A few weeks ago I got the chance to sit down with Pusan from MBC and ask him some questions about himself, progaming and just some general things. Pusan is most known for his impressive Proleaugue statistics as well as So1 and Shinhan 2005 OSL. While his performance did dip last year, he is showing signs of being in form once again and is showcasing some brilliant games in proleauge. Here's my interview with Pusan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbY3JCDlYL0
Pusan's Bio
In his younger years, Pusan was never the type to spend long days and nights playing games on a computer. His family did not even own a computer. One summer, his friends introduced him to the world of starcraft and within no time at all he was addicted. To practice he would tell his parents that he was going to the local temple to study then walk to the local PC-Bang to get some gaming time in. Despite his parents being barely able to make a living, when Pusan wanted to get a computer to 'study' (play Starcraft) they bought him one. Pusan was incredibly talented, within a year he was the top player in Junpo (his local region in Pusan) and won many tournaments, even winning $50 from placing first in a money-map tournament.
In 2001, after watching GARIMTO in the 2001 SKY OSL he decided to become a progamer. One of his school friends collected the details for all the managers in progaming teams and tried to get Pusan a trial. He was accepted for a trial for team Plus. In his trial he beat every single member of the team and advanced so quickly that in 3 days he was able to play in the MBCGame Team Leauge. In his first ever television appearance, he crushed the foreign hope ElKy of Hexatron. With this game he brought his 'Ji-ho mode' and unusual playstyle to the forefront and exposed the world to his macro. During his time on Plus, he formed a close friendship with his would-be rival Anytime[gm] and the Zerg player MuMyung.
In the early stages of 2005, after a turbulent time in Plus, Pusan moved to Pirates of Space (P.O.S). During the fall season (So1 OSL), Pusan, along with Anytime, took center stage blasting through to the semifinals of the tournament. Pusan faced Boxer in arguably the standout Bo5 from the tournament. Although he eventually lost 2-3 and then lost to iloveoov 2-3 and coming 4th overall, he cemented his place in the progaming scene. Indeed, Pusan, Anytime and Stork were named as the "Neo-Kings" of Protoss and were supposed to lead the Protoss race forward after Reach, Nal_ra and Kingdom.
The following OSL (Shinhan 2005) Pusan continued to perform strongly and placed 3rd. After a rough group in Shinhan S1 OSL, he dropped out of the Starleauges and has since not made it back to the top 16. Despite not performing well in the OSL he managed to make the MSL and showcased some amazing feats in Proleague. The most famous of which was his contain break against firebathero which earned him a spot on the 2006 Pimpest Plays. He also went on an 11 Ace match winning streak, which was eventually stopped by Anytime.
Pusan has always been an invaluable member of MBCGame Hero and has been central to their Proleague roster from his transfer in 2005. Recently, there have been signs that Pusan has returned to form, namely his impressive 9-2 record in Proleauge and the fact that last season he passed the offline qualifiers for the OSL. His impressive Macro, and unique style, are always refreshing to watch and really do distinguish him from other Protoss players.