His parents were very against it when he told them he would play StarCraft II professionally, but with his brother's help he was able to become a progamer.
The Zerg player, who would later win the entire tournament, handily won the series and eliminated TaeJa from the league. Later in May, he bested his teammates in the Clash of the Houses: SlayerS , hence earning a spot in the main event which featured a paid trip to the MLG Columbus for its winner.
In this event, he made his way to the finals at the expense of MarineKing and GuMiho who then was a Random player , only to narrowly lose to July and to miss his opportunity to attend a live foreign event. His run in the tournament was short-lived though, as DongRaeGu eliminated him in the first round. He placed first in his group, qualifying for the next Code S season. He placed third in his round of 32 group beating NaDa and losing to CoCa and Oz , which, according to the new GSL format introduced this season, sent him straight into code A round of TaeJa dominated the main bracket as well, making short work of Dream and aLive and , respectively , before crushing jjakji in the finals.
His victory in this tournament awarded him a paid travel and accommodation to the Assembly Winter scheduled to take place a week later, for what would be his first participation in a foreign live event.
He took the first place of his group in a dominating fashion, conceding a single game in the process to elfi , while he defeated Jinro and Adelscott TaeJa was barely defeated by the latter in his first match, but managed to turn the tables as he overwhelmed DongRaeGu and beat jjakji in their second encounter, therefore securing a spot in the round of He made a good start, proceeding to his bracket finals at the expense of Killer and Maru , but failed to earn a spot in pool play as he was defeated by jjakji in this last match.
TaeJa eventually dropped out the tournament after he was beaten by ByuN in their losers' bracket finals. He first met MarineKing , and was beaten , but nonetheless made it to the main bracket as he defeated TheStC and took revenge on MarineKing on the same mark. During the same period, he started appearing for Team Liquid in team leagues, in the Evil Geniuses Master's Cup Series VII group stage , delivering a good performance as he won five best of three's including an ace match and lost two.
A narrow defeat against Bomber in the quarterfinals eliminated him of the tournament. He didn't make a significant impact on the encounter though, as he was defeated right away by Tassadar and couldn't prevent his team from dropping out at this stage of the league.
He flawlessly made his way through the three group stages, suffering only one loss against SaSe. He was ultimately eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, bested by his teammate HerO. He placed second in his round of 32 group, eliminating AcE and Leenock in the process.
The round of 16, played a week later, featured a tough group for TaeJa who was put with the reigning, four-time GSL champion Mvp , viOLet , and Seed who would ultimately win this season.
He eventually made it to the playoffs, defeating viOLet in the last match, therefore equaling his best result in the GSL so far. His opponent there was MC, against whom he battled in a close series. TaeJa handily made his way to the his bracket's finals at the expense of Dream , Welmu , GanZi and LosirA , and faced First for a spot in the grand finals.
The Terran player took the upper hand and proceeded to the grand finals where he met another Protoss player, Alicia , who had placed second in the North American Star League Season 3 just a week before.
TaeJa ultimately secured the series , hence winning a premier tournament for the first time of his career. He was called as Liquid 's ace as StarTale led , being one set away from victory, and achieved a 4-kill defeating Life , Curious , Squirtle and Bomber in order to overwhelm the South Korean team and send his own into the losers' bracket finals.
Four days later, he carried Team Liquid in this latter match as well, achieving another 4-kill against SlayerS defeating Genius , CoCa , Min and Puzzle so that Liquid would make it to the grand finals.
This time however, TaeJa was able to take the upper hand on his teammate, beating him and proceeding to the semifinals. The day after his coronation in Finland, TaeJa made his entry in the TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 he had qualified for the event on the second attempt in the Korean qualifiers , and was, along with Ret , the only player of his team who had managed to do so and faced Bischu in the first round.
He took a lead in this best of 5, but the Swedish player was able to come back and to force a decisive fifth game, which TaeJa won. However, since Team Liquid was coming from the losers' bracket, they had to win a second series in order to secure the title. The latter player ultimately secured the victory for team Incredible Miracle, while Team Liquid had to settle with the second place.
Even though he wasn't able to make the difference in the second set of the grand finals, TaeJa's performance throughout the league was decisive for his team which earned him the IPL Team Arena Challenge MVP award , [11] with two all-kills and two 4-kills as well as an overall record in games which was by far the best in the league, far ahead of Revival 's record second best and of Zenio 's record second best for Team Liquid and fifth overall.
This time however, the Protoss player, who had thoroughly studied his opponent's playstyle from his recent showings at the MLG Summer Arena and Assembly Summer, emerged victorious of a tied series and ended TaeJa's short-lived run in the tournament. He made his way through it at the expense of Illusion , Ryung and Revival , and met CranK again for an extended series starting at in favor of the Protoss player. TaeJa was unable to turn the tables, and lost the series He was subsequently seeded in the fifth round of the championship losers' bracket, from where he defeated LosirA , aLive , and Revival, before meeting his teammate HerO.
TaeJa emerged victorious of their match, for the second time in a row after their confrontation in the Assembly Summer earlier in the month. His run was ended in the semifinals by First , who had already eliminated him of the TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 two weeks before.
TaeJa defeated the Polish player still the reigning DreamHack champion at the time and Mvp to top his group. The latter, whose recent achievements had earned him the reputation of being the most successful player affiliated to the KeSPA since their switch to StarCraft II, handily beat the Terran player He easily made it to the main bracket in spite of a defeat against NightEnD in the first group stage , defeating Stephano.
TaeJa's run in the bracket turned out to be a seemingly effortless path to the finals, as he defeated Bly , SaSe whom he admitted beforehand to be a threatening opponent, due to him taking the upper hand on their previous encounters , [14] [15] and the upset of the tournament TargA who had eliminated LucifroN and HerO in the previous rounds.
He got off to a terrible start in the finals though, as his competitor for the title, ForGG , took a lead and stood one game away from the victory. The next day, he lost to VortiX in the RSL Season 2 playoffs, dropping into the losers' bracket where he eventually forfeited the tournament.
Compared to his outstanding record in the previous season the IPL Team Arena Challenge 3 , TaeJa's performance in the league was quite unimpressive with two wins and three losses. The next day, he went on to play his GSL semifinals against Life , whom he had swiftly beaten every time they had previously faced each other.
During the series, TaeJa melted a massive build order lead in game two by lowering a Supply Depot as his opponent's Zerglings arrived on his base. In the quarterfinals he faced ThorZaIN , which he won in a close Advancing to the semifinals, he faced Nerchio, whom he easily crushed In the finals he faced HerO , which is the only time in the tournament he appeared to have floundered. His decision making and unit control were not on par with what we had become accustomed to and he was losing to builds he should not have done.
This ended up with a heart-melting loss, as HerO made all the right moves. The notable players in his group were MC , whom he lost to and Ryung , whom he beat with a solid victory. His first-place finish advanced him to the Round of 16, where he faced MMA. If that match had been against MMA of one year ago, it would have been a very close call, but MMA was not the monster he used to be and TaeJa swept him up with a solid win.
Before this match, they had both won the same amount of series this year against each other, with HerO of course taking the most recent just weeks before. Every move TaeJa made was perfectly countered and HerO often had a build order advantage if not straight up win in all the games.
TaeJa lost and lost his chance of winning the tournament. HerO went on to win the tournament in dominating fashion. He first faced the Protoss player and was upset losing TaeJa won against Nestea in his first match, got 'ed by the strong Woongjin Zerg Soulkey, and then edged out the final series against Noblesse , putting him into the round of TaeJa lost in his first match against INnoVation , but won his next two matches and against Bomber and DongRaeGu, respectively, which allowed TaeJa to advance to the round of 8.
In somewhat of an upset, he won and advanced to the round of 4. Back to the round of 4 for the Global StarCraft II League Season 1 , he faced another strong Zerg player in RorO , one that turned out to be too much for him to handle as he was defeated and was eliminated for that season of GSL. In the next round he faced Bomber and TaeJa was completely dismantled by Bomber , ending his run in the tournament. He defeated FanTaSy in the first match, then KangHo to get out of his group and into the round of In the first match, TaeJa won against Shine, lost to sOs and in the final match of the group he lost against Bomber which ended his run in the first WCS Season.
He then faced the young American player Illusion and once again won In the round of 16 he faced another Korean Terran player, Polt , whom he was 'ed by and sent to the group stage matches to determine whether he would go to Premier League, stay in Challenger League, or be eliminated from WCS America altogether.
Before the fate of his WCS Season 1 America run was to be determined, TaeJa attended DreamHack Summer , in the first two group stages he only lost 1 map and advanced to the third group stage. In an upset, he lost against elfi, but then went on to Tefel and ThorZaIN and advance to the round of 16 of the single-elimination bracket playoffs.
His next opponent was his teammate TLO , whom he also won against , knocking his teammate out of the tournament. He went on to face the legendary Zerg player Jaedong , whom TaeJa unfortunately fell to, as the Zerg player was too strong for him.
TaeJa advanced in games, against Goswser and against Stephano. In the round of 8, he played against the former GSL Champion Seed , whom he easily 'ed, showing his dominance. In the round of 4 he once again played against his teammate TLO. This time, the match was much closer, with TaeJa winning and advancing to the finals. TaeJa defeated Polt , getting revenge from the previous season's Challenger League where he got 'ed. He would then cleanly beat XY to advance to the round of TaeJa easily dispatched of the group, going in games; vs Minigun and vs aLive.
After his victory against MacSed, he went on to the Smifinals where he had to play against Polt. In one of the best TvT-series of the year, TaeJa narrowly lost against him. After he lost Game 1, he was able to pull off a comeback and win the series In the winner's match, his opponent was duckdeok, who got defeated by TaeJa.
In the first round of Playoffs, he swept Rain , showing superb Ghost micro. In the Semifinals, he lost against Bomber in quite a close series. This was his second consecutive elimination in Semifinals against a Terran player.
In the first match, he 'ed Basterd. After he had defeated Grubby and Avenge , he played against Symbol, whom he kicked out of the tournament through a victory. In the playoffs, his first opponent was the Korean Zerg YugiOh , who got eliminated In the quarterfinals, he had to fight against sOs , one of the strongest Protoss at the moment. Once again, he won and advanced to the semis against Life, who had no chance against TaeJa and lost TaeJa defeated Top , before once again facing MajOr in the match for the second place, where he defeated him , advancing to the Round of TaeJa then played in Group A for the Round of In his first match, he defeated Sen , then lost to Jaedong , putting him against Heart in the final match of the group.
He lost , knocking him out of Premier League. With his good performance throughout the year, TaeJa was ranked 11th at the end of the WCS regular season, meaning he qualified to the Global Finals in the beginning of November. Kelly Sotherton Athletics Competitor. Jack Tucker Football Player. Famous Birthdays October Chaz Ebert Businesswoman. Rocky Saganiuk Ice Hockey Player.
Terrence Dixie Weightlifter. Tetsuro Matsuzawa Psychologist. Raman Singh Politician. Jakob Poltl Basketball Player. Report Post « » Your Name:. Your Email:. After all, even if it was only for a few games at a time, we got to see that legendary player we had thought was gone for good.
Farewell, TaeJa. Thank you for giving us seven amazing years of StarCraft II, and a legacy that will last forever. We started working together when he was 17 years old. A rising talent, playing under the legendary SlayerS clan.
Offering him an opportunity to play for us has turned out to be such a pivotal moment in our history. Thank you for everything. It wasn't an easy decision, I can feel I want to play more, but the circumstances aren't good for me. I'm getting older, and my skill on SC2 wasn't satisfied as my expectation, so I decided this.
I received a lot of love from my fans during my pro gaming period, It is really sad and sorry to my fans, but there is no regret of this decision for me. It's time to start a new chapter of my life, I'll get this though with my experience and knowledge which I got it from my pro gaming life. I appreciate so much to my fans whose gave me much love more than i deserve, hopefully we can meet in the future again.
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