Called the Commander in Chief of No Weak Points Stork is known for his macro style and strong control. He was considered one of the "Three Neo-Kings" of Protoss and most notably helped to define modern Protoss vs. Terran play. He was also considered one of the Six Protoss Dragons of 2008 and early 2009.
A few months ago, Song Byung Goo, known by his ID Stork, debuted in his first ever Starcraft 2 match (an long, epic ProLeague match against ZerO on May 26th). Right from his first game he showed that his skill as a gamer translated well into SC2, as he made good tactical moves in the game before ultimately losing to a strong methodical Zerg push. Now, he is practicing SC2 with all his might and is ready to make his foray into the Starcraft 2 competitive scene. However his history goes all the way back to 2004, when a young Stork came onto the scene as a very strong Protoss player, showing very good results that would lead to one of the best careers of a Brood War progamer. With his BW past, Stork has been and will continue to be a force to be reckoned with. His amazing intelligence and gift for strategy made him one of the strongest Protosses of the Brood War era, and will no doubt make Stork a feared player in SC2.
Career as a Brood War Pro Gamer
Stork may have been known as the third most dominant player to ever touch the game of Starcraft: Brood War after Flash and NaDa if not for his poor luck in finals matches. After he joined Samsung Khan, Stork began to make a name for himself when he defeated foru in the 2004 CYON Challenge League final, earning him a fourth seed in the 2005 EVER OSL. The group stages of the EVER OSL put Stork in a very strong group with Xellos, Yellow, and Goodfriend. After upsetting Xellos in their game, Stork forced a tie-breaker between himself, Yellow, and Xellos. Despite losing the tie-breaker to Xellos, who eventually won a podium finish, Stork began to make a name for himself in both the OSL and as a contributor to Samsung KHAN’s team league success. It was a few years before Stork achieved major individual league success again, reaching the finals of the 2007 GOMTV MSL and EVER OSL but losing to Bisu and Jaedong respectively. He also lost in the finals of the 2007 WCG Korea Finals to Hwasin, yet finally achieved tournament victory again in the 2007 WCG Grand Finals over China's PJ. This ignited a string of strong performances over the next few years, with Stork reaching the finals of numerous events but ultimately coming short.
Then, in 2008, Stork made his breakthrough. He once again reached the finals of a major tournament, the 2008 Incruit OnGameNet Starleague, and faced Fantasy, who was walking the Royal Road. The stage of the Finals was set: Stork versus Fantasy. Would Stork's silver curse once again strike and crown Fantasy a Royal Roader? Stork replied with a resounding 'no' in five highly suspenseful sets. Despite Stork gaining a two game lead, Fantasy evened the field in their matches on Return of the King and Plasma. With the final game returning to Chupung-Ryeong, Stork played at his fullest and finally earned his OSL gold (as well as breaking Kim Carrier's OSL prediction curse that had been in place since he had started commentating).
Since then, Stork has had varied success, reaching the finals of varied events such as WCG and the 2010-2011 Bacchus OSL but ultimately losing once again. He reached 100 victories in individual league for OSL in 2012, and was the recipient of the Golden Hand to acknowledge his accomplishment. His final major Brood War tournament appearance was in the Jin Air OSL ro16, where he went 0-3 in his group and was eliminated. With the end of Brood War coming in 2012, Stork finished his BW carrer with more 2nd place finishes than any other player with eight 2nd place finishes in KESPA-sanctioned and WCG events. Three of them are from consecutive WCG Korea tournaments in 2007, 2008, and 2009. He found great success during his time as a Brood War player, yet he just lacked that final little bit at the end that would have turned him into one of the most successful players ever.
If you're interested in his Brood War career, you can get more information at his BW Liquipedia Page. Additionally, check out Final Edits for a nice article that discusses Stork's early Brood War days.
Career as a Starcraft 2 Pro Gamer
Though Stork has just begun to compete in Starcraft 2 tournaments, he has demonstrated a decent level of skill against other former Brood War players who have competed against him. One of his most telling performances was coincidentally a loss in his first televised SC2 match against Woongjin Star's ZerO, a long macro game that saw Stork demonstrate a good understanding of the matchup in reaching the late stages of the game. In June, Flash and seven other KeSPA gamers traveled to Anaheim, CA to compete in a special exhibition tournament coordinated by Major League Gaming. Each team (except AirForce ACE) sent their best player to compete in the event, and the player list was a veritable "who's who" of top Real Time Strategy talent. Stork was defeated by Flash in the first round, and his tournament run was ended quickly.
Since his tournament appearance in June, Stork has only played a handful of ProLeague games. His next major SC2 tournament appearance is pending his attempts to qualify for Code A or the next SC2 OSL.
Thanks to NrGMonk for okaying the return of the Stork fanclub after a few months hiatus
As always if you have anything you want to contribute or you feel is missing from the OP, be it fanart, VODs, pictures etc, post it in the comments or pm me
some pictures: Beacon of Hope and Wisdom, Captain Stork: + Show Spoiler +
Funny pictures:
Much younger stork being struck by a camera and Kim Ga Eul(KHAN manager) charm. + Show Spoiler +
I was looking for funny photo when someone cought Stork making angry "FU" face while walking next to Iris (i think). Remember seeing it on Nada's Body thread but cant find it now.
On August 11 2012 01:27 bokchoi wrote: What happened to the old one? :[
Closed due its owner not updating thread for a long time. Plus old one was not of the quality that is required for the fanclub of one of the TBLS :p
On August 11 2012 01:05 Kiett wrote: If you're going to use my art, please don't use a version that's been badly resized. Enlarging images make them look awful :|
some pictures: Beacon of Hope and Wisdom, Captain Stork: + Show Spoiler +
Funny pictures:
Much younger stork being struck by a camera and Kim Ga Eul(KHAN manager) charm. + Show Spoiler +
I was looking for funny photo when someone cought Stork making angry "FU" face while walking next to Iris (i think). Remember seeing it on Nada's Body thread but cant find it now.
On August 11 2012 01:04 bgx wrote: I was looking for funny photo when someone cought Stork making angry "FU" face while walking next to Iris (i think). Remember seeing it on Nada's Body thread but cant find it now.
Also, you might want to remove all FOMOS related content.
No mention of Stork's 100 OSL wins + golden hand in his BW section D:
On August 11 2012 01:04 bgx wrote: I was looking for funny photo when someone cought Stork making angry "FU" face while walking next to Iris (i think). Remember seeing it on Nada's Body thread but cant find it now.
Also, you might want to remove all FOMOS related content.
About handprint I cant remember where it was exatcly, the mention of 100th win was in http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=339466. But i remember reading about hand print somewhere else, maybe it was a simple mention by someone in comments. Cant remember right now. And to lazy to look it up today, tomorrow, no sweat. Its great Fanclub already
Samsung Khan vs Airforce ACE for Proleague going live in 10 minutes! I believe Stork is eligible to play Starcraft 2 for this match. Go watch at http://www.twitch.tv/saylesc and cheer him on!!
Khan faces STX in a battle for 4th place and a spot in the playoffs in Proleague today! Stork is slatted to play Brood War today, watch and cheer for him!
On August 14 2012 01:32 hipaul wrote: Sign me up please!
Was it yours? Anyway great sign!
haha yes that's mine when I went to SAM vs WJN match in winter 2009. Funny story is that I almost thought I wasn't even gonna watch stork play because Khan was down 0-2 and stork was supposed to play on the fourth set; however, jangbi beat free in set 3, then stork beat zero twice during fourth set and ace match :D
I love Stork, man. He's really fun to watch and a great role model in the scene, aside from those jokes about WoW and cell phone games XD
Also, searching "Song Byung Goo" on Google brings up the picture of that hardcore Austrian Stork fan as Stork's profile image. Pretty weird and hilarious.
On August 15 2012 08:53 eviltomahawk wrote: Also, searching "Song Byung Goo" on Google brings up the picture of that hardcore Austrian Stork fan as Stork's profile image. Pretty weird and hilarious.
^Daniel was amazing :O
Stork, the second silver surfer... how fitting :D But you gotta hand it to the guy who's been a top protoss for 6 years despite constantly getting distracted.
On August 15 2012 08:53 eviltomahawk wrote: Also, searching "Song Byung Goo" on Google brings up the picture of that hardcore Austrian Stork fan as Stork's profile image. Pretty weird and hilarious.
^Daniel was amazing :O
Stork, the second silver surfer... how fitting :D But you gotta hand it to the guy who's been a top protoss for 6 years despite constantly getting distracted.
Stork just won TWO important games in today's match vs Stars. Without his performance KHAN would have lost hope of getting into playoffs.
In first game he presented aggresive blink play vs Protoss Aria who went defensive robo. Due to great micro Stork managed to get 2k resource lost of unit difference in favor for him and later rolled Aria with collosai.
Second game was even more impressive, Stork cought Soulkey (who managed to almost beat Liquid's Hero) of guard, his fast third coupled with almost never seen 11gate timing with great micro totally negated the weak point of not having AOE. I would say this match was so far the most important match for Stork fans(regarding his SC2 performance). Simply because it was the first match that showed Stork's BW characteristic, coming up with unlike builds, new builds or very technical builds.
Stork will be playing tonight in the Pro League Grand Finals as Khan faces CJ Entus for the championship!! Be sure to tune in in 9 hours and cheer him and Khan on!!!
Well i want to be happy but beating Idra is not that big of an accomplishment for Stork, its rather big relief that at least he didnt lose, however he lost 2 games to someone, he is 4-2 , not bad but i wanted 6-0 :f
Well i want to be happy but beating Idra is not that big of an accomplishment for Stork, its rather big relief that at least he didnt lose, however he lost 2 games to someone, he is 4-2 , not bad but i wanted 6-0 :f
On January 27 2013 08:53 Wintex wrote: was eating these and suddenly i saw.... STORK. (or, it looks like it... It's actually stark or something, but let us pretend)
Sign me up as much as you can! Btw Daniel I just found your blog, was sent ontto a rollercoaster of envy and love. I remember your january signs from back then but didn't know you gave us all this! Thanks for the story!
In all envy I did get the chance to meet Boxer, Fantasy and Jaedong and it was one of the best days in my life, but Stork is my boy, will always be. If sc2 becomes complex enough, his time will come! Right now SoS can do his smart early game attacks but in time it'll be stork proxy-carriering Flash on Katrina again!
On December 11 2013 09:15 SirGlinG wrote: Sign me up as much as you can! Btw Daniel I just found your blog, was sent ontto a rollercoaster of envy and love. I remember your january signs from back then but didn't know you gave us all this! Thanks for the story!
In all envy I did get the chance to meet Boxer, Fantasy and Jaedong and it was one of the best days in my life, but Stork is my boy, will always be. If sc2 becomes complex enough, his time will come! Right now SoS can do his smart early game attacks but in time it'll be stork proxy-carriering Flash on Katrina again!
I really like his attitude that shines trough in Interviews recently. Loved the ceremony against Flash (and the anwser from Flash today ) As an "older" player myself I'm always happy when he does well in Proleague and I'm rooting for him in his upcoming Code A matches. He has a special place in my Starcraft-heart.
How about adding his stream twitch.tv/koreasbg to the original post? He has streamed a decent amount of time in the past and he will surely stream again in the future.
I'm so happy and kinda relieved to see stork finally doing well in sc2 because he was such a powerhouse in bw and also a likeable character.keep it up storku
Stork was the first progamer I watched in a Starcraft tournament back at WCG 2009. He brought me to the scene and I have been a huge fan of him ever since, so sign me up.
On May 03 2014 14:23 BanStOrk wrote: Stork was the first progamer I watched in a Starcraft tournament back at WCG 2009. He brought me to the scene and I have been a huge fan of him ever since, so sign me up.
Same here buddy.
The first SC Pro Game that I watched was Stork vs Jaedong finals at WCG 2009. I was surfing youtube and suddenly saw that.
I had been playing SCBW for fun with my friends but not even know anything about the pro scene (didn't know the SCBW pro scene even exist). That game was the first. After that I knew teamliquid and I started watching and following SCBW pro scene mainly because of Stork.
I'm watching SCII now because Stork is playing it, when he retires I will quit also.
On May 07 2014 03:22 CutTheEnemy wrote: What was the prize pool for that tournament, and was it worth and WCS points? The liquipedia article didn't say.
I don't think we know what the prize pool is but sadly it probably won't be worth any WCS points because it doesn't look like there were any qualifiers for the tournament. Qualifiers are one of the requirements for WCS points. Stork is really on a roll lately though. I think he's definitely going to make a good run in Code S this season. He has beaten a lot of good players recently.
From 20% winrate in 2013 to 60% winrate in 2014 Stork has officially the greatest pace of improvement of any SC2 player. Hopefully in 2015 he will rise to 80% and we can all spam "The Dragon has Returned" in all the live threads!
Small tear in my eye, people said Stork will never crawl back from the 20% winrate and he did it! He is actually one of the best SC2 protoss players. So happy.
It's Stork so I was thinking of translating it but it's so long that i'll probably only do a bit. Honestly translating is tiring and its worse when no-one responds cause then I don't know If even one person has read it. There are some interesting questions ('did you ever regret being a programer', 'best moments', 'worst moments'). But i'll only bother if there's interest. If I do i'll post on this thread.
Edit: I've done a little bit of it but i'll be working a lot on it over these uni holidays, sorry to keep you guys in suspense but ill be able to do a lot more because of it.
Please add me to the fanclub, have always cheering for him but after his GSL game I just become a fan ^^ Also Stork is coming to WCS Shanghai, which is so awesome
Stork is fucking back bitches! He advances 2-0 from his group with defeating upcoming terran (which advanced by the way) and one of the strongest consistent protoss dragon Free. Stork who has been practicing BW 1 month after switching back! Stork who has been getting silver million times while playing vanilla WoW back then. Now it's time for him to get another silver medal! (But hey, if Flash get's destroyed by Last he has a pretty big chance) GOGOGO!
That was a nice run by Stork! It's not shame to lose 0-3 vs. Tyrant. It's most impressive that he got to ro8 on his 1st try. Next season he gonna return even stronger! Carriers fighting!
仁义无双总司令 Kindheartedness justice and unparalleled commander in chief 皇家警察总司令 Royal police commander in chief 幽灵狙击总司令 Ghost snipe commander in chief S级教练总司令 Code S coach commander in chief There are a lot of Chinese nick of Stork with 7 Chinese characters.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/AYw9I.jpg)
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Final Edits for a nice article that discusses Stork's early Brood War days.![[image loading]](https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/s720x720/166048_431759913524057_1487320131_n.jpg)
Stork
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2007 Daum OnGameNet Starleague ![[image loading]](http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk5/neverggg/proleaguekhan/IMG_4930.jpg)
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, not bad but i wanted 6-0 :f
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