Commander Keen HYPE

Plexa

Aotearoa39261 Posts

August 31 2012 18:10 GMT

MVP_KEEN
	NAME:	Hwang Kyo Seok
	TEAM:	MVP
	RACE:	Terran
	ALTERNATE IDS:	The Commander
	COUNTRY:	South Korea
	BIRTHDAY:	October 2, 1994 (age 17)
	TLPD:	International Korean
	LIVESTREAM:	N/A
	FOLLOW:	Fanclub Twitter

ROAD TO THE SEMIFINALS
Round of 32 Keen > Welmu Round of 16 Keen > Vortix Round of 8 Keen > JonnyRecco

COMMANDER KEEN

By MCDayC

When you think of your stereotypical Korean progamer you normally think 'amazing mechanics' or 'incredibly skilled'. If you're asked to think about the man behind the gamer the standard response is either 'uhhhh' or 'boring'. Keen isn't 'uhhh' or 'boring' - he's one of the most hilarious progamers in the scene today. PartinG may be trying to make a name for himself in this regard, but for Starcraft 2, there's only one king of ceremonies.

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Keen looked up to Firebathero from Samsung Khan when he was younger. Firebathero was also famous for his ceremonies but the similarities between Keen and FBH don't just stop at ceremonies. Much like his predecessor, Keen's level of play is massively overlooked. It's easy just to see his ceremonies and write him off as just another Terran using gimmicks to get his name out there, but it is actually far from the truth.

You should all remember that MVP won the first GSTL over Prime in the final. Most people remember an up and coming Zerg player by the name of DongRaeGu who has amazing results during in the GSTL. But it wasn't DRG who sealed the deal vs Prime, it was Keen. After Noblesse went on a 3-kill streak, Keen was sent in to finish the job. Keen defeated BBongBBong and MarineKing to claim the title for MVP. And in doing so, won the MVP award for the match.

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But therein lies the biggest problem with Keen's career so far, consistency. Two weeks before his MVP winning performance, he was knocked down into Code A in straight sets. When Keen is on form, he is an absolute force to be reckoned with. You could see that in the TSL qualifier that he won (over life, funnily enough). But when Keen is off form... well the results aren't pretty. Oddly enough, this trait is shared with FBH as well.

Despite Keen's flamboyant ceremonies, it was his play which drew my attention to him. When he's playing his best he can compete with the absolute top players in the world, despite being only 17 years old. I truly believe that Keen is going to grow into a true Terran force. With time and experience I believe that he'll be able to show his brilliance with greater consistency, and shake his streaky tendencies. I'm calling it now, he will be one of the undisputed best Terrans in the future.

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Keen's playstyle was initially heavily dependent on strategic plays, and in those days he was given the nickname 'bubble' by the Korean community because of his tendency to rely on plays which had a fairly large chance of 'bursting' like a bubble. After dropping out of Code S Keen reformed his play and focused on improving his mechanics. Keen now is comfortable playing longer games with people (as he illustrated against Vortix and Jonnyrecco), but isn't afraid to put everything on the line with a crazy strategy and his comfort zone is with aggressive strategies.

Its hard to make a name for yourself as a Korean, let alone a Korean Terran, but Keen gets past this issue with no problems. No one could ever call him a faceless Korean. He's got the will to win at all costs, the ceremonies, and the skill to go all the way.

What's not to like?

Saturday, Sep 08 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

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