Check just posted on his facebook that he's retiring from progaming.
Check was a professional warcraft 3 player and had an outstanding career before switching to starcraft 2.
In starcraft 2 Check was a high calibur zerg formerly from Prime and participated in GSL Code S and Code A. After falling out of Code A he eventually moved to eSahara.
It will be sad to see Check go. He signed the back of my prime hoodie.
Thanks for everything check! <3
-edit- As I forgot to point out and others brought up, I believe it's time for Check to do his mandatory military service in Korea. I remember Wolf talking about that in the up and downs for GSL S1 Up and Downs
He was my go to player when I wanted to download replays and learn crazy new strats way back during the beta/early release. In base hatchery shenanigans that always seemed to work...
Was my favourite Zerg during the early days, can remember watching some of his games being casted by HD/Husky and thinking "I want to play like him" very aggressive player when a lot of the zergs at the time played passively.
Thanks for all the great games. I'll admit that I was never a big follower of the WC3 scene, so I don't know his career there, but he had a pretty decent SC2 run.
Guess he thought there would be more money coming from his stay with eSahara before he finally dropped out. Sad to see him go as an icon of the earlier days but as far as the current state of things, he will hardly be missed in the scene overall.
On March 13 2012 11:08 BushidoSnipr wrote: Is he the very first pro player to legitimately retire from sc2? Info anyone?
FD is now a LoL-coach if you missed that I guess we'll be seeing a lot of these in the upcoming months as the rookies are getting better and the old ones can't keep the skill/motivation up to par.
On March 13 2012 12:58 JiYan wrote: man so sorry to hear. he wanted to become a top player in sc2, i hope he's not retiring due to lack of success =\. wish him the best
Mainly due to pending military service, but I'm sure the lack of success is a factor
I will always fondly remember Check as the Zerg in the very first GSL that was known for "a very strategic and tactical Zerg with some weaknesses in economy management". Haha, I think that's pretty much how Artosis described him. I wish him luck with his future endeavors.
Good luck Check you showed excellent games that were very enjoyable. I'm sure the work ethic and lessons learned from your time in Esports will lead you to an even brighter future.
I remember watching his replays in wc3 when i was like 15 (which was ~8 years ago), Check[Pooh] fighting :D! i hope he will return some time after military, even though i guess its very unlikely.
On March 13 2012 15:29 gedatsu wrote: Let's all take a moment to appreciate what was, for a long time, the coolest played game in SC2 history. Ensnare vs Holy Check.
On March 13 2012 15:29 gedatsu wrote: Let's all take a moment to appreciate what was, for a long time, the coolest played game in SC2 history. Ensnare vs Holy Check.
in the early days of sc2 i liked wathing chek a lot. he was one of the few consistent zerg in code s. best of luck in the future! maybe in the future retired players can become managers or coaches a lot more often...
Check[Frienz] you will be missed. As I don't follow SC2 I don't really know about his endeavours in it, but as a longtime WC3 follower he was one of the most inspiring players back in the day...
He was always sort of behind nestea, losira, drg, the top zergs. He was just one of the 'average' zergs. Like, with terran, there are just so many good terrans. And with zerg, you just hear nestea nestea nestea over and over. With protoss, it's like only 1 or 2 good toss, and the rest are just 'horrible' (horrible by code s standards i guess, i know obviously way better than me, duh).
But check sort of showed that really, zerg, like toss, and unlike terran, sucked in general, besides maybe 1-2 players.
I know that sounds sort of mean... I guess what I mean to say, is that I really enjoyed watching check, because he seemed much more 'real', if that makes any sense. I've watched all his games, and loved watching him play. He was definitely a great player to watch, and anyone who is a fan of zerg has watched and followed him.
I probably sound like a dick and totally self-contradictory here... but I really loved check. Probably one of my favorite players to have watched of all.
Sad. He was the only WC3 progamer I knew who said even long time before the beta hit he would commit fully to SC2. I think he really worked hard to be one of the best in the game and it's sad he never accomplished that. His games as a Zerg were always lacking in some points. To be fair, every Zerg's game was lacking at the time of GSL open tournaments, but Check didn't improve with the same rate as the others. Check was also one of the best Night Elves in WC3, but never became a superstar and never won some major individual tournament.
On March 13 2012 11:16 GTR wrote: amazing he lasted from 2002-2012 without going to the military at all. besides nada, i can't name another play who has done that.
He was one of my favourite WC3 players back in the day. I used to check for new replays featuring Check or Moon every day. Hope he succeeds in whatever he ends up doing after the military.
This makes me sad, I actually really enjoyed watching Check play. He played ZvT like I played ZvT when I didn't know what I was doing, by using roaches. The only difference was he knew how to use roaches and won lots of games with them. A true inspiration.
On March 14 2012 06:52 marttorn wrote: I think the Korean Military needs to be recognized as an official player at some point, seeing as it's taken out so many big names in the past
On a serious note, I think this is the first relatively notable player we've seen retire in SC2. Unless i'm just really not keeping up.
Warcraft 3 player showing the best results in sc2, you'll stay in my night elf heart ♥ I hope Soccer can show great results in code A next season, and maybe Remind later !
My brother was always a fan of your play style, and always hoped you'd bounce back last year. Sad to see you go. The game hasn't been out for that long, but it's already so different than the first couple open seasons.
On March 14 2012 06:52 marttorn wrote: I think the Korean Military needs to be recognized as an official player at some point, seeing as it's taken out so many big names in the past
On a serious note, I think this is the first relatively notable player we've seen retire in SC2. Unless i'm just really not keeping up.
On March 14 2012 06:52 marttorn wrote: I think the Korean Military needs to be recognized as an official player at some point, seeing as it's taken out so many big names in the past
On a serious note, I think this is the first relatively notable player we've seen retire in SC2. Unless i'm just really not keeping up.
There have been a couple (although that depends on your definition of notable) but Check definitely used to be a big name... just not in SC2 except for GSL open seasons. Wish him the best, he seemed like a down to earth guy and it just didn't work out for him in gaming. It's hard to live on no salary for him I imagine.
He penciled his signature on the required form. A hastily scribbled Hyeoongju Lee, blanketing the entire line with memories of a bygone era. As he deposited the hard earned Check from Team Prime, his career flashed before his entire eyes.
It had begun with a simple love, a passionate declaration to be the best, to be a winner, to be exceptional in a world of the unexceptional. His achievements in both Warcraft III, and then later in Starcraft II were something to be proud of, something that Lee would always hold close to his heart. Just thinking about his greatest peaks, his lowest pitfalls, and everything in between made Lee want to go back and do it all over again.
But then he smiled. Smiled because Hyeoongju Lee knew that his time had passed, and that with this deposit, he would finally be checking out of that world and those times.
The bank teller looked at him quizzically, as he stood there, holding onto the pen and bleeding ink on to a focused dot in the signature.
Finally the teller said, "Please hand me the Check sir."
Shaken from his daydreaming, Lee handed her Check quickly and began to walk out of the bank. As he reached the door, he turned back one last time, perhaps to get one last glimpse of Check. But it, and he, were both gone.
I really enjoyed check's play, his micro was superb. I always felt like his games in the GSL were not near his best level of play. I don't know what drew me to check, but its been very sad missing his play.
Wish him the best. He brought me great entertainment.
On March 13 2012 20:32 SinCitta wrote: Check was also one of the best Night Elves in WC3, but never became a superstar and never won some major individual tournament.
I call blasphemy. Check was the most feared Korean night elf back in the days, nicknamed the Fever Blood for his reckless domination, winning back-to-back OGN leagues and leading his team to another dual titles. He had achieved legendary status before most of your favorite war3 pros even picked up the cdkey
Check was a legend of wc3...its just sad he couldn't do better in sc2. I almost think check played the wrong race. To me i was like just imagine if he was terran...
Sad to see him go, but I'm also kind of worried about ESaharah if they paid him a legitimate amount of money and just left. Hopefully they were notified before hand adding him to the team.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6WdGK.png)
Check
This is saddening. 
ggs! glgl in the future
I guess we'll be seeing a lot of these in the upcoming months as the rookies are getting better and the old ones can't keep the skill/motivation up to par.
![[image loading]](http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff173/mdthelotr/gosu/CheckFrienZMBCCTB3.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/skAnarky/HOLYCHECKRS.jpg)
