together, both JJu and Stork were able to take Samsung Khan to previously unreachable heights.

3. Stork: The greatest ProLeague ace Samsung Khan ever had

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Duration as the ace player: Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1 ~ SK Planet ProLeague S1

Stork's one-versus-one record during this time-frame: 165-98 (62.7%)

One-versus-one record of the second best Samsung Khan player (JangBi) during this time-frame: 105-103 (50.5%)

One-versus-one record of the best ProLeague players during this time-frame:

1. Flash: 228-80 (74.0%)
2. Jaedong: 219-97 (69.3%)
3. Bisu: 180-79 (69.5%)
4. Stork: 165-98 (62.7%)
5. Leta: 148-91 (61.9%)

After years of playing second in command to JJu, Stork was able to transform his contender team into one of the most fearsome ProLeague rosters in memory. From 2007 to 2008, Samsung Khan was the team to beat for many. And during this time-frame, Stork was probably the best ProLeague ace in the entire scene.

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Duration as the ace player: Shinhan 2007 ProLeague R1 ~ Shinhan 2008 ProLeague

Stork's one-versus-one record during this time-frame: 43-19 (69.4%)

One-versus-one record of the second best Samsung Khan player (firebathero) during this time-frame: 31-13 (70.5%)

One-versus-one record of the best ProLeague players during this time-frame:

1. Stork: 43-19 (69.4%)
2. free: 42-31 (57.5%)
3. Sea: 41-15 (73.2%)
4. Jaedong: 41-21 (66.1%)
5. Anytime: 39-18 (68.4%)

2007 represents a significant change in the landscape of professional Brood War. Taek-Beng-LeeSsang is the quartet of the best players of this particular era. Not only did these four players dominate the ProLeague for years on end, these four players represented their respective races in countless individual leagues, and won fifteen major individual league championships between the four of them.

Stork is the odd one out out of these four. Stork is the oldest, and is the only non-draftee out of the four (the drafting system was first implemented in 2005, when Stork had already made his debut as a professional). As can be seen above, Stork was actually a top performing ProLeague player as early as 2005, when it was the likes of NaDa and Midas reigning supreme in the ProLeague realm.

Stork transitioned from being part of the triumvirate of new protoss hopefuls by the end of 2005 (Anytime, PuSan, and Stork), and gradually became part of another group of protoss elite known as the Six Dragons (Bisu, Stork, JangBi, Kal, free, and BeSt).

Although Stork is indeed the weakest link out of the formidible Taek-Beng-LeeSsang line-up during this specific time-frame, it is important to note that Stork is the odd one out of the four because he actually belonged to another era. His superlative longetivity drew him comparisons with younger players such as Flash, Jaedong, and Bisu despite the other three all making their debuts later than Stork. Stork's debut date is actually closer to the debut of the likes of iloveoov and sAviOr than it is to Flash. Let that sink in for a while.

c3rberUs

Japan11575 Posts

March 01 2018 22:50 GMT

The triumvirate of Stork, Anytime and PuSan is not well known today but when I first read it, I think damn Stork is less of a dinosaur and more of a crocodile; outlasted all the giants of his era.

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

March 02 2018 01:46 GMT

On March 02 2018 07:50 c3rberUs wrote:
The triumvirate of Stork, Anytime and PuSan is not well known today but when I first read it, I think damn Stork is less of a dinosaur and more of a crocodile; outlasted all the giants of his era.

Indeed he was.

One way to look at it is to rank the protoss players with the most amount of recorded victories per calendar year on TLPD. It is far from a perfect metric (sometimes even a flawed method) to judge players, but it is one of the metrics one could use in order to judge the relevant protoss triumvirate for each of the eras.

2000

1. GARIMTO
2. Grrrr...
2. IntoTheRain

2001

1. IntoTheRain
2. GARIMTO
3. Grrrr...

2002

1. Reach
2. ZeuS
3. fOru

2003

1. Reach
2. IntoTheRainBOw
3. Kingdom

2004

1. Reach
2. Kingdom
3. fOru

2005

1. Nal_rA
2. Reach
3. PuSan
*4. Stork

2006

1. Bisu
2. Anytime
3. Stork

2007

1. Stork
2. Bisu
3. free

2008

1. Stork
2. Kal
3. JangBi

2009

1. Bisu
2. Stork
3. JangBi

2010

1. Kal
2. Bisu
3. Stork

2011

1. Bisu
2. JangBi
3. Stats
*4. Stork

2012

1. JangBi
2. Stork
3. Bisu

Except for 2005 and 2011, the years Stork ends up in 4th place, Stork was always one of the top three performing protoss players in terms of overall number of victories. That's an insane level of consistency. Top four out of the player's race of choice, in terms of overall number of wins earned non-stop for eight consecutive years as a professional, is unheard of for any player known for their longetivity including the likes of NaDa (2002 to 2006), Jaedong (2006 to 2011), or Flash (2008 to 2012).

Bisu comes pretty close to Stork in terms of consistency (with probably higher highs), but in 2008, he drops out of the top four below the likes of JangBi and BeSt. Plus, he was only just starting out in 2005, so he wasn't a respectable top performing protoss player during that year like Stork already was.

I don't think it can be emphasized enough how astounding Stork's longetivity was. He was fighting hard to replace the established protoss order set by Nal_rA and Reach in 2005 alongside the fresh new protoss blood such as PuSan and Anytime, and was successful at keeping new faces such as Stats at bay alongside fellow Six Dragon members such as JangBi and Bisu in 2012.

Letmelose

Korea (South)3227 Posts

March 02 2018 02:23 GMT

I think the triumvirate for the protoss professionals throughout the years goes somewhat as follows:

1st generation: Grrrr.../GARIMTO/IntoTheRain (apparently no nicknames for this triumvirate, although I wasn't an active community member back then)

2nd generation: Reach/Nal_rA/Kingdom (the original triumvirate of the protoss race, with an interesting rock, scissor, paper relationship between the three players)

3rd generation: Anytime/PuSan/Stork (dubbed as the neo-protoss triumvirate towards the end of 2005)

4th generation: Bisu/Stork/JangBi (probably three of the most notable members of the Six Dragons)

Stork is the missing link between the era represented by old school players such as NaDa, July, and Reach (the iconic members of each of the three races that were present for Stok's first ever OGN StarLeague appearance in EVER 2005 OGN StarLeague) and three superstars of the KeSPA draft generation (basically people who made their proper professional debut in 2005): Flash, Jaedong, and Bisu.

Stork is the only member of the top ten ProLeague players of all-time in terms of overall number of victories to not be a KeSPA draftee (as in, made his debut before 2005). Stork is the only man to have had the honour of competing as a fellow OGN StarLeaguer alongside some of the oldest generation of professionals such as BoxeR, and YellOw, as well as being there when the likes of BoGus, Soulkey, and Mini were making their first ever round of sixteen appearance at the OGN StarLeague.

Even now, Stork is one of qualified members for the fifth season of the ASL, nearly thirteen years after his first ever OGN StarLeague appearance. That's something not even PuSan (who made his OGN StarLeague debut a couple of months after Stork did), a fellow neo-protoss triumvirate member, can boast. If he can make it into the top sixteen, it would be a record that nobody else in history can even touch. Two top sixteen appearances set apart by thirteen years of competitive Brood War.