Jung "Rain" Yoon Jong is retired. Won "PartinG" Lee Sak was a no show at the Korean league qualifiers. Kim "herO" Joon Ho and Kim "sOs" Yoo Jin are playing well -- but are losing more games than you might expect. Someone had to step in and fill the "Void." And that someone is 주성욱 - Joo Sung Wook, aka Zest, aka the best Protoss player in the world.

While there was definitely a period during Heart of the Swarm when Zest was the top Protoss, that time was relatively short, and he was surely passed up by Rain and herO. Here's a look at Zest's televised matches so far in 2016:

10-2 in games:

3-0 against Cho "Maru" Seong Ju, one of the top HotS-era Terrans.

Advanced to the Global StarCraft II League Code S ro16 with a 4-1 record over two Terrans, Seo "Journey" Tae Hee and Yun "TaeJa" Young Seo.

4-1 Proleague record (2nd best in the league), beating Noh "BrAvO" Joon Kyu, Dark (currently the strongest Zerg), sOs (currently the World Champion), and Han "aLive" Lee Seok (an old time pro now reaching a new peak in his career).

Zest only lost to Baek "Dear" Dong Jun, the current Proleague leader, in a game where Zest heavily outplayed the Samsung Protoss, only throwing the game away in the last minutes with an over-cocky Blink in, which was blown up by Dear's Disrupters. Editor's Picks Polt claims his 4th World Championship Series title

Team Secret wins Dota 2 Shanghai Major 2016

This isn't even their final form - SK Telecom and IEM 2 Related

So what is Zest doing that other Protosses are not?

Protoss vs Protoss:

Zest is favoring mobility above all else. So far in his PvP games, he's been utilizing Blink Stalkers and Warp Prisms non-stop, all game. He will often times have a weaker army, one that would never win in a headsup fight. He makes up for this by not having that headsup fight until he has chipped away at you sufficiently.

How does he do it? Through excellent multi-tasking. Zest is consistently on his opponent's side of the map, either poking, or preparing to poke, in somewhere. Any time that you see a Warp Prism move in, know that Zest is also about to hit you somewhere else with his Blink Stalkers. While other players are trying to make an ultimate army, Zest kills them with a thousand paper-cuts. By the time the game comes to a head, Zest has done so much damage and kept you so busy, that it doesn't matter what units he has, his extra economy will tear you apart.

Protoss vs Zerg:

Versus Zerg, we see Zest punish the immobile Siege-based armies that are popular in the current Zerg vs Protoss metagame. Most Protoss have a huge problem dealing with the powerful but slow moving Lurker based armies that top Zergs are fielding against them. To punish these armies, Zest is using 3 specific tactics: Harassment, Flanking, and "pre-teching."

For Harassment, Zest's main tool is once again the Warp Prism. When the main Zerg army moves against Zest, his Warp Prism is immediately finding a location to warp in units near the Zerg's most undefended base. This either forces the Zerg to withdraw his army completely, or leave a portion of it at home, greatly weakening the attack.

For Flanking, Zest is making sure to never attack Zerg's very powerful stationary army from one direction. Instead, Zest makes sure to be spread out, coming from as big of an arc as possible. When Lurkers are able to all attack in one direction, the damage is overwhelming, killing off many units before they can deal any damage. When Lurkers' fire has to be split in many ways, the units live long enough to also deal damage to these long-ranged siege weapons.

Joo "Zest" Sung Wook. Patrick Strack/ESL

For "pre-teching," Zest is starting his tech units before he needs them. Like many Protosses, Zest will start with Phoenixes. While these are definitely useful for harassment and scouting, as well as complimenting your army during large battles, they are certainly an unsung hero in another way. These early Phoenixes deter the Zerg player from going for Mutalisks. With this tech path effectively cut off, Zest will skip the Twilight council in favor of early mass Immortal production. Many Protosses feel that the Immortal is really the backbone of the Protoss ground army, and Zest wastes no time getting as many as he can. They are strong against all Zerg ground units, so you almost can't have too many.

The problem is, they can become very weak late game if your opponent goes into Broodlords, or if your opponent stays in an entrenched position with mass Lurkers, static defenses, and spell casters. Zest starts to solve this problem before it arises by getting his 2nd Stargate and Fleet Beacon before any signs that he needs them. This allows Zest to build up a sizable Tempest force to deal with the Zerg late game. With these three core pieces to Zest's Protoss vs Zerg, he is certainly one of the most feared macro-players in the matchup.

Protoss vs Terran:

The matchup we've seen the most out of Zest recently is most certainly his PvT, and it does not disappoint. For the most part, Zest plays a very strong reactive style against Terran. Throughout the game, Zest pressures and does light harassment, as any good Protoss will, but is very careful about ever fully committing. Continually he will remain 1 base up on the Terran player, and 1 tech ahead as well. By keeping pressure on the Terran, Zest is getting constant information on what his plans are and what he has and is doing. This allows him the leniency to expand and tech faster than other Protoss players.

Once the Terran finally shows that an attack is inevitable, Zest has a wonderfully made army with the right units to fight Terran off after falling back into a defensive position. Most Terrans won't make it into a good enough position to make a full attack onto Zest, though. Normally his PvTs end when a Terran player starts to panic and takes a fourth or fifth base before he's ready. The second they are out of position, Zest makes a killing move immediately capitalizing on the lack of a perfectly formed defense. His instinct for blood is startlingly good for someone who would just as well sit back and play a 45 minute macro game.

Zest's play in Legacy of the Void is nothing short of amazing. He's mapped out the new game more than any other player of his race, and without doubt, will be copied heavily all year long. Look for Zest to likely win a big title this year, and most likely make it to BlizzCon even if he doesn't. En Taro Zest.