It's been a really crazy season. It’s been a season where MBC have beaten strong teams on a number of occasions, only to lose to weaker teams the vast majority of the time. Not qualifying for the play-offs is disappointing but the A-teamers seem exhausted and need a good rest, especially since they all have MST coming up soon and Sea has to play in the OSL too. Although they didn’t win their last match, the players still held a fan meeting after the match at the Loox Center, it being the last match of the season. Also, some great things did happen this season.
By far the most amazing thing is Jaehoon's rebirth. 30 Proleague wins this season, almost doubling his entire career PL total. A 56.6% PL winrate, inspite of that slump in round 4.
The next interesting thing is the number of rookies who have played televised games since May. A total of 8 rookies were given games in rounds 5 and 6. For the previous two seasons, the only rookies to get televised games were Tyson, Iron and Koala. Of course this has a lot to do with the fact that the PL format is now Bo7.
Anyway let's take a look at how the rookies fared at the OSL Prelims...
MBC Rookies at the OSL Offlines
Pusan giving it a go.
Overall, they had a decent showing. Tiny's neck is hurting again (I mentioned his health issues in Update 4) so he had to pull out of the prelims. Oh Tiny, get well soon!
The following players turned pro in March and played in the prelims of an individual league for the first time:
Check
Wow
Crise
Pain
Mangnani
Check lost 1-2 to Sky in the opening round.
Wow lost 0-2 in the opening round to Canata.
Crise lost 0-2 in the opening round to Trap.
Pain lost 0-2 in the opening round to herO[jOin].
Mangnani beat Chavi 2-0 in the opening round and then lost 0-2 to Grape in the Ro8.
Slightly more experienced rookies:
Zerg[kal]
Hwan
Gwak
Lazy
Sang
Zerg[kal] beat Iris 2-1 in the Ro8 but lost to Movie 0-2 in the Ro4. Overall, I think he’s improved. I was hoping he could at least take a game off Movie, but beating Iris is not too shabby.
Hwan won his opening round 2-0 then lost 0-2 to Great in the Ro8.
Gwak lost 0-2 in the opening round to Mong. He was away from the team for a couple months so I wasn’t expecting much either. Much more work is needed.
Lazy beat Hoejja in the opening round 2-0 and then lost 0-2 to Roro in the Ro8. Not a bad performance at all, considering its PvZ.
Sang won his opening round 2-0, then beat Light 2-1 but lost to Jangbi 0-2. Probably the best showing of all the rookies because he beat a top player, although it’s Light’s weakest match-up. Sang used to struggle to beat Light when he was still on MBC. Light once called Sang “Ha-coupon”, because he was supposedly a “free win”, hence a coupon. Sang later recommended a build to Light, which Light then used to beat Stork.
Jaehoon didn’t practice enough for this and proceeded to get knocked out at the Ro4. He did however busy himself with buying drinks and food for his teammates during his free time at the prelims because the players had to skip breakfast to get to Yongsan on time.
MSL Prelims Update
Sadly, Sang and Zerg[kal] couldn’t maintain the same form for the MSL prelims. -_-
But MBC rookies who did improve on their OSL prelim performances include:
Gwak, who beat a Woongjin zerg rookie 2-1 in the opening round. PvZ. [Tidbit: Gwak’s nickname among fans is “Messiah Toss” because he’s about Kal’s height.]
Pain, who lost to Songduri 1-2. Songduri eventually won the group and went on to qualify for the MST.
Lazy, who beat Arista 2-1 and then lost 1-2 to Bogus. Bogus eventually won the group.
Wow, who beat Klaus 2-0 (Jaehoon beat Klaus 2-1 in the OSL prelims) and then lost 0-2 to Action. Action eventually won the group.
DES takes strange pictures sometimes...
Verdict
Sang and Zerg[kal] really lack consistency. Zerg[kal] lost to Tempest in the MSL prelims so perhaps that’s more understandable.
The only rookie who did not win games in either prelims: Crise.
Lazy has shown steady improvement in both OSL and MSL prelims. Now he needs to focus on bringing some of that form to televised matches (and not choke).
Shark’s Goodbye
To be able to finish your career at the team you started at 9 years ago is really something special...
Some pictures of a young Shark, Saint and Sea during the early years of Shark's career...
Junitoss, Gloomy, July (yes, watermelon), Shark and Saint (far right) in 2004:
Pictures from his farewell match...
The 3 zerg buddies (Hyun, Saint and Shark) on the MBC bench together for the very last time...
His teammates watching Shark's game closely:
The very last pictures of Shark playing in a competitive match, ever:
Long-time friends and teammates:
As a symbolic gesture, Saint and Sea were the ones who presented Shark with flowers:
+ Show Spoiler +
+ Show Spoiler +
Tyson's Mood
Tyson is feeling a bit depressed at the moment. There's been a bunch of melancholy tweets and a series of poor results in the last few games of the season. It's been a very difficult year. It started off with Coach Ha and Coach Lee leaving, MBC players having NO practice partners left at the start of the off-season, Light suddenly being sold to Woongjin and then having to play through false rumors of the team disbanding. These bad things keep happening to the MBC team. It’s like 2008 all over again.
Anyway Tyson, don't feel bad man. Your recent form has been poor but overall you've played well for MBC this season and even won a couple important Ace games for the team too.
Park Subeom fighting!
Illness and Injuries
It's been a long season and Sea is exhausted.
Wow, Sea and Hyun were all unwell at some point in time. Mangnani also had to pull out of the MSL prelims at the last minute but I don’t know if that’s illness related or not.
Jaehoon also injured his finger earlier this year. It hurts when he holds the mouse so his control and multi-tasking has been affected. He will see a doctor during the off-season.
Tiny had a relapse of his neck disc injury before the OSL prelims. He also had to skip the MSL prelims, in fact he wasn’t even entered in that event. Tiny hasn’t been seen on the bench recently either. Hopefully he will get better soon!
The highlight of this week is my feature on Saint, the brotherly figure in HERO and according to Sea, one of two remaining "living legends" at MBC.
Saint hasn’t been a big feature in this blog up till now because it’s simply not his personality to bring a lot of attention to himself, so he has no twitter nor does he crack a lot of corny jokes at fan meetings. I used to regard him as a kind person and a great 2v2er but it has occurred to me, after writing this, that Saint is also a rather thoughtful and intelligent person, with a somewhat analytical mind. I decided to do this write-up first and foremost because, in some ways, what Sea said is true. Saint really is a “living legend” at MBC. He may not have achieved great results as a 1v1 player nor is he a very famous progamer but Saint has been an indispensable pillar of the HERO team. Saint’s story is one that all HERO fans should know about…
Kim Dong Hyun: MBC’s True Hero and Legend
Saint is currently the oldest member of the HERO team (although not by much, because Hyun is just 3 days younger) after Shark’s retirement and one of the last 2 remaining members of the former Pirates of Space team who are still active on MBC. The other remaining player is Sea.
Saint initially started playing Starcraft at PC bangs because it helped him relieve stress but the more he played, the more competitive he got. He couldn’t play much at home because his older brother was often using the computer. When Saint was an amateur, his ID was well known on Battlenet because he frequently practiced with progamers. One of those progamers was July. And it was July who recommended Saint for a test with POS. Unfortunately, Saint lost to Junitoss in his test and didn’t manage to get into the team then. This was extremely disappointing for Saint because Junitoss had lost many televised games and Saint really wanted to beat him. So Saint went back home, feeling very disheartened, thinking that his dream of becoming a progamer was broken. However, some time later, Ha Tae Ki (Coach Ha) surprisingly called up Saint and he was accepted into POS as a trainee.
Some months after that, Sea and then Bisu joined the team as well. They were all online practice partners and didn’t stay in the team hostel with the senior progamers. Saint only went to the team house on weekends. There were insufficient PCs so the trainees didn’t have a good place to practice. However, they took great pride in what they were doing so the three of them made a Bnet channel for themselves separately and would practice and chat together all through the night. That is why, until this day, Saint has a soft spot for both Sea and Bisu. He is still close to Sea.
During practice sessions with the team, the three of them showed really competitive play. However, it was Sea who quickly gained fame due to his Proleague performances and Bisu was already famous for his good looks before he turned pro, eventually going on to achieve great things in individual leagues. In contrast, Saint had few opportunities to play. Saint often wondered why he wasn’t able to get as many opportunities to play despite his good performances and potential he showed in the practice house, but his attitude towards Sea and Bisu never changed. He just thought that he had bad luck and took some consolation in the fact that he at least got air-time because of his 2v2 play.
Saint became a truly awesome 2v2er for MBC, taking charge of their team-play games. Regardless of which partner was assigned to him (and there were several, including Light, Bisu, 910, Jaehoon and TheZerg), Saint would take the lead with his excellent game management. He played an integral role in MBC’s championship winning season in 2006-2007, winning a number of crucial games for the team. Saint said that although he himself thought his team-play wasn’t really that great (such a modest guy), it satisfied him that he was able to make play many games and accumulate wins because of team-play. So Saint became recognised as one of the top 2v2ers and cherished the few opportunities he got to play 1v1 games. Two of these 1v1 wins were over Savior in the 2006 WCG Korea tournament. Overall, the MBC captain from 2007 to late 2008 thought he had led a satisfying life as a progamer.
Up till 2008, Saint was pretty contented with life at MBC but suddenly his world was rocked. Saint was startled when Kespa decided to abolish team-play starting from the 2008-2009 Proleague season. For someone who had mostly specialized in 2v2s, this came as a bolt out of the blue for Saint. Although there were rumours about abolishing team-play, Saint had not expected it to happen, at least not quite so soon. In fact up to 8 players at MBC at that time had played 2v2 games. So this was a very difficult period for Saint and MBC. Saint had showed more confidence in team-play compared to televised 1v1 games because he felt that if he ever made a mistake, in team-play there was always a partner to back him up (Ironic, considering in reality it was mostly his partners who relied more heavily on Saint). However, Saint’s desire to do well in individual leagues had nonetheless not disappeared and he worked hard to show that he could compete with the top 1v1ers as well.
Some highlights of Saint’s career up to late 2008, a must read: HERE
In the first 2 rounds of the 2008-2009 season, he achieved a very credible 10-7 record, which was among the top two records within the MBC team during that period. However, he soon entered a minor slump in Winners League and was rarely played for the rest of the season. Saint was given even fewer chances to play in the 2009-2010 season, making only 12 Proleague appearances as the MBC coaches favored Hyun over Saint. Despite the lack of opportunities, he still achieved a respectable 50% winrate. And at the 2009 Nate MSL, he also managed to advance to the Ro16, beating Iris twice in the Ro32 (Flash was in his Ro32 group as well). The present season has been even more difficult for Saint, entering a long slump, leading Bisu to question Saint on why he is unable to show the same skill he demonstrates in the practice house during televised games. (In a recent interview, Sea also confirms that Saint's practice house form is indeed very good. It's just that he gets nervous during televised matches.)
“I just want to be of help to my team” was what Saint said recently. When I read that, I felt a tinge of sadness because Saint is usually a pretty confident person in interviews. After his initial losses early this season, Mumyung had put Saint on a strict practice regiment (and took the captaincy away from him) but Saint didn’t adjust well to this and his Proleague performances just got worse and worse. However recently, he has started practicing according to his own schedule and managed to get a win in the final match of the season (Over 100 comments by netizens on a news report about Saint’s win by the way) after not being fielded in the line-up for several weeks. MBC fans were really happy for Saint and grateful to him for working hard to achieve this despite the difficult circumstances leading up to his appearance in the match.
Victorious once again, 2nd July 2011.
But what would Saint be doing now if he hadn’t become a progamer? He’d very likely be in university now, perhaps studying to become a Korean-history teacher, which was what he was interested in. As a teenager, he was good at his studies and by no means did he dislike studying either. He never finished outside of the top 5 in his class during his school days. So when Saint decided to become a progamer, it was because he enjoyed gaming and wanted to lead a life different from his peers. Saint’s parents knew about this and instead of objecting to his decision, they encouraged him to “believe in himself and work hard”. Saint has no regrets about becoming a progamer, in fact he thinks it was the right decision for him.
Picture from Saint's cyworld.
Other avenues of opportunity have also opened up for Saint in the past 1 year. In the summer of 2010, he co-hosted a short MBCGame show with main caster Kim Chul Min and Shark- Star Defense Squad. This year, he has appeared on one episode of the Sung Choon Show and co-hosted another episode of the same show. He also made one appearance on User’s Taste. But so far, he has resisted calls to do more television work, preferring to focus on gaming. In 2010, he remarked that he was at first worried about co-hosting Star Defense Squad because he did not want fans to think of him as an entertainer as opposed to a progamer.
So what does Saint do when he’s not practicing? Well, like many members of MBC he likes sports (and is fairly good at it) and he’s a big fan of variety and entertainment shows. Every Sunday he goes to church, waking up very early if MBC has a match at Yongsan on Sundays. Saint is said to be somewhat frugal and he also likes reading when he’s not practicing, a hobby he picked up only after becoming a progamer. Even though he got good grades, he didn’t read much as a student. But because he wanted to learn how to invest his earnings and also because it can get a bit boring when there is nothing else to do in the hostel on rest days, Saint started reading a lot of books. Lately, he’s been reading mostly the Classics and this year he’s already read 22 books so far. Back when Light was still at MBC, Light, Hyun and Saint also used to go sing karaoke together. For his love of singing, Saint was nicknamed “Superstar Donghyun” by MBC fans. MBC players also sometimes off-race against one another for fun and according to Sea, Saint plays protoss pretty well.
On the eve of his departure from MBC, Light tweeted this about Saint:
“I’m sad and regretful that I can no longer room together with the handsome, kind-hearted and clever Donghyun hyung, whom I’ve become attached to…”
“I’m sad and regretful that I can no longer room together with the handsome, kind-hearted and clever Donghyun hyung, whom I’ve become attached to…”
Saint and Sura noona in 2009.
Since he doesn’t have any sisters, Saint envies his teammates who have older sisters because their noonas seem to take care of them well, taking them out for meals and buying them clothes etc. Saint once said that he’s more jealous of teammates who have older sisters than those who have girlfriends.
Since he doesn’t have any sisters, Saint envies his teammates who have older sisters because their noonas seem to take care of them well, taking them out for meals and buying them clothes etc. Saint once said that he’s more jealous of teammates who have older sisters than those who have girlfriends.
Picture by Im Sura.
Most discussions about progamers invariably contain questions about their “ideal female types”. In 2009, Saint was asked that question and he replied: “Seo Nyuh Shi Dae’s Seohyun”. He said he likes tall girls. Saint has been a SNSD fan since the group’s debut and HERO fans used to upload pictures of Seohyun onto his cyworld for him. Saint also once revealed that at the height of the SNSD and Wonder Girls rivalry in Kpop, there was a SNSD faction and a WG faction at MBC house. Needless to say, he was at the forefront of the SNSD faction.
In October 2010, Saint, Peace, Sea and Shark went to Tokyo for a 3 day vacation.
It was Peace’s sending off before he entered the army. In Japan, they met up with Shark’s friend, Myeong Joo, who speaks Japanese. She acted as their guide throughout the trip:
It was Peace’s sending off before he entered the army. In Japan, they met up with Shark’s friend, Myeong Joo, who speaks Japanese. She acted as their guide throughout the trip:
Pictures from Saint's cyworld.
Saint is also a kind and well-respected hyung at MBC. I’ve never read rumors of him quarrelling with anyone and if you ask all MBC players (including former players like Bisu and Light), they will tell you that they’re friendly with Donghyun hyung. In fact, Saint was roommates with Bisu and Light for the duration of their MBC careers. Both Light and Tyson have also described him as a smart guy. Saint also explained that because Zerg[kal] has experienced much hardship while moving from one team to another multiple times (he was a former CJ and KT practice partner who almost joined Woongjin before finally becoming an SKT rookie) and then also losing his father early this year, Saint tries his best to help Zerg[kal] out. He said that when Zerg[kal] loses a game, he feels sad because he has grown to be quite fond of Zerg[kal].
Picture by MBC.
So Saint is pretty much an all-round good-natured guy, as his ID suggests. If you check Saint’s cyworld, under the section of cyworld users who have identified themselves as Saint fans, Light’s name/cyworld link also appears. Indeed, there are many things to be respected and admired about Kim Donghyun. His leadership & demeanor, his personality and largely unheralded contributions to the HERO team make him a true hero and role-model in the eyes of not only MBC fans but his own teammates as well. Having ended his season on a more positive note, I hope Saint gets a good start to the next season and starts winning more games again. I believe he can achieve this. But even if this doesn’t happen, I hope he finds a new role in the team from which he can continue to contribute from. The fan in charge at HERO Gallery recently recommended the idea of Saint becoming a playing coach for MBC. I support that suggestion.
Kim Donghyun fighting! You can do it!
The always lovable Saint:
Saint at the last MBC fan meeting of this season:
Picture by Shuniao from twitter.
Saint sends a heart to his fans. Saint fighting!!!
HERO and Badminton
The HERO players have been playing a lot of badminton in the last month and a half- mainly Sea, Saint, Shark, Gwak (the giant toss), Sang and Tyson. That’s their new past-time. When they don’t have matches, they play badminton in the evenings for up to an hour, usually doubles. They keep score, with one person umpiring and the losing team pays for refreshments for the rest. Supposedly, Saint, Tyson and Shark are the ones who are really good at it. Hyun sometimes joins them but Saint said that although Hyun is very athletic, he’s not good at badminton. Jaehoon doesn’t play much badminton because he doesn’t like to leave the hostel that often (he feels more comfortable staying inside the hostel), although both Hyun and Jaehoon do like to play football. A couple weeks back, Tyson bragged about his badminton skills on twitter, so Movie chimed in and said that he’s actually the one with the real skills and is otherwise also known as “Jin-minton” (Jin is Movie’s surname). Recently, Ruby was released from the military and he’s joined the gang for badminton as well.
HERO players after a game of badminton a few days ago. Shark was the winner while Sea was the loser. So Sea had to pay for all the drinks.
Tyson, Hyun, Saint, Sea, Gwak, and Ruby. Shark took this picture.
Saint, Sea and Hyun Talk About Their Teammates
These comments are too funny. There are many 예능 (entertainment)-type personalities on the MBC team…
Hyun
“I’m disappointed with Kyungjong (Shark), he didn’t congratulate me for advancing to the Dual Tournament. Usually his decibel level is so high, so I’m worried he’s going to be even noisier in the future.”
Sea
Sea: “MBC’s living legend Kyungjong hyung has left… now besides Donghyun hyung and I, there are no other remaining legends.”
Fangirl: “Is Seokhyun seonsu not a legend too? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
Sea: “Seokhyun hyung has been at the bottom for too long… it won’t be easy for him to become a legend…”
Saint
“To be truthful, “Yeom Messi” is overrated… Bo Sung really, really loves football but I’d hesitate to say he’s good at it (laugh). It’s nice that because of Bo Sung we gained the image of a team that excels at football. But actually in reality, Seokhyun and Jaehoon are the ones who are good at football. I think Bo Sung is below them. Bo Sung is not bad at football but compared to Seokhyun and Jaehoon, he’s at a lower level. There’s nothing to be envious about (laugh).”
Who is Kim Yonghyuk?
Wow (Yonghyuk) with Check.
Picture from HERO Gallery@dcinside.
Well we know from Saint that Wow was recruited off Bnet around August/September, along with Check and Crise. Wow also finished second in the rookie draft evaluation competition in March with a 30-9 record. He made a nice 1million Won for that second placed finish. Although Check finished first (and made 2million Won from that), it wasn't by much (29-7). Between the two, Wow has the better muta control but Check is said to have a more aggressive ZvT.
According to MBC fans who have spoken to him at fan meetings, Wow is a bubbly and bright character. He’s said to be talkative, “almost on the same level as Bo Sung”. He also has a diehard 14 year-old fangirl who writes him an encouraging message every day on either HERO Gallery or twitter, always beginning with the phrase “Yonghyuk ah saranghanda ♥”. Wow’s teammates know about this and Sea even asked her about it at one of HERO’s fan meetings.
This is a message she once wrote to Wow, half in jest:
"Yonghyuk ah saranghanda ♥
I haven’t seen you for some time
I’m really sad
If MBC doesn’t make it into the play-offs, I won’t see you for a really long time, don’t forget me, eong eong"
Wow also has over 348,000 hits on his cyworld page. That’s even more hits than Jangbi’s page has. O.O Wow locked most of it after he joined MBC, so I have no idea what was on his cyworld. But he sounds like a sociable person so he must have many friends.
Wow has twitter too but his account is just for lurking.
Yonghyuk fighting!
Cyworld Updates
Finally, let’s take a look at what’s been posted on the player’s diaries recently…
Tiny
“Good things happening one after another.
I lost my wallet.”
Tiny lost his wallet a couple days ago. Thankfully, Lazy found it for him.
Jaehoon
Jaehoon’s latest diary entry on 27th June… as usual it was posted in the early hours of the morning.
“It’s coming to a season’s end already… time passes so fast
To have a good finish I’ve been practicing hard
I have to win because it would be good to start next season on a positive note”
Anyway did you see that? “Next season” And yeah, he did win his last 2 games.
The Three Kims: Check, Wow and Lazy
Recently, the 3 rookies Kim Mingyu, Kim Yonghyuk and Kim Kihoon created a linked sub-section on their cyworld diaries to share their thoughts with one another. When one person writes something under that section, it appears in the corresponding, identically titled section on the others’ diaries. I think that’s how it works anyway. Nothing much has been posted so far, except “this diary is broken” by Lazy. lol
Lazy
This comment was posted on his main page:
“Let’s have a successful off-season.”
I'm going to keep this blog going during the off-season too.
HERO Fighting!