



Park "Dark" Ryung-woo is a South Korean Zerg player who is currently playing for Dragon Phoenix Gaming.

Wings of Liberty [ edit ]

In the 2012 Global StarCraft II League Season 1 Preliminaries Dark made it to the Quarterfinals of the Group 12 where he lost 2-1 to SuHoSin.

In the 2012 Global StarCraft II League Season 2 Preliminaries Dark made it to the Semifinals of the Group 3 where he lost 2-1 to TAiLS.

In the 2012 Global StarCraft II League Season 3 Preliminaries Dark defeated Sparta 2-1 in Quarterfinals of the Group 8 and advanced to the Semifinals where he lost 2-0 to TAiLS.

On July 2, 2012, Dark tried to qualify for the 2012 OSL Season 1. He took part in the 2012 OSL Non-KeSPA Preliminaries where he received a BYE in round one against 박홍근 and then took down Polt 2-1 and True 2-0 before losing to Bomber 0-2 in the Semifinals.

On July 23, 2012, Dark participated in the 2012 South Korea WCS Preliminaries. Dark received a BYE in round one and then lost to Heart 2-0 in the round two and was unable to qualify for the event.

On August 1, 2012, Dark tried to qualify for the World Cyber Games 2012 but lost to MarineKing with a score of 0-2 in the round one of Group 10 in the Non-KeSPA Qualifiers.

On August 27, 2012, Dark qualified for the NASL Season 4 through the third open qualifier, defeating Min, Bly and SortOf to secure his spot in the league.

Dark became teamless in October 2012, when SlayerS disbanded.[1] The following month it was announced that he had joined SK Telecom T1 as a trainee.[2]

In the 2012 Global StarCraft II League Season 5 Preliminaries he would at last advance to Code A, defeating Sculp in the final round.

Heart of the Swarm [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

In 2013, Dark participated in the Korean WCS. He only got as far as the Ro48 in Challenger, he was able to participate by going through the Qualifier and taking out Trend 2-1 in the final. In bracket 3 of Challenger Dark played against YongHwa but lost 1-2. This was his only achievement for 2013.

2014 [ edit ]

In the first GSL of 2014 Dark was able to make it further then last time. He once again had to go through the Qualifier and advanced over Center in the finals with a score of 2-1. Having achieved Code A, Dark was placed in Group L with Pet, Seed and Rogue. He placed second overall, winning 2-0 over Rogue, losing 1-2 to Pet then ultimately winning 2-1 over Rogue, thus advancing to Code S. In the Ro32 he was drawn in Group G with Life, Dear and YongHwa. He wasn't able to advance placing third, he first won against Dear 2-1, then lost to Life 0-2 and 1-2 to Dear.

The next season Dark was placed directly into Code A in group B with INnoVation, Sora and Armani. In the first series Dark lost 1-2 to INnoVation, then won 2-1 over Armani and 2-1 over Sora and finished second overall. Back in Code S, Dark played against Zest, Bbyong and TAiLS in group A. He won his first series 2-0 over TAiLS, lost his second series 0-2 to Zest then ultimately won 2-0 over Bbyong. This result placed him second overall and Dark was able to advance to the Ro16. He was drawn into the group C with Maru, TRUE and Stork. After losing to Maru's aggressive strategies despite winning an exciting macro ZvT 1-2, Dark fell to TRUE's supreme ZvZ and therefore got eliminated once again.

2015 [ edit ]

2015 looked to be starting out great for Dark, as he qualified for both Season 1 of the 2015 GSL and the newly created Naver StarCraft II Starleague rather convincingly. His runs in both tournaments were cut short in the Ro16, however. In Starleague, he managed to defeat TY in a rather entertaining series, but found himself unable to overcome his teammate Dream and the Terran juggernaut Maru, who went on to face off against each other in the Grand Finals of Starleague. In GSL, he once again found himself in a group with a Terran teammate, this time INnoVation, but had the utmost confidence that both of them would advance. But it turned out that he underestimated the other players in his group. The famous MMA, whom he had defeated in the round before and considered an easy opponent, caused a major upset that day by advancing from this group without dropping a single map. Dark then fell to Jin Air's captain, Terminator, who, employing among other things a Carrier based strategy, eliminated Dark from the tournament.

In addition, his team SK Telecom heavily relied on him in Proleague, using him as their ace player for round 1 over other well known players such as INnoVation. He managed to score 3 wins (a "3-kill") for his team against Jin Air, taking out sOs, Rogue and Maru, avenging his loss to the latter in Starleague and securing the round victory for his team. He also became known for employing a rather unique style in his ZvT, using Corruptors rather than Mutalisks.

10 days later, Dark managed to qualify for the IEM World Championship in Katowice by defeating sOs once more. There, he would go up against Team Liquid's TaeJa in the first round, emerging victorious 3-1 after a lengthy macro series. His opponent in the next round would once again be Maru, whom he handily defeated 3-0 this time around, stunning the casters and experts present at the event with his performance. His run came to an end, however, at the hands of Maru's teammate Trap who exposed severe weaknesses in Dark's ZvP matchup, resulting in a 3-1 score.

This seemed to have little negative effect on him, as he continued performing well in Proleague, although he did lose his position as the ace player of the team. Still, He continued to struggle against Protoss players as Trap once more beat him with a 3-1 score to eliminate him from the SBENU Starleague. He retaliated this loss just a week later, beating Trap to qualify for the first KeSPA Cup of 2015. His run in Season 2 of the GSL Code S was ended by MyuNgSiK and PartinG after a convincing win against Ryung in Code A.

Just days later the KeSPA Cup began, and Dark left a strong impression by reaching his first tournament finals, where he came one map short of upsetting the heavy favourite CJ herO. On his way to the finals he notably eliminated Life, considered by many[who?] to be the best Zerg at the time, in less than 30 minutes in a highly aggressive series. He also defeated Losira and FanTaSy. As he was successively eliminated from all individual tournaments going on at the time, his appearances in Proleague became more scarce. This was in part due to being overshadowed by his more successful teammates, especially fellow Zerg player soO, though he notably appeared in the round 3 playoffs to defeat Jin Air's ace Maru.

He was seeded into the 2nd KeSPA Cup of 2015 as he was a finalist in the previous one. As it happened, he once again went up against his former teammate FanTaSy, and again the series would go to the deciding game 5, where Dark came out on top. Once again he went up against a top level Zerg player, ByuL this time. ByuL went for early pools in every game, and Dark deflected the attacks for a 3-0 victory. This result was somewhat surprising, as Dark had been eliminated from Starleague Season 3 just days before at the hands of the veteran Zerg player HyuN, also with 3-0 score. Afterwards, he went up against his teammate Dream, whom many[who?] believed to be the best Terran after he defeated Maru the round before, and this time it was Dark who brought the aggression.

Surprising Dream who went for a greedy build, Dark masterfully executed an innovative 3-base baneling bust with baneling speed on Terraform. On Coda, Dark put on early aggression with roaches. Dream held, but was unable to win the macro game that ensued. When on Cactus Valley Dream once again went for a greedy build, Dark decided to punish with him with a roach/baneling all-in, and Dream immediately quit the game as he realised he had no defense whatsoever to deal with the attack. Dark had once again reached the finals of a tournament and was very eager to win. However, his opponent was his teammate soO. soO, despite reaching 4 GSL Grand Finals and the finals of a Dreamhack event, was still looking to claim his first title in Starcraft 2, just as Dark. soO, at this point undefeated in the ZvZ mirror in Proleague, went on to win the finals 4-1 claiming his first title and leaving Dark disappointed.

Dark recovered from the disappointment and qualified for GSL Season 3 with a win against aLive. He then once again went up against MMA and sKyHigh, crushing both to advance to the Ro16 with a 4-0 map score. Remarkably, he had no difficulties dealing with the mech style, unlike many of his Zerg compatriots. During the group selection for the Ro16, he said that he wanted to be more quiet so he could have an easier group than before. He was picked by Zest to join him and ByuL. Dark wanted a Terran to round out the group and then had to choose between his own teammate INnoVation, and Zest's teammate Flash. He chose Flash, stating he would have to apologise to him for creating a teamkill scenario. However, the reigning GSL Champion Rain, also a good friend of Flash, decided to switch Flash with Samsung's Solar, in part as a favour to Solar because Stork reminded Rain that Solar had practiced with him for the GSL finals.

This meant Dark was left without the Terran he had initially wanted in the group and instead had to deal with a Protoss and two other Zerg players. This lead to him being once again eliminated in the Ro16, losing to both Solar and Zest with 1-2 scores, leaving Dark frustrated, while his chances of going to Blizzcon were quickly dwindling, too.

As he was eliminated from GSL, he would then attend Dreamhack Stockholm, his final hope of accumulating enough WCS Points to claim a place at the Global Finals, but ultimately found himself unable to do so as he fell to Leenock. He finished the WCS season in 18th place, only 100 points shy from HyuN and FanTaSy who went on to play a tie-breaker.

In the Grand Finals of the 2015 Proleague, he went up against Rogue, who unlike him qualified for Blizzcon. He was unable to achieve a victory in their game on Terraform. Despite this, SKT closed out the win. Also, in recognition of his great performances throughout the season, he was awarded the "Rookie of the Year" award.

Legacy of the Void [ edit ]

2015 [ edit ]

Dark's first official games in Legacy of the Void were part of the GSL Pre-Season. To qualify for the first week of the event, he defeated Journey and Super. He lost to herO by the score of 0-2 and had to play a rematch against Super, but he emerged the winner. During the actual event, he defeated Solar, the champion of Dreamhack Winter before losing to Life. He did not participate in week 2 of the Pre-Season tournament.

In the following weeks, Dark qualified for the SSL, beating Ryung, Stork and Bbyong, as well as for Code A by defeating TAiLS.

2016: Rise to Fame [ edit ]

Much like 2015, the year started out promising for Dark. On January 13, he defeated GuMiho in Code A by the score 3-1, to qualify for Code S. Eight days later, Dark defeated MyuNgSiK, who had just recently become his teammate, to advance another round in the SSL.

In the next round, he would be forced to play against another member of his team, coincidentally also a Protoss player, Classic. He easily dispatched of him and moved to the next round, where he faced yet another Protoss, namely Stats from KT Rolster, SKT's rivaling team. There, Dark once again displayed mastery in the ZvP matchup, earning himself another 3-0 victory and advancing to the Winner's Final of the SSL without dropping a single map. Here, he faced Solar and defeat him 4-2, forcing the Samsung Zerg to the loser bracket and securing himself a spot in the Grand Finals.

In Code S, Dark advanced from his Ro32 group in first place and without dropping a single map, though Bbyong had decided to drop out of the tournament. In GSL's traditional group selection event for the Round of 16, Dark was considered a particularly strong player by his peers, and was chosen second to last by his teammate Dream. The other players in his group were Curious and Losira. In his first match in the group, Dark found himself overwhelmed by Dream's constant pressure, falling 0-2 to the Terran. Afterwards, he soundly defeated Curious with a 2-0 score, before being ultimately eliminated from the GSL Code S at the hands of Losira's nydus play. Because Dark was a finalist in the SSL, this 1-2 defeat and his elimination from GSL was considered an upset by casters Valdes and Wolf.

A mere 3 days after this, Dark faced Stats in the Grand Finals of the SSL. Stats had garnered momentum through his run in the loser bracket and ended Solar's ZvP winstreak of 41 consecutive matches in Legacy of the Void. Despite this, Dark was still highly favored in the eyes of fans in Korea,[3] as well as experts,[4][5] for this rematch. Dark took a very quick and decisive 2-0 lead against the KT Protoss, looking to quickly win his first championship and establish himself as one of the best Zerg players in the world, regardless of his loss in GSL.

However, a failed all-in in game 3 brought Stats back into the series, and the following two games were much closer, as Stats adapted more and more to Dark's unusual style that relied heavily on Banelings. With the score still 3-2 in his favor, Dark decided to mix it up in game 6. His clever nydus play proved too much for Stats to handle, and Dark closed the series out 4-2. Under the eyes of his former coach and mentor, Brood War legend BoxeR, Dark lifted his first trophy from an individual competition. This victory also guaranteed him a spot at the 2016 Global Finals, the event he had missed out on by less than 200 WCS points in the previous year.

In addition to his improved success in individual leagues, Dark was also an integral piece in SK Telecom T1's efforts to defend their Proleague title. Both times his team was forced to the ace match, Dark was selected by iloveoov to represent his team. In round 1, he defeated KT Rolster's TY with a nydus all-in, and in round 2 he beat MVP's GuMiho in a very close macro game. Additionally, he maintained a very high winrate in Proleague overall, with his only losses at the hands of Zest and Reality.

Dark was left teamless when Proleague was suspended.

Dark was one of the favorites to take the title when the Global Finals started. He had a strong start, dropping only a single map while taking down PtitDrogo and Stats. He continued his streak in the playoffs, defeating Neeb and Elazer without dropping a single map. In the grand finals he met the Terran player ByuN, who eventually took Dark down 4-2.

In December of 2016, Dark's streak of finals seemed to stop. Playing at IEM Gyeonggi, he made it all the way to the semifinals, until falling to INnoVation 2-3.

2017: A New Paradigm [ edit ]

Dark started 2017 struggling to gain traction.

He made it to the Ro16 in GSL Season 1, but was instrumental during the group selections in creating a group comprised solely of former SKT players. Dark lost both of his matches 0-2, ending his GSL run.

At Katowice he was once again knocked out in the semifinals, narrowly missing out on the grand finals.

In SSL Premier Season 1, Dark reached the 6th place in the pennant race, with a match score of 5-4 and a map score of 11-11. He was able to advance through the fast lane, making his way to the second season for another shot at the coveted title.

In GSL Season 2, Dark again made it to the Ro16, only to once again fall out of the tournament. He lost 1-2 against Maru, only to bounce back by taking down Losira with a 2-1 victory. The rematch against Maru ended 2-1 in the Terran's favor, ending Dark's run.

In GSL Season 3, Dark was able to break through the Ro16 for the first time in his career. He made it all the way to the semifinals, where he was defeated by INnoVation 3-2 in a close series.

In SSL Season 2, Dark was able to reach the playoffs with the skin of his teeth. His match score of 5-4 was shared by two other players, INnoVation and Maru, but Dark's superior 13-11 map score made sure that he was among the Top 4. Dark took down Dear and Classic in the playoffs, defeating both Protosses 4-2. In the grand finals he faced off against Stats in an emerging rivalry between the two players. The players traded blows against each other, but once again Dark was unable to close out the series, and Stats took the title with a 4-3 victory over Dark.

Just over a week after the SSL finals, Dark played in the 2017 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 2. He was able to advance against Bunny and soO, but his run was cut short by herO in the semifinals.

Despite not winning a single Premier title during the year, Dark still qualified for the 2017 WCS Global Finals with 7950 points, earning himself the third spot in Korea. Come November, Dark was placed in Group C with herO, Kelazhur and Elazer. With his legendary win rate against non-Korean players, Dark was one of the favorites to make it through the groups to the BlizzCon stage. In a surprising upset, Dark lost 1-2 against Elazer in the decider match, ending his BlizzCon run.

2018 [ edit ]

On the very last days of 2017, Dark qualified for the first season of Code S in 2018.

Dark qualified for IEM Katowice through the first Korean qualifier. He faced ByuN, TY and Classic in the final stage of the qualifier, and in the final qualifying match took down the Protoss 3-2.

Just over a week later, Dark played in the World Electronic Sports Games qualifiers. He defeated Cure and TY to proceed to the second stage. After taking down Dear, he met Classic once again. This time the Protoss had the upper hand, and Dark had to face off against Forte in the qualifying match. The Zerg prevailed against the Terran, and secured himself a spot in the tournament proper.

Dark was seeded into Group F of the first season of Code S. He took down Trust 2-0, followed by a 2-1 victory against Trap, securing him a spot in the Ro16.

In the Ro16 he was placed in Group B, along with soO, aLive and TY. Dark won 2-1 over TY, and took down the former teammate soO with a 2-0 clean sweep, advancing to face Zest in the Quarterfinals.

At IEM Katowice Dark was placed directly into Group B. His first match was against Hurricane, which he lost 1-2. He then bounced back, playing against TRUE and defeating the Zerg player 2-0. Dark's third match was against Solar, another ZvZ, and he was defeated 1-2. Now on the ropes of being knocked out of the tournament, Dark faced against the Terran INnoVation and won the series 2-1. For the fifth match, Dark finally secured his playoff spot with a victory over uThermal.

In the Ro12 Dark faced Trap. The Protoss player took two maps off of Dark until the Zerg was able to rally. Dark claimed the next two maps, bringing the map score to 2-2 in the Bo5 series. In the final map Trap's superior tech units were more than a match against Dark's swarm, and despite Zergling counterattacks, Trap's army pressed on. Dark conceded, losing the series 2-3 and finally ending his Katowice run in the Ro12.

2019 [ edit ]

In 2019, Dark put himself in the halls of StarCraft 2 fame, winning 2019 Global StarCraft II League Season 2: Code S against Trap in the 4-2 final series[6], 2019 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 2 against TY in the 4-0 sweep, and finally 2019 WCS Global Finals with a decisive 4-1 victory [7] over Reynor.

2020 [ edit ]

Dark entered 2020 as the last Blizzcon champion and therefore longest official world champion in StarCraft 2 (November 2019-February 2021). At IEM Katowice he was unable to demonstrate his champion status, placing second in his group and losing to eventual Katowice winner Rogue in Ro8.

During NeXT 2020 Spring, Dark secured victory for his team in the ace match against INnoVation. Considering his second place finish in 2020 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 1 with a close 3-4 loss[8] to Maru along with his status as the last Zerg remaining in 2020 Global StarCraft II League Season 1 playoffs, Dark has remained the top Zerg player in Korea in 2020.

Trivia [ edit ]

Awards [ edit ]

Achievements [ edit ]

Team Achievements

Championships [ edit ]

Notable Series [ edit ]

ZvT [ edit ]

Interviews [ edit ]

2016 [ edit ]

2015 [ edit ]

2014 [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

2013-04-10 | 2013 WCS Korea Season 1 Challenger League Qualifiers Day 1 Winners by This Is Game

2012 [ edit ]

2012-11-11 | GSL 2012 Season 5 Code A Preliminaries Day 1 Winners by This Is Game

First Person View Match VODS [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ]

Statistics [ edit ]

Matchup Statistics

vs vs vs vs Total Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% Record Win% as 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 0 % 0 - 4 0 % 2 - 2 50 % 2 - 8 20 % as 521 - 324 61.7 % 519 - 314 62.3 % 328 - 209 61.1 % 4 - 0 100 % 1372 - 847 61.8 % as 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 2 33.3 % 4 - 0 100 % 5 - 2 71.4 %

Earnings Statistics

{"colors":["#2874b2","orange"],"data":[{"name":"2012","1v1 Earnings":372.04999999999995,"Team Event Earnings":212.620777777778},{"name":"2013","1v1 Earnings":422.03999999999996,"Team Event Earnings":1588.0071428571},{"name":"2014","1v1 Earnings":5216.820000000001,"Team Event Earnings":4674.300277777739},{"name":"2015","1v1 Earnings":22660.5,"Team Event Earnings":7706.74575},{"name":"2016","1v1 Earnings":185512.93,"Team Event Earnings":2111.72675},{"name":"2017","1v1 Earnings":72518.47,"Team Event Earnings":0},{"name":"2018","1v1 Earnings":150749,"Team Event Earnings":927.48833333333},{"name":"2019","1v1 Earnings":294896,"Team Event Earnings":827.375},{"name":"2020","1v1 Earnings":28110.770000000004,"Team Event Earnings":5663}],"keys":["1v1 Earnings","Team Event Earnings"],"maxY":295723.375,"minY":0,"stacked":true,"labels":{"x":"Year","y":"Earnings ($)"},"size":{"height":400,"width":785},"div":"bar-area-0"}

Medal Statistics

Tier Total Premier 5 9 11 25 Major 0 2 1 3 Minor 2 3 3 8 Monthly 0 1 0 1 Weekly 9 4 10 23 Show Match 13 5 0 18 Total 29 24 25 78