For the most part, the beginning of this is back story of KurO and the teams he has played on, the tournaments they have gone through, and their placings. Originally intended this to just be more of an analytic piece, but the more I looked into his back story the more it intrigued me so I’m tailoring it more to that. Further down the piece I’ll talk more in depth about KurO the player, his stats, and less about his back story.

Incredible Miracle, a storied Starcraft organization, finally dipped into the League of Legends scene in May 2012, after the success and popularity of Azubu The Champions Spring 2012 had concluded. Two lackluster splits later and Incredible Miracle looked to create a sister team to help flesh out their budding League of Legends organization, just as competitors Najin and Azubu had done with their rosters.

QUALIFYING TROUBLES

Lee “KurO” Seo-haeng made his professional debut in March 2013 fresh out of solo queue with the newly created LG Incredible Miracle #2 roster, alongside teammates Park “PLL” Jae-gwon in top lane, Kim “Reign Over” Ui-jin in the jungle, Kim “SoFantasy” Yong-beom at ADC, and Lee “BBuing” In-yong at support. This roster competed in the Champions Spring 2013 qualifier tournament. Rushing through the tournament, they found themselves at the final set before entering Champions. Unfortunately for them, they wouldn’t be facing a purely amateur team as they had been up until this point. They would be facing SK Telecom T1 #1, otherwise known as Terminator, the Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu led squad with veteran talent. Despite a strong showing by KurO in the mid lane, a 20-9-30 total K-D-A in the final set, LG-IM #2 would fall 2-1, losing their shot at Champions.

Falling directly into the NLB Gold League, the KurO led LG-IM #2 squad would easily dispatch their opponents moving into the Platinum League. Here they would face a real test in MVP Blue. While MVP Blue had a poor showing in Champions Spring, the team had some real talent with players now known as Acorn, Heart, Easyhoon, and Deft. Despite the apparent talent mismatch, LG-IM #2 prevailed on the back of KurO’s phenomenal team fighting on Orianna in games two and three along with a notable standout performance by top laner PLL in game two. Moving into the next round, LG-IM #2 would square off against the team that kept them out of Champions Spring, Terminator. SK Telecom T1 #1, like MVP Blue, had a lackluster showing in Champions despite the talent on their roster. In a five game slug-fest, despite some incredibly dominating Zed and Kha’Zix play by KurO, Terminator would knock LG-IM #2 out yet again.

BUILDING A CONTENDER

Fast forwarding to Summer, Incredible Miracle would retain Reign Over, BBuing, and KurO from the original IM #2 roster due to their overall individual performances in the previous split. Reign Over would be transplanted into the IM #1 roster for Summer while the other two would stay on the #2 roster. This time, KurO would find the success leading him into Champions with three additional teammates in Lee “Sy1ph” Jae-gwon in top lane, Jun “Lilac” Ho-jin in the jungle, and Jeong “Scarlet” Jae-ho at ADC. Finding themselves in Champions Summer 2013, IM #2 would be placed in group C, alongside SK Telecom T1, Najin White Shield, and MVP Blue. Arguably the toughest group that split, IM #2 as a team were outmatched on a talent level. However KurO proved himself and stood toe to toe against some of the better talents Korea had to offer from the mid lane in Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, Yu “Ggoong” Byeong-jun, and Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon.

In the first set, SK Telecom T1, the future Champions winners, quickly minced the young Incredible Miracle #2 roster in a 2-0 set as Piglet and PoohManDu entirely outclassed the Scarlet and BBuing bot lane, carrying the two matches. Shortly after this set, Sy1ph would retire and they would replace him with their old top laner PLL. In the second set, IM #2 faced off against a raw talent filled MVP Blue. In the set, KurO played near flawlessly on Orianna and Lux. In the first match of the set causing a 25 minute surrender vote from MVP Blue and in the second match of the set having to attempt to out carry Deft’s perfect Twitch play, resulting in a disappointing 53 minute loss. The 1-1 split to MVP Blue put IM #2 at a precarious 1-3 overall record in the group heading into a final match up against the veteran squad Najin White Shield. In an extremely decisive 2-0 set victory for Najin White Shield, IM #2 would be knocked down into the NLB league.

THE MIRACLE RUN

For some context into this NLB run, clarification regarding the NLB format should be made as there is a bit of misconceptions about it a la the LSPL in China. This is not a losers bracket. This is not a relegation tourney. This is an entirely separate tourney that is apart of Champions where every team that does not make the top four in Champions drops down to the NLB tourney.

Heading into NLB, IM #2 would again shake up the roster, replacing Scarlet with Lee “BetKyo” Seung-min and moving sub support Kweon “Lasha” Min-woo to the starting role in place of BBuing. Here they would begin what could only be described as a Cinderella run in NLB.

Being placed directly into the Platinum League due to falling from Champions group play, IM #2 would start their run in a quick 2-0 win against the purely amateur Team Alienware. Next up on the list would be MiG Blitz, a team with notable future talents such as Heo “PawN” Won-seok, Jung “Apple” Chul-woo, and Yoon “Prime” Du-sik. In the set, PawN, then known as “wonsuk”, and KurO continuously dueled in the mid lane, KurO coming out the better in two of the three matches leading to a close 2-1 set win in favor of Incredible Miracle #2.

Finally reaching the NLB Diamond League, KurO and Incredible Miracle #2 would square off against a Champions Quarter-finalist in Chunnam Techno University, a team featuring star support Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan. CTU had surprisingly taken second place in their group B, almost claiming first place in a tiebreaker in front of CJ Entus Blaze. Unfortunately, they would be unceremoniously knocked out of Champions 3-0 by the future champions of the league, SK Telecom T1. In the NLB Quarterfinal set, the quickly improving IM #2 roster would dispatch CTU 2-0, moving on to face off against the Jin Air Green Wings Falcons in the semifinals. This JAF squad featured three of the five members from the SK Telecom T1 #1 roster that had beaten the KurO led IM #2 squad twice back in Spring, once in Champions qualifiers and once in NLB. Here, IM #2 would finally have their revenge on the back of commanding assassin play by KurO, knocking the Falcons down to a third place match with a 3-0 set win and boosting the formerly floundering IM #2 roster to the finals of GIGABYTE NLB Summer 2013 against future Season 3 Worlds participant Najin Black Sword.

In the NLB finals, the Incredible Miracle dream came crashing back to earth in a tough 3-1 loss. KurO’s average performance was not enough to overcome the kings of NLB with their brand new mid, Kim “Nagne” Sang-moon, along with PLL and Lilac being utterly over-matched by their counterparts on Najin Black Sword. This would, unfortunately, be their peak as a team.

POSSIBLE CONTENDER TURNED PRETENDER

Entering Champions Winter 2013, Incredible Miracle #2 would welcome back Reign Over onto the roster in place of Lilac, in part because of the Incredible Miracle #1 roster and its inability to even qualify for Winter. The Winter IM #2 roster would look to be PLL, Reign Over, KurO, BetKyo, and new support Jung “Ondal” Jae-woo. Once again, IM #2 would be placed in the toughest group in the tournament alongside KT Rolster Bullets, Samsung Blue, and Najin Black Sword. With KT Rolster Bullets continuing their success from previous splits, Samsung Blue making appropriate roster moves including picking up PawN as their mid laner along with progressing as an already talented squad, and Najin Black Sword coming back to Korea after a good showing at Season 3 Worlds, it appeared like IM #2 had quite a mountain to climb if they were to make it out of groups.

Splitting 1-1 with both Najin Black Sword and Samsung Blue, it came down to the final set of the group against KT Rolster Bullets to decide whether KurO and IM #2 would be heading to NLB or heading to Quarterfinal play for the first time. KT Rolster Bullets, being at the top of their game, closed IM #2 out in the first match after a tense first 25 minutes. In the second game, with IM #2 on red side, they had last pick. Seeing the KT Rolster Bullets team comp before them, Ryu “Ryu” Sang-wook on Nidalee, Ondal locked in something KurO had never before played in competitive, Leblanc. The risky pick did not pay off. KT Rolster Bullets jumped out to an early significant gold lead, however IM #2 fought their way back into the match through some clutch mid game picks keeping their hopes alive. The Bullets would dash those hopes at the 30 minute mark, as the game drew closer and closer, with an uncontested, unknown baron, a KT Rolster Bullets special. Not even four minutes later, the game was over. Samsung Blue and KT Rolster Bullets would progress through the group of death into their respective quarterfinal matches. Incredible Miracle #2 would once again head to the NLB league.

This time, however, would not be as miraculous as their Summer run. Meeting up, yet again, against the Jin Air Green Wings Falcons, IM #2 would fall 2-1 in their first Platinum League set right off the back of their tough 2-0 set loss to the KT Rolster Bullets.

NO MIRACLES LEFT

Transitioning into HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014, Incredible Miracle #2 would once again qualify, bringing in newer and older players. KurO stating before the split, for the third season of Champions in a row, that IM #2 would finally prove themselves. Apple, formerly of MiG Blitz, would be taking over the top lane role from PLL. Lasha, formerly a starting support for IM #2, would be returning to the role in place of Ondal. Being placed into group D alongside perennial playoff teams CJ Entus Blaze, Najin White Shield, and Champions farm team Xenics Storm, the road to getting out of groups yet again looked slim.

Their first set ended in a 2-0 victory for CJ Blaze. Despite a phenomenal Ziggs performance by KurO in a near hour long first match, Blaze would take both games of the set on the back of jungler Kang “DayDream” Kyun-min. Their second set showed some slim hope to push past the group against the Oh “Ohq” Gyu-min led Xenics Storm. In two impressive Leblanc matches, KurO and IM #2 would even their record at 2-2 heading into a final match up against Najin White Shield to determine whether they would finally prove themselves and advance to the playoff stage. In one of the classic examples of Najin White Shield making a win appear out of thin air, they would steal a 55 minute match away from KurO’s near perfect 4-0-9 Syndra performance, knocking IM #2 down to NLB for the third straight season of Champions.

Like the split before, their run in NLB would end in yet another disappointing 2-0 loss, this time to Prime Optimus. After the Prime Optimus loss, KurO would play a select few matches in Masters for Incredible Miracle before finding a new home. His final match for the organization that he stuck with for over a year would be against the team that dashed their NLB Summer dream run, Najin Black Sword. In a 9-3-12, hour long carry performance on Nidalee, he would leave IM #2 on a bright note.

A NEW TEAM AND A NEW HOPE

Shortly after leaving the Incredible Miracle organization, he would be joining the one he had only recently bested, Najin Black Sword. The storied Korean e-sports organization was looking to rebuild their roster from the ground up after consecutive mediocre performances. Their first moves would be to release veteran Champions players Shin “Helios” Dong-jin and Kim “Pray” Jong-in from their roster. Their next move would be to acquire a budding star marksman in Oh “Ohq” Gyu-min. Buying him out from the perennial farm system in Xenics Storm, Ohq was one of the very few bright spots on the 0-6 group stage roster. Pairing him up in the bot lane would be Najin legend Jang “Cain” Nu-ri. Later in the offseason, they would strike a deal with KT Rolster, sending their mid laner Nagne and their top laner Joo “Limit” Min-kyu to the KT Rolster Bullets in exchange for a rising top laner in Lee “Leopard” Ho-seong, otherwise known as Duke. To fill the mid lane spot, they would acquire the talented KurO off of the Incredible Miracle roster. Rounding out their roster for Summer, filling the vacant jungle role, would be a young solo queue talent that had competed in select Masters matches, Lee “Lee” Ho-jin.

HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014. The most competitive tournament in the games history. The amount of pure talent teeming through almost every single competing roster was astounding. Najin Black Sword was one of those rosters that was predicted for a possible playoff berth and maybe even a lengthy run. With a world renowned top laner, a future superstar at ADC, and one of the most consistent mid laners in the Korean scene, hopes were quite high for this team although time and experience together would prove to be valuable.

They would be placed into a fairly easy group B alongside the Spring runner up Najin White Shield, a mediocre Jin Air Falcons squad, and a reformed KT Rolster Bullets roster. For the first time in KurO’s career, his team would take first in their group, only dropping one match to their sister team, and progress to the Champions playoffs. There, they would face off in the quarterfinals against SK Telecom T1 S in one of the longest broadcasts Champions has ever seen. Najin Black Sword had seen their fair share of troubles in the mid to late game in regards to closing matches out. SK Telecom T1 S had their entire game plan revolve around stalling and scaling to the late game team fights. Both mid laners, Easyhoon and KurO, excelled on the wave clear mages that were top tier picks and would be squaring off yet again in their careers.

In the first match, Najin Black Sword picked a strong early game comp against the typical late game scaling SK Telecom T1 S comp with Easyhoon’s infamous Ziggs. Despite a small lapse allowing a dragon to fall to SKT S, Sword would run away with the game with their snowball oriented play style, only for it to be stalled an extra ten minutes by that Ziggs pick. The second match can only be described in a Doa quote, “The ‘S’ stands for slow”. SKT S jumping out to a 23 minute, 7k gold lead, they struggled mightily closing the match out. Game three showed an incredibly poor pick and ban process by Sword that put Lee on an ineffective jungler and Duke, a notable carry top, on a low impact top, Lulu. KurO’s great Syndra play was not enough to push Sword to victory, pinning their backs against the wall in an elimination match.

In the potential elimination match, Sword slowly, but surely choked the wave clear comp SKT S relied on out in a clean, yet incredibly lengthy match. Heading into game five, blind pick, Easyhoon defaulted to a Ziggs that had been banned in the three previous matches and KurO defaulted to his Kassadin that had been banned every match prior. On the back of KurO’s roaming Kassadin, Sword would take a sizable mid game lead, but were unable to push through the Gragas and Ziggs comp SKT S was allowed through blind pick. After an ace at the 40 minute mark, Sword chose to take baron instead of pushing down towers and inhibs. While the baron extended their overall gold lead to 11k, they still had yet to tear down an inhib. Ten minutes later, the gold lead Sword had accumulated meant nothing as the game eclipsed the 50 minute mark. After an extremely poor engage by Cain in a baron standoff that led to Duke getting caught and killed, SKT S took baron and finally put Sword on the back foot. No more than ten minutes later, the game was over. SKT S had come back from an 11k gold deficit in the fifth, deciding match that moved the winner on to the semifinals. As the SK Telecom coaching staff celebrated gleefully with their players, the Najin players could do nothing but think about what all went wrong.

Despite the crushing defeat in quarters, this was the best finish in KurO’s career and the team around him seemed extremely promising. Ohq and Duke had break out splits in their respective positions, Lee struggled a lot at times whilst showing flashes of potential, and Cain helped steer the young and talented team.

FINALS DISAPPOINTMENT V2

Moving directly into the quarterfinals of NLB, they would be facing off against a CJ Blaze roster that failed to advance to Champions playoffs for the first time in their history. The disappointment would continue for Blaze, as Duke thoroughly dominated Flame in a 2-1 victory for Sword. In the semifinals, they would meet their sister team, Najin White Shield. The team many claimed were a top three team at Worlds would be dismantled by the upstart Sword roster in dominating fashion. After a slow and steady game one, KurO would lock in Yasuo as a counter to Ggoong’s Ziggs. Proceeding to solo kill the mid laner twice in the first twenty minutes of play, KurO would help carry Sword to a 2-0 start in the series. Game three would lane KurO on his most comfortable champion, Orianna. Despite a rough level three fight that ended with Ggoong taking double buffs and two kills, KurO rebounded by turning around a one versus two gank, walking out unscathed and with a kill of his own. With phenomenal team fighting on Orianna, a trait he had become known for, Sword would take the third match cleanly heading into the finals against the Faker led SK Telecom T1 K. KurO had outclassed his opponent in the mid lane yet again, with a notable 17-3-24 KDA across three different champions.

In what would end up being his final set with Najin Black Sword, KurO would be introduced to the world by way of one of Faker’s highlight reel plays in game one of the set. Right off the bat, KurO was on his most comfortable champion while Faker was on Yasuo. Nearly out playing and solo killing the best player in the games history, Faker turned the play around and would proceed to snowball SK Telecom to victory. In the next match, Faker would be the one on his patented Orianna while KurO would be on his signature pocket pick Syndra. Faring well against Faker’s Orianna and picking up two kills in a mid game roam, Sword looked to be rolling on a positive note to game three. With the knife to SK Telecom’s throat, Sword decided to go for a 25 minute baron. Disaster struck Sword once again as the baron was stolen and SK Telecom turned the match around. Within less than three minutes, the 6k gold lead Sword had amassed disappeared and SK Telecom tore down their base. Down 0-2 in the finals, KurO would default back to his Orianna while Faker moved onto his feared Zed. Good laning and solid team fighting led Sword to an even match 30 minutes in against a terrifying late game comp SK Telecom had picked. One poor engage by Ohq and Cain led to Sword swiftly being aced and the nexus destroyed all in a quick series of plays. KurO had once again come so far only to be left with pure sorrow.

KOREAN EXODUS

Heading into the offseason, Chinese teams and owners started bidding high for Korean players to come join their organizations. Almost immediately after winning the Season 4 World championship, both Samsung Blue and Samsung White would leave for Chinese pastures among over 45 Korean pros. The landscape in Korea had changed forever. News of KurO leaving Najin was known, but certain people speculated where he may land. China was the obvious choice, but he would dispel rumors of him leaving Korea ensuring fans that he would be joining up with a new Korean team, an organization brand new to the Korean scene.

THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD

KurO would end up landing on the HUYA Tigers, alongside former teammate Lee, former IM #1 top laner Song “Smeb” Kyung-ho, former Najin Black Sword ADC Pray, and former Najin White Shield support Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon. Questions arose over this roster and where they may stand in the post-exodus Korean scene. Smeb had been much like KurO on Incredible Miracle #2, a talented player held back by certain things out of his control. Pray would attempt to regain his skill after taking a split off in Summer. Everyone knew how strong Pray once was, but could he get back to that form was the question on everyone’s mind. Lee was fairly unimpressive during his first split on Najin Black Sword, but flashes of brilliance here and there piqued interest. GorillA, after his phenomenal showing at Regionals and Worlds, and KurO were the only two known quantities on this roster. How everyone else would develop was only a matter of time.

Their preseason play was weak. Still meshing as a team, they would claim a tied for third placement heading into SBENU Champions Spring 2015. Almost immediately when the season started this team came together quicker than any other roster in Korea, all of which underwent roster swaps. Adapting quickly to the early season 5 meta, in the first round robin of the season, the Tigers, known as GE at the time, would not drop a set. Going 7-0 in sets and only dropping two matches in total, many proclaimed the Tigers as the best team in the world. With KurO’s versatile champion pool and smart map movements, Smeb and Lee’s synergy, and Pray’s phenomenal Corki play, this team would enter the second round robin of play as the #1 team in Korea.

Moving into the second round robin of play, they would quickly shut down Incredible Miracle, Samsung, and Jin Air before departing to the IEM World Championships in Katowice, Poland.

THE LARGEST UPSET IN LEAGUE HISTORY

Eight teams would enter IEM Katowice. The NA mid season leader, Team SoloMid. The EU mid season leader, SK Gaming. The IEM Shenzen winner, World Elite. The IEM San Jose winner, Cloud 9. The IEM Cologne winner, Gambit Gaming. The IEM Taipei winner, Yoe Flash Wolves. The Champions mid season leader, GE Tigers. The Champions rank two team, CJ Entus.

Of note, World Elite. The team many considered to be the worst in China, sitting at, or near, last place in LPL for the entirety of the season. This event was to be a gauge for where post-exodus Korea really stood on the world level. In the opening match, the GE Tigers reminded everyone why they were possibly the best team in the world. Utterly decimating Cloud 9, KurO’s fearsome Leblanc controlled the game from minute one. Leading into the next match, they would be facing off against the number one team in Europe, SK Gaming. Whereas Cloud 9 had been struggling in North America, SK Gaming had a stranglehold over Europe, being seemingly unbeatable. The GE Tigers figured out the strategy, banning out the bot lane, that no other European team could figure out, a strategy that would lead to the downfall of SK Gaming. Despite a valiant effort from the best team in Europe, the Korean leaders ran away with the game after a poor mid game choice to fight by SK Gaming.

After a dominating group stage that would put them into the semifinals, they would square off against a surprising opponent in World Elite. The team everyone thought was the worst in the LPL advanced, beating CJ Entus and Gambit Gaming. Was China really this strong now that the worst team could beat the second best team in Korea? World Elite had brought in two new players since they got to IEM Katowice, mid laner Su “Xiye” Han-Wei and jungler Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun. Xiye brought a more aggressive, mid game tone to the World Elite roster, opposite of what the previous mid laner brought. Mystic was just flat out better than his predecessor.

The Tigers would take game one in a stomp. Game two would be the other way. With KurO taking a puzzling Yasuo pick that was poor in the meta, World Elite rolled over the Tigers, not allowing them to even come close to their mid game power spike. Game three showed World Elite putting GE Tigers in the hospital as Lee “Spirit” Da-yoon, the former Samsung Blue jungler, would get every single lane snowballed, stampeding to an upset of massive proportions. The worst team in China had beat the best team in Korea. Not in an insignificant best of one match either. In a best of three semifinal set.

SLAYING OF TIGERS

GE had returned to Korea shaken. They had just been stamped out by World Elite, the supposed worst team in China. The new patch had come out, introducing a brand new jungle meta. Lee, the weakest point on the team, had to adapt or the team would die. Finishing off the second round robin, the Tigers did so in an incredibly unconvincing fashion. Whereas they hadn’t dropped a set all season long in Korea, due to the meta being shaken up, they would stumble and drop two of their final four regular season sets. Regardless, due to the phenomenal overall regular season, the Tigers clinched their spot in the Champions Spring 2015 finals. Getting closer and closer to this point his whole career, KurO would finally be on the stage that he had ventured for two years prior.

In the finals, they would be facing SK Telecom T1 after their 0-2 comeback against CJ Entus in the semifinals. Going into the finals, many people believed the semifinals were the true top two teams in Korea at the time. GE Tigers would do nothing to disprove that belief.

Going up against a long time opponent in Easyhoon, KurO was unable to accomplish much that night. The Tigers style that they excelled in earlier in the season had been phased out. Their ability to play the mid game to near perfection was out of date. Lee’s best junglers were no longer optimal picks and as such his ability to get top lane rolling was null. Their biggest strengths were gone. In a complete stomp, SK Telecom would shut out the GE Tigers in three games while Faker sat in the audience, not even needing to play a single map.

With the team on a steep down trend and no stopping in sight, the Tigers entered Summer projected to be a mid tier team as certain other squads like Najin e-mFire and KT Rolster were projected to rise up. While the Summer split is still young, the now-Koo Tigers have a mountain to climb if they want to seriously compete for the title once again.

KURO BY THE NUMBERS

Sporting an 83-67 overall W/L record, he only broke over .500 in his second game with the GE Tigers. Despite that, he still came out with a 3.53 KDA over his time with Incredible Miracle, a team that he went a total 30-37 with, leading them to an NLB final, success their League organization has never touched again. Of mid laners with over 100 games to their record, CoCo, SSONG and RapidStar are the only ones to surpass his 69.7% Kill Participation stat. His 689 total kills puts him in the top 10 for most kills of any Korean player. For reference, Ambition has the most at 1181.

His most played Champion is Orianna at 21 total games. With her, he’s 12-9 with a 4.4 KDA and 75.5% Kill Participation. Other champions he excels with include Leblanc, as his second most played champ, Syndra, as one of his famous pocket picks, Kassadin, Xerath, Lissandra, Gragas, Zed, Viktor, Lulu, Cassiopeia, and Ziggs. All, at one point or another, through his career excelling on any number of those champs. His Viktor being of note as he was one of the first mid laners to bring him into the meta this past Spring and overall he’s 6-0 on the champ with an astounding 38-12-36 KDA. He has played 30 different champs in his 150 total matches, gathering wins on all but four of them.

Due to the junglers he has been paired with through his career, he’s never been one like a Faker or a CoCo that garners a lot of attention mid. He’s very much an independent mid lane player. Reign Over and Lee, his two main junglers, were extremely top heavy style players, focusing on pushing advantages in the top lane rather than anywhere else. His ability to stay even against any mid he went up against in any match up is a trait many mid laners lack. Unlike certain mid laners, his ability to adapt his own play style with his current pick is commendable. His Kassadin and Leblanc being fearsome roamers. His Orianna and Syndra being lane control, team fight monsters. His mid to late game team fighting is one of his absolute best traits. His positioning and knowing when and when not to weave in and out of a team fight is instinctual. He is almost always in a position to deal the optimal amount of damage or to create a necessary pick. While being known previously in his career for more lane controlling, team fight mages, on joining KOO he adopted more early and mid game focused champs, learning to abuse their power spikes and avoid their power troughs.

What makes KurO such a notable player? He’s not flashy by any means. He won’t dominate your lane. You’re not going to spot him in any real highlight clips. What is he? Pure consistency. His entire career he’s been one of the top performing mid laners in Korea. He’s never been in a slump due to meta changes, of which he’s seen quite a lot of. He is one of the most versatile mid laners Korea has seen and he has always been a top performing member on every team despite receiving extremely little help through his career, even dating back to the 2013 Summer season where every team played mid-centric styles in attempts to snowball the mid lane hard. He’s a chirpy, leading voice on all of his teams. He’s a player that has always had pocket picks his opponents needed to watch out for as he could burn anyone. All the while competing against the likes of PawN, Faker, Ggoong, Ryu, Easyhoon, and many, many more throughout his career. Wildly under-appreciated and underrated, KurO may only be a perennial B tier mid laner in the context of his region, but to be just under the S tier mid laners of Dade and Faker for nearly two years of play is more than enough reason to be celebrated.