• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 01:55
CEST 07:55
KST 14:55
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202553RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16
Community News
BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams9Weekly Cups (July 14-20): Final Check-up0Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed19Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll8Team TLMC #5 - Submission re-extension4
StarCraft 2
General
Power Rank - Esports World Cup 2025 The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings What tournaments are world championships? RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread Jim claims he and Firefly were involved in match-fixing
Tourneys
Esports World Cup 2025 Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava
Brood War
General
BSL Team Wars - Bonyth, Dewalt, Hawk & Sziky teams BW General Discussion [Update] ShieldBattery: 2025 Redesign BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Ginuda's JaeDong Interview Series
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues CSL Xiamen International Invitational [CSLPRO] It's CSLAN Season! - Last Chance [BSL 2v2] ProLeague Season 3 - Friday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Does 1 second matter in StarCraft? [G] Mineral Boosting Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok) Path of Exile CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Post Pic of your Favorite Food! Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2025 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Ping To Win? Pings And Their…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Socialism Anyone?
GreenHorizons
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 660 users

Military killed the video game star

Blogs > daskleinehotte
Post a Reply
daskleinehotte
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany76 Posts
July 06 2020 12:49 GMT
#1
Hardly a week has passed since Dream and DongRaeGu secured the first two places in Group D of the 2nd season of the GSL 2020. Along the way, sOs and Dear have been put in their place and now have to watch the rest of the tournament on Afreeca TV. Both Dream and DRG are household names in the scene and were able to celebrate their greatest successes in Heart of the Swarm and Wings of Liberty respectively. This brings us closer to the heart of the matter. After all, not only have these two gentlemen made it back into the top 16 of the GSL after years, they have also already completed their military service.

A small digression: In Korea, military service is considered one of the four duties of every (male) South Korean - in addition, education, work and the payment of taxes are also part of those requirements. Every Korean can volunteer from the age of 18, but the official age of conscription is between 20 and 30 years. The duration of military service varies within the armed forces, but at least 18 months are currently expected.

For a long time it was believed that after compulsory military service it was not possible to return to the old strength before said conscription. Many of the once retired pros did not even try again. Those who came back to try their luck again often failed because of their own expectations. There are certainly many reasons for this, I will briefly discuss this at the end of the article. So let's have a look at the "successes" of the former cadets.

Success parameters

Before we can deal with success or failure, we need to take a look at the parameters that have been used in the selection. First of all, I took a look at the Aligulac prize money list and drew a line under $100,000 (Sorry Cure, $96,000 is unfortunately not enough). Then I checked which of these players had already completed their military service and then went back to the mouse and keyboard. Surprisingly, the number of "real" returnees was much smaller than expected.

In total, 48 Koreans have so far exceeded the magic limit of $ 100,000 in prize money. Only 17 of the 48 candidates have not retired yet (Rogue, Maru, Dark, INnoVation, TY, sOs, soO, Stats, Zest, PartinG, ByuN, Solar, Dear, Trap, aLive, Patience, Creator). Another 24 pros are currently doing their military service or did not even try to make it to the top of the world (Classic, Mvp, herO, NesTea, Leenock, HyuN, Rain, Jaedong, GuMiho, MarineKing, TRUE, viOLet, ForGG, Soulkey, PuMa, Hydra, jjakji, StarDust, San, ByuL, Fruitdealer, Losira, as well as the special case Life & YoDa). Some of them have played a few online cups or tried streaming, but only a few of them have made it their business to play for titles again. That leaves only seven players who have dared or made it back into progaming.

Unsuccessful returnees (Polt & HerO)

"Captain America" went about its civic duties in 2016 and started streaming again in mid-2019. This year he played several ESL Open Cups and also participated in the IEM Katowice, where he went down without a sound. Almost as unsuccessful was the former Team Liquid Protoss HerO, who also started to play in one or the other online tournaments in 2019 and even won an ESL Open Cup this year. Beyond that, however, hardly anything worth mentioning came together.

Code S is the Limit (Bomber, MMA, MC)

Bomber qualified for a Code S twice after his military service (GSL 2019 Season 3, GSL 2020 Season 1). Apart from these two successes, there was hardly anything countable in the last 1.5 years - about the ASUS ROG in Finland we best keep completely silent. Already some years ago MMA made a short comeback. In the first months of 2018 he was a bit more active and had his last matches in the GSL 2018 Season 3. Also for the BossToss, 2019 was only enough for a short intermezzo in the Korean top class (GSL 2019 Season 1), moreover even a MC had to admit defeat to the current level in the pro scene.

Hope (Taeja, DongRaeGu)

Taeja has made a passable return so far, having returned last summer, he has been able to participate in three consecutive GSLs (GSL 2019 Season 3, GSL 2020 Season 1 &2) and even made it into the Top16 once. A playoff participation at HSC 20 completes the picture. DongRaeGu also has three GSL seasons (GSL 2019 Season 2, GSL 2020 Season 1&2) and in the current season a playoff placement seems to be in the realm of possibility. As another notable success he can present a 13th-16th place at TSL 5.

Special cases (Dream, Armani)

The attentive reader will have noticed that one name was missing from the enumeration - Dream. Although the Terran has had a successful year 2015 (two 2nd places in the SSL and one semi-final in the Kespa Cup), he is still below the $100,000 prize money threshold. Although the time after his military service has been quite successful so far (3x GSL Code S, 1x GSL Supertournament 9th-16th), he might not really fit into the list of successful players.

An actual further development can be seen by Armani. The Zerg is with his 24 years very young for the fact that he has already finished his military service. Since then he shows that he has the necessary potential to have a good run in a tournament. Four GSL participations in a row and solid placements at the IEM Katowice and the GSL Super Tournament give hope.

Difficulties for returnees

A variety of reasons can be found why return is so difficult or will not even be considered. In no specific order I see the following points as the reasons for the lack of success:

- Lack of interest.
- Start into a "more normal" life
- Social pressure
- Too great a backlog / further development of the general level
- Slower reactions
- Job as streamer / personality / castor etc.

Despite almost ten years of StarCraft 2, no former champion has yet managed to earn a relevant title again or at least come close. So there must be some truth in the claim that the"military killed the video game star".

*****
www.bunker-rush.de (German SC2 and eSports blog)
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada16699 Posts
July 06 2020 13:39 GMT
#2
is this saying based on the song tag line ... "Video Killed The Radio Star" ?

Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
daskleinehotte
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany76 Posts
July 06 2020 13:48 GMT
#3
Yeah, I listened to this track during research and that it would be a funny title.
www.bunker-rush.de (German SC2 and eSports blog)
JieXian
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Malaysia4677 Posts
July 06 2020 17:35 GMT
#4
Such fun watching young Hans Zimmer :D
Please send me a PM of any song you like that I most probably never heard of! I am looking for people to chat about writing and producing music | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noD-bsOcxuU |
DSK
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
England1110 Posts
July 06 2020 22:23 GMT
#5
This is likely going to be super pedantic, but I somewhat disagree on Dream being a household name though he has been around in the scene for a very long time - but he is definitely more noteworthy that Tastosis made him out to be when he played in his group. He made it to the GSL Finals twice and lost both, came second in an IEM and helped SKT1 win Proleague.

I wholeheartedly agree he needs more big-ups though!. I think as he is still quite young he has a decent chance of a second wind in SC2 and win something. It's also nice to see old players come back to boot.
**@ YT: SC2POVs at https://www.youtube.com/c/SC2POVsTV | https://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/SC2POVs @**
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada16699 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-07-06 23:26:36
July 06 2020 23:24 GMT
#6
On July 07 2020 02:35 JieXian wrote:
Such fun watching young Hans Zimmer :D

Hans Zimmer, Trevor Horn et all are big fans of Yes and Asia. Yes and Asia are in my top 10 rock bands of all time.



All these early 80s music videos remind me of Spinal Tap.


Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
daskleinehotte
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany76 Posts
July 07 2020 06:59 GMT
#7
On July 07 2020 07:23 DSK wrote:
This is likely going to be super pedantic, but I somewhat disagree on Dream being a household name though he has been around in the scene for a very long time - but he is definitely more noteworthy that Tastosis made him out to be when he played in his group. He made it to the GSL Finals twice and lost both, came second in an IEM and helped SKT1 win Proleague.

I wholeheartedly agree he needs more big-ups though!. I think as he is still quite young he has a decent chance of a second wind in SC2 and win something. It's also nice to see old players come back to boot.


I totally see why you would not put him as a household name. In my first set of criteria I added "has played in a major offline final" but skipped this one in the end, because basically everyone in the Top50 has done so. And although Dream would have crushed this criteria - 2x times SSL finalist, 1x IEM Katowice finalist - he doesn't even come close to the $100.000 threshold (currently sitting at $60.000 - $80.000 price money won, depending if you add the money from team leagues).

There a two reasons why I emphasized on Dream so much. On the one hand the storyline of DRG and him making GSL Ro16 after so many years was interesting. And on the other hand his current run at the SCBoy China Team Championship 2020 Spring, where he went 12-0 and literally carried Dragon Phoenix Gaming through two matches, was super impressive and quite promising for what could lie ahead.
www.bunker-rush.de (German SC2 and eSports blog)
Pangpootata
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
1838 Posts
July 08 2020 09:53 GMT
#8
Correlation =/= causation.

Most Pros only decide to enter the military when they are past their peak and can't really win much anymore. Entering the military might just as well be an effect of decreasing skills rather than a cause.
esReveR
Profile Joined February 2010
United States567 Posts
July 09 2020 13:38 GMT
#9
I think it's unfair to put polt in the failed return category. He simply transitioned to being a Teamfight Tactics pro gamer because he enjoys that game more.
Skill is relative.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 5h 5m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Livibee 288
ProTech75
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 7289
Nal_rA 2968
ToSsGirL 168
Zeus 134
Backho 66
Britney 0
Dota 2
XaKoH 517
League of Legends
JimRising 705
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K784
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox618
Other Games
summit1g8871
shahzam916
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 79
Other Games
BasetradeTV34
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• practicex 63
• davetesta34
• Sammyuel 19
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota2467
League of Legends
• Rush1526
• Stunt788
Upcoming Events
Esports World Cup
5h 5m
Serral vs Cure
Solar vs Classic
OSC
8h 5m
CranKy Ducklings
1d 4h
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
1d 8h
CSO Cup
1d 10h
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
1d 12h
Bonyth vs Sziky
Dewalt vs Hawk
Hawk vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs Dewalt
Mihu vs Bonyth
Zhanhun vs QiaoGege
QiaoGege vs Fengzi
FEL
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
Bonyth vs Zhanhun
Dewalt vs Mihu
Hawk vs Sziky
Sziky vs QiaoGege
Mihu vs Hawk
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs Bonyth
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
[ Show More ]
Online Event
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Xiamen Invitational
Championship of Russia 2025
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
Esports World Cup 2025
CC Div. A S7
Underdog Cup #2
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25

Upcoming

CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
HCC Europe
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.